The Future of the Firm

Is it time for the consulting sector to undergo its own behavioural revolution? In this episode, we're joined by Andros Payne, Managing Partner and Founder of the consulting firm Humatica, to discuss what a more behaviour-centric model of consulting would look like, and how a richer understanding of human behaviour could help consultants more effectively deliver change for their clients.

Thought leadership has always been a critically important brand-building tool for consulting firms; and, increasingly, the same is also true in the world of legal services. In this episode of the podcast, we’re joined by Leor Franks, Business Development & Marketing Director at the law firm Kingsley Napley, to discuss the history and the future of the legal thought leadership landscape. And we dive deep into the similarities and the differences between thought leadership in the legal and consulting sectors, and what the two worlds could learn from each other about how to create compelling and meaningful content. 

In recent years, the private equity market has started to become an increasingly important buyer of consulting services. The recent surge in deal making in the wake of the pandemic has created both opportunities and challenges for the firms that serve this market. At the same time, investors are becoming more and more interested in building environmentally sustainable portfolios, and often need the support of consultants to make that a reality. On this episode, we discuss trends in this market with Mark Veldon, Co-Head of the UK and Co-Lead of the private equity team at AlixPartners, and Eric Benedict, the firm’s Head of Business Development for Europe. 

Moments of crisis have always brought with them opportunities for consultants operating in the forensics and litigation space; when businesses are put under strain, underlying issues have a tendency to reveal themselves. Today, we'll be examining the various ways in which the pandemic continues to reshape the landscape of forensics, disputes & litigation consulting work—as well as some of the longer term societal and technological changes that have impacted these fields. David Dearman, Senior Managing Director at Ankura, joins us to discuss these trends, and what they all mean for the long-term future of forensics consulting. 

In today’s consulting landscape, clients want their consultants to create real, tangible, and measurable value—value that persists long after your team finishes the project. Generally, clients are highly sceptical about whether their spend on consulting services is generating a positive financial return on investment. So any firm that is able to define, measure, and ultimately create, value is likely to find itself standing out in what is becoming an increasingly crowded market. In this episode, we’re joined by PwC’s EMEA Consulting Clients and Markets Leader, Julian Wakeham, to discuss value in consulting: what it is, how it’s created, and what firms can do to make sure value is demonstrated at all stages of a project.  

The pandemic has acted as a sharp reminder of just how fragile the world’s economy and our global infrastructure truly is. Layer on top of that the new kinds of threats that have emerged—from immediate dangers such as cybercrime, through to long-term, planetary issues like climate change and geopolitical realignments—and it’s easy to see why it’s often argued that we’re living through an “age of crisis”. On this episode, we’re joined by Nicholas Bahr—Global Managing Director for Operational Risk Management and Sustainability at DuPont Sustainable Solutions—to discuss how consultants can help their clients navigate this new threat landscape. 

Since the beginning of this year, the consulting market has bounced back faster than many had anticipated—leaving many firms struggling to find the resources to keep pace with client demand. While the so-called “war for talent” is not a new phenomenon in this industry, the problem does feel more acute now than ever before. So, on this episode of the podcast, we’re joined by Amanda Gethin—the Global Talent Leader for Consulting at EY—to discuss how the pandemic has intersected with longer-term factors to produce today’s talent shortages, and what firms can do to solve this crisis. 

The pandemic has made COOs and CEOs acutely aware of their human capital dependencies, and many have turned to technologies like artificial intelligence and robotic process automation as a means of building more resilience into their businesses. And that’s been great news for the new generation of specialist automation consulting firms and “automation as a service” providers. In this episode, we speak to Roboyo’s Charles Vivian and Nicolass Hess to find out where this field goes next, and what implications that will have for the wider consulting sector. 

Over the past decade, digital transformation has been one of the most important drivers of consulting spend; our latest data suggests that the digital transformation market makes up over a third of the total global market for consulting services. However, the pandemic has had some profound effects on the digital priorities of clients—and, in many industries, has led to a significant acceleration of digital trends. In this episode, we’re joined by Didier Bonnet—an Executive Vice President at Capgemini Invent—to discuss how consulting firms can update their digital offerings for this new world. 

For many of us, strategy work is what we immediately picture when we think about consulting. However, like every facet of this industry, strategy consulting has moved on a great deal over the past few decades. Indeed, for many clients, the word “strategy” itself has a very different set of connotations than it once did. In this episode of the podcast, we’re joined by Jonathan Goodman—Chair of Monitor Deloitte and a Vice Chair of Deloitte Canada—as we discuss just how much has changed about strategy consulting, and how the field will continue to evolve over the coming years.