[tranchms]

The big consulting firm runs a program/project to deliver a result. Perhaps implement a new business system or technology or integration, optimize or implement a new process, perform some organizational change in the way things are done, etc.

Companies don’t have the skills or experience or expertise or resources or time in-house to do it themselves, so they essentially outsource the initiative or objective to a consulting firm.

It’s seen as less risky to go with name brand big consulting firm. But companies think they can pay little and get a quality delivery team, and the big consulting firms usually find a way to make a profit at the expense of quality by leveraging inexperienced consultants or consultants overseas with no real world experience.

[Vaslo]

Agree with all of these except the “pay little.” Top consulting firms are crazy expensive to the point we could hire a team of several analysts and a manager for a few years for what we pay them.

Engagements are often around $100k a month and when I go looking for one of the consultants to help in an emergency, I often hear they are busy with something else (another client) and need a day to get the request started. When we’re paying 100k a month you better damn well have one person on deck or able to pivot immediately to us as if they are one of our employees.

[tranchms]

$100,000 a month is nothing. That’s like 1-3 full time consultants, at like a $200-600 bill rate.

My current client is spending $300M+ a year on an implementation program, and they are going on their third year with 2-3 more to go.

When I say pay little, they need more people and/or more experienced people to actually get the job done right. But they end up off shoring to teams in India or green consultants with zero industry background and limited experience.

They choose the firm with the most compelling economics, but severely overlook quality. They forget that these are organizational changes that impact humans. That outsourcing to lower skilled or different cultural regions will impact communication and team dynamics and overall ability to get things done properly.