2013 Readers' Choice: Consulting

CGT’s readers rank the top 10 third-party providers of strategic and tactical consulting services.

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On the whole, consulting revenue remains flat, pushing competition for deals to an all-time high. This year, Accenture took the lead in this category, underscoring its commitment to helping consumer goods companies effectively serve emerging and mature markets. As the industry evolves beyond ERP implementations, industry expertise has become a valued commodity with direct influence on specific consumer goods processes. Lora Cecere, founder, Supply Chain Insights, expands on the dynamics of this market.

Can you explain why investment activity in this market remains mostly flat?

Cecere: The main issue is the shift in revenues. While the traditional market was large ERP implementations, these are becoming few and far between. The market has shifted toward more industry-centric projects based on deep industry knowledge.


Which consultancies are best differentiating their value in today’s environment?

Cecere: In my opinion, Clarkston Consulting, Deloitte and Booz & Co. are navigating this shift the best. Booz & Co. has done some great work in the area of trade promotion management, Deloitte has delivered some fabulous projects in the area of risk management, and Clarkston’s focus on consumer products has made them an ideal selection for the midmarket.  

The other opportunity is to support consumer goods companies that are entering new markets. Accenture’s early leadership into China and Brazil has helped it to serve the global consumer products company roll out and expansion. The global footprint has also helped Cognizant, TCS and Wipro.

IBM is shifting to a more solutions-based sell with the delivery of software and services together to solve business problems. Some software in its pipeline is quite promising in the areas of marketing, quality and analytics.

I am surprised to not see Infosys on the list as it has continued to drive thought leadership in the emerging market areas of mobility, social commerce, retail analytics and new forms of predictive analytics.

BREAKOUT FAVORITES


Customer Experience Leader: Cognizant

Cognizant Business Consulting continues to help its clients succeed. For example, it recently developed an enterprise digital marketing strategy, architected a transformational supply chain strategy, transformed global transportation capabilities and rationalized the IT portfolio in more than 100 countries.



SMB Market Leader: Deloitte

“With Deloitte Consulting’s help, we were able to implement standard Financials, Order Management and Procurement processes enabled by Oracle E-Business Suite Applications across the enterprise.”
­— Steven Davis, Associate Director - IT Project Management Office, BISSELL