This Week in Consulting
Friday, October 5th, 2018
More for Less: Key Steps to Strategic Cost Reduction
THIS WEEK’S MUST READ
“The key priority in strategic cost reduction is targeting resources where they can earn the best return, rather than just cutting costs in itself. The starting point is differentiating the capabilities needed to fuel profitable growth (‘good costs’ targeted for investment) from low-performing business.”
Insurance CEOs recognize the scale of the disruption within their industry, which is creating opportunities for some, and threats for others. In an industry facing massive disruption and change, marginal efficiency savings can no longer guarantee survival and success. How can you pinpoint resources and sharpen operational capabilities in a way that enables you to set the pace in a fast-evolving marketplace?
This Week’s Must Read features an insight piece from PwC, during which the consultants discuss that making the right choices and moving the business forward requires a rethink of strategy, costs and, most important of all, how they align. The five steps we set out here focus on optimizing rather than just cutting expenses to ensure your business can sustain competitive relevance and maximize its potential.
Read on to Find out More: “More for Less: Key Steps to Strategic Cost Reduction“
THIS WEEK’S VIDEO:
We believe that we should work to be happy, but could that be backwards? In this fast-moving and entertaining talk from TEDxBloomington, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that actually happiness inspires productivity.
INDUSTRY NEWS & INSIGHTS
- PwC Forms Alliance With US Firm, Furthering Big Four’s Ambitions in Law: PwC has agreed to an alliance with U.S. immigration specialist law firm Fragomen in one of the most significant examples to date of the Big Four joining forces with a law firm. The alliance between PwC UK and Fragomen—which has more than 50 offices around the world and posted revenue of $577 million (£441 million) for 2017—will hand PwC a major foothold in the U.S. market, where the New York-based firm has 16 offices across all major financial centers. | Ben Wheway, Pwc
- White Stratus and VOGSY Partner to Provide Professional Services Organizations Growth and Profitability: VOGSY, the leading professional services automation (PSA) solution built on the Google Cloud Platform, and White Stratus, an enterprise cloud computing consultancy and long-serving Google Cloud partner, announced a strategic partnership agreement. White Stratus has joined the VOGSY global channel partner program, and together the two companies are providing professional services organizations (PSOs) with a powerful combination of solutions and services so they can grow their business and improve profitability. | Vogsy
- Marsh & McLennan strikes $5.6 billion deal for JLT Group: Marsh & McLennan Cos. will acquire insurance, reinsurance and employee benefits firm Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group in a £4.3 billion ($5.6 billion) deal. Under the terms of the deal, holders of JLT common shares will receive a cash consideration of £19.15 per share, equating to a £4.3 billion deal. MMC said the enterprise value was $6.4 billion. | Sophie Baker
TRENDS
Congratulations to the Consulting Quest Team!
It is with great honor to announce that Consulting Quest has been chosen as a finalist for the Best Procurement Consultancy Project Award for the World Procurement Awards 2018! Do not forget to check out our nominated case study.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
- How to Cut Costs More Strategically: Managing cost in this way will give your organization the freedom to make the right choices over the long term, choices that are required to close the gap between strategy and execution — and the rewards are immense. The best-run companies think of cost management as a way to support their strategy, and of cost as precious investment that will fuel their growth. They put their money where their strategy is and continually cut bad costs and redirect resources toward good costs. | Paul Leinwand & Vinay Couto, PwC
- Cost management in the age of digital disruption: Cost management used to be something businesses only thought about when they were struggling. In recent years, however, it has become a standard operating practice that receives constant attention – in good times and in bad. And with the recent emergence of disruptive innovations such as robotic process automation and analytics/cognitive technology, cost management is now morphing into a strategic enabler with the power to disrupt entire industries and fundamentally change how business is done. | Omar Aguilar & Fernando Jimenez Barria, Deloitte
- IT Cost Reduction Strategies: 6 Ways to Reduce Ongoing Costs– A recent Forbes Insights survey noted that three out of four executives agree that the amount of time, money and resources spent on ongoing maintenance and management—versus new project development or new initiatives—is affecting the overall competitiveness of their organization. Here are six common strategies organizations are using to reduce their M&M costs and increase their competitiveness | Joe Hertvik, Hertvik
- Six Steps to Achieving Competitive Advantage Through Cost Excellence – An effective cost-excellence drive focuses on closing gaps and eliminating shortcomings, addressing both the input (necessary resources and costs) to produce a product or service and the output (the quality that the customer requires). At the same time, such a drive often results in a host of other benefits, including increased transparency and accountability, higher employee morale and d faster decision—making processes. | Jan Gildemeister, Gregor Gossy, Markus Klevenz &Reinhard Messenböck, BCG
EVENTS
Consulting Quest will be hosting a free Webniar for industry leaders in the coming months exploring best practices in Consulting Procurement. If you are interested in participating, please fill out this survey.
Check Out Other Upcoming Events and Workshops & Become a Part of the Consulting Quest Community!
Interested in Submitting?
If you are interested in submitting an article, an event or an ad, contact us at info@consultingquest.com
CONSULTANT CORNER
- 68 Small Business Resources to Make Consulting Easy: “Here are some extra small business resources for consultants to help you stay up-to-date on tips and tactics, improve your business practices in general, and to improve your toolkit. After all, it pays to be prepared. | Ben Mulholland , Process Street
- What is Martech Looking Forward to in 2019?: What do martech practitioners fear in 2019? Widen’s Brooke Emley and Michael Shattuck explore this question to predict how marketing organizations will reorganize, remodel, and divide their mission to create more powerful experiences. | Brooke Emley, Widen Enterprises
CONSULTING CAREER
- Want to Become a Consultant? There’s an App for That. Actually, There Are 3: If you’re a seasoned entrepreneur, you’re likely expert at something other entrepreneurs need help with. So, the odds are high that someone out there will not only value your expertise, but be willing to pay for it. | Entrepreneur
- 4 Tips To Become A Consultant For Your Second Career: 3 Tips to Succeed for New Consultants: Now that You’ve earned that offer. So…what now? Things You need to know as you first start off. | Jonathan Dison, Next Avenue
CONSULTING JOBS
- Are you a Consultant with Supply Chain background or prior experience working in Retail/CPG? This may be the opportunity you have been long for. A Client of Consulting Quest – an Asia-based small Global Consulting Firm – is seeking to hire an Engagement Manager to join their newly established office in New York City. Learn More
About Consulting Quest
Consulting Quest is a global, performance-driven consulting platform founded in 2014 by former members of top 10 consulting firms with the objective of reinventing consultancy performance. With a worldwide presence and a range of proprietary performance measurement tools, we help companies navigate the consulting maze. We work with Consulting Clients to increase their performance through consulting and Consulting Providers to help them acquire new clients and to improve their performance.
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Hélène Laffitte is the CEO of Consulting Quest, a Global Performance-Driven Consulting Platform and author of “Smart Consulting Sourcing”, a step by step guide to getting the best ROI from your consulting. With a blend of experience in Procurement and Consulting, Hélène is passionate about helping Companies create more value through Consulting.
