The Future of the Firm

M&A is a crucial engine of growth for large consulting firms. But it also holds the potential to fundamentally reshape the parameters of the industry and the axes along which firms compete with one another; over the past few years, there have been a number of high profile examples of firms buying up companies from outside the sector in an effort to diversify their service portfolios and, in some cases, create entirely new customer propositions. Conversely, there have also been cases of companies from outside the sector using well-placed acquisitions as a way of gaining a foothold within consulting. In this episode, we're joined by Daniel Schwartmann—Accenture's Managing Director responsible for inorganic growth activities across their global strategy and consulting business—to discuss what M&A activity today can tell us about the future of the industry.

Historically, consulting firms haven't always been seen as attractive investment vehicles for private equity. As organisations whose success depends primarily on their human capital, consulting firms can be harder to properly value than many other businesses. And the nature of project-based work can lead to unpredictable cashflows—not something that many investors are looking for. But recently, something seems to have changed; private equity investors are taking a closer look at the sector, and that's led to a number of high profile deals in the past few years. In this episode, we're joined by Richard Holden—a partner at the investment bank Alantra—to explore the reasons behind that shift, and what it will mean for the future of consulting.

Questions of brand-building have always been front of mind for consulting firms; but over the past year, those questions have taken on a new level of urgency. At a time when clients are scrutinising their consulting spend more carefully than ever, a strong brand can be the difference between a healthy pipeline and a sputtering one. So, on this episode, we're joined by John Rudaizky—the Global Brand and Marketing Leader for EY—to talk all things brand: what makes for an effective professional services brand; how you can build one; and how you can put that brand to work as an engine for growth.

For the modern professional services firm, thought leadership can be a powerful tool for building a brand and establishing credibility with clients. But since the start of the pandemic, there have been some important changes both to the ways in which clients consume that thought leadership, and to what they're looking for from it. In this episode of the podcast, we're joined by thought leadership and content marketing expert Bev Burgess—a consultant, author, and Senior Adviser for ITSMA—to discuss what that all means for the future of firms' content, and sketch out what thought leadership will look like in 2025 and beyond.

Even before the pandemic, it was becoming increasingly common to hear consulting firms talk about their sense of purpose—the idea that their actions are motivated by something above and beyond a desire to generate profits for their partnerships. And events of the last year have certainly put those claims to the test like never before. So, on this episode of the podcast, we take a look at what "purpose" really means in the context of the professional services industry; we ask why having a purpose matters, how you can figure out what yours is, and what firms can do if they want to make sure their commitment to a sense of purpose isn't a hollow one.