Atos Consulting UK back to KPMG heritage?
Date: 19-09-2007
Source: consultant-news.com
Our management consultancy columnist, Mick James, this week talks to Mike Hobday, head of Atos Consulting in the UK, about the consultancy's future direction.
No-one could accuse Mike Hobday of failing to see the "big picture." An enormous image hanging on the wall in the head of Atos Consulting's office unrolls a complex vision of the consulting practice's capabilities and future direction, as well as its multi-level relationships with the rest of Atos Origin.
It's a technique that Atos Consulting has developed for use with clients.
"When you say to chief executives 'describe your strategy' they always use images," he says. "We facilitate that, using professional artists to interpret that into an image." Now these images hang in strategic places in the offices of Atos Consulting's major clients, providing a constant and unambiguous reminder of where the organisation is going.
For Atos Consulting this is in many ways a return to its roots, but also a move towards a richer future which draws on the diverse legacy of the Atos group. Originally formed from a merger between Dutch and French systems integrators, Atos became a major presence on this side of the Channel with the acquisition of KMPG's UK management consultancy practice. The addition of the former Sema Group and its longstanding contract as IT partner of the Olympic Games gave the group a global presence.
All this and more is shown in the picture on Hobday's wall, as flowing rivers of ideas and opportunities, walls which protect and also need to be broken down. What it means in practice is a refocusing of the consultancy arms efforts.
"We're almost returning to our KPMG heritage, a return to the advisory business," says Hobday. "Previously, we had been moving towards a number of very big clients, doing large project support, particularly around large government business."
For the last six months, however, the agenda has been shifting, as Hobday has looked to build up Atos Consulting's presence in the private sector in financial services.
"It's not that the public sector isn't good business, but we also need to grow other sectors," he says. "If you have reliance on a smaller number of clients with big spends that gives you greater volatility in usage and therefore profitability." The motives for a return to advisory work are threefold, says Hobday. "We want to be known for our thought leadership, to be creative an innovative, and to work for a broad range of clients."
The shift also creates a subtle change in the consulting group's relationship with its parent, says Hobday. "By doing advisory work we cover a broader range and build board level initiatives and provide intelligence and understanding of what's going on into Atos Origin," he says. "We act as 'intelligent eyes and ears' into the market."
This new approach has led to a rapid expansion in Atos Consulting's client base beyond its heritage clients. "In the last six months we've won more 'new logos' than in the previous six years," says Hobday.
And while this has led to some interesting "pull-through" opportunities for systems integration or outsourcing, this is far from the only, or even primary, reason for the consulting group's existence. "We'll be objective in our advice and also look for opportunities where Atos Origin has capability," says Hobday. "But in the Ministry of Defence, for example, our reputation is as procurement experts - we don't do any IT work for them."
What the capacity of the wider group does is give the consultants a startlingly wide range of capabilities to draw on - from the world-class service delivery of the Olympics, to Atos Origin's health group, the largest employer of doctors in the UK outside the NHS. "We listen and combine a lot of things," says Hobday. "For example, in insurance, the fact that we are also involved in occupational health is very interesting to those clients looking at offering flexible benefits."
One of the challenges for Hobday is to use the wider capabilities of Atos Origin to exploit the opportunities presented by industry convergence. "Historically Atos Consulting had been very insular and stand-alone, we need to break down that wall," he says.
Atos Consulting is currently recruiting at all levels. As the skills shortage in consultancy deepens, Hobday also sees the potential for a return to a more leveraged model, in which the firm will draw on colleagues from the wider group as well as recruiting straight from university.
"I think we need to challenge the thinking that people from university are incapable of delivering. If they've got the right support and the right characteristics they can, and maybe that's the route the market needs to take," he says. "The question is, are clients buying bodies or are they buying outcomes, if they are buying outcomes they want to be able to do it at a reasonable price."
At the moment Atos Consulting's primary need is for experienced consultants, and also those very senior experts who can combine solutions expertise with deep levels of industry insight. The firm is very proud of its record in winning Management Consultancies Association case study awards, and hopes to continue to position itself as a supplier of not just capability and creativity.
"In terms of career options, we're looking for people who want to do advisory work but recognize the importance of technology in achieving change," says Hobday.
.jpg)
