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Consultancy firms apply their prescription on themselves.
Consultancy firms forecast a sector recovery from now to 2012. They will have to have a taste of their own medicine, anticipate changes and adapt to market demand. This time, the results depend on their own success.
The consultancy market will not go back to its 2008 levels until 2012. That is the conclusion of Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory, one of the most prestigious firms in analysis operating the sector.
In the meantime, good news and changes are in sight. The market should stabilise in 2010, and the first signs of a global upturn will be seen in 2011. In the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), the outlook looks grey, with few possibilities of a recovery. However, some firms, such as The Boston Consulting Group, are more optimistic and predict annual growth of between 10 and 20% in all the geographic areas.
The first glimmerings of what could be the main opportunities in the coming years can already be seen: the areas of sustainability and business intelligence. Opportunities will also arise in the area of advice on cost-optimisation tools for companies, which include technologies like cloud computing and SaaS (software as a service). The complexity of this type of solutions and their implementation will force companies to turn to consultants for advice.
Healthy opportunities
In Europe, the strongest demand is expected in health. Additionally, the crisis is giving rise to more requests for human resources and business advice. Most consultancy firms have promoted these areas; in the case of more specialised firms in the area of human resources, such as Mercer, they have put special emphasis on services like workforce restructuring.
Emerging countries have played –and continue to play– a strategic role in the accounts of consultancy firms. One such example is Ernst & Young, which last year invested 350 million dollars, most of which went to these markets. The investment paid off, as the company reported growth of 19% in some of its specialised areas in the Middle East and India (13%).
It is also time for the sector to be more versatile. The experience gathered in other times of crisis tells us that consultancy firms which restrict themselves to offering traditional services tend to get left behind, whilst those which diversify their services and implement a good resources policy can shift from one area to the next more quickly and adapt to client demand.
It is for consultancy firms to apply to themselves what they recommend to their clients and share their fate.
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Published in Finances and Services by Antonio Alonso/Miguel Ángel García Vega on 21/05/2010
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