During the lecture, Mr. Khurana provided insights on the evolving face of consulting. In the 50s consultants acted as advisors and the focus was on ideas rather than actions. Many a times these ideas were not weighed against the practical difficulties in implementing them and hence organizations ended up with huge reports that could be put to little use. In the 90s there was a radical shift in the approach towards consulting. Big management concepts such as e-Commerce and ERP together with the increasing focus on Information Technology laid the foundation for consulting, as we know it today.
Consulting is no longer only about strategy but also execution. To be successful a consulting firm must leverage functional/domain expertise and be able to quickly apply it to the problem at hand. Hence there is an increasing need for specialized consulting as opposed to the generalist approach of the past.
Mr. Khurana emphasized that high-end data analysis & modeling, data warehousing & management and application of cutting edge technology are the key drivers of consulting today. He talked about how the consultancy business, like any good business, must be globally consistent and locally optimized.
Mr. Khurana further went on to elaborate some of the challenges faced during the consultancy process. Data available for analysis may be incomplete or unreliable. Some organizations have certain processes/practices that cannot be altered (the ‘Holy Cows’) and such issues must be taken into consideration while developing the optimal solution.
Responding to a question, Mr. Khurana emphasized the importance of getting a ‘buy-in’ from managers at all levels on the proposed solution. He said that if this is not done it might be very difficult to implement the solution. Softer issues like managers’ concern about loss of control must be addressed before the re-structuring plan is taken up for implementation.
The session ended with Mr. Khurana pointing out that consulting as a career offers tremendous opportunities and challenges.