The Evolution of the IT Outsourcing Industry

IT Outsourcing is a multi-billion dollar industry in the world today. It covers everything from Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Customer Management Outsourcing (CMO), network repairs and response, software license management, helpdesks and too many more areas for me to list here.

More and more companies are finding value in just plugging into external providers and getting rid of a lot of the headaches associated with running an IT Department, maintaining talent and so on. They are also finding that it is often pretty cost effective.

To date, many areas have been able to be totally outsourced. Call centers for customer management, PC services and network response (such as in this article here) as well as IT helpdesks. However, one of the few areas to stubbornly resist this level of offshoring is that of Enterprise software. The SAP/Oracle/Mincom giants that require some form of onsite prescence, or local at least. Even though the technology does exist to do this remotely!

But how long can things stay this way? This year, in particular, has seen an incredible rise in the popularity of SaaS or software as a service. The Salesforce.com model, among other technologies. How will this affect the future of IT outsourcing? We put this question to a group of experts recently.

The SaaS revolution is throwing up all kinds of unexpected consequences. From data center reductions, to departments taking IT decisions without involving the corporate overseers, through to increasing pressure on the suppliers of old-technology ERP and CRM systems.

Today, there are a range of vendors that are able to provide on-demand software systems, enabling companies to totally outsource the data management, configuration, and work processes involved with even routine tasks. How long would it be until the management of a companies total enterprise systems were able to be done on demand?

Paolo Roberto Bertaglia, Strategic Services Executive at EDS; “This is a fact today. Software development, tests and production can be done by people out of the office and located at different hubs or even at their home. Likewise, engineers can develop big automotive projects remotely by introducing changes in a CAD systems.”

“Salesforce.com has its product under the SaaS concept, so does Oracle and SAP. The running environment can be at the customer, at the provider or even at a third part provider differently than the one who is operating the whole environment.”

In fact, Oracle manages one data center in Austin that we are aware of, where it manages the entire environment for people in Latin American countries. (Specifically Brazil) This opens up additional avenues of opportunity for consultants. Particularly in the areas of IT integration, business process design and implementation, and a range of additional value added services.

For example, it is possible today for a company to spend a vastly reduced amount of money on licensing by implementing a combination of, say, Salesforce.com for CRM, Workday for HR and resources, and NetSuite for financials. As we have written about before, the path to implementation on these products is quicker and clients can get on with the task of using the programs, rather than a two year wait for the implementation to roll through the company.

But there are even greater advantages in outsourcing the enterprise information, that of leverage. Through appropriate procedures for security of information, an arrangement could be made whereby certain data could be shared for the greater benefit of all.

Take physical asset management. The very nature of machine operation, failure, and the environments that they operate in means thatacurate failure data, of the volume required for high confidence decisions, is hard to come by. (Non-existant in some industries)

By pooling aspects of this data clients could mutually benefit, leading to dramatic increass in NPV of their physical asset base. In many industries, and in many areas, this concept could assist clients of SaaS type services to draw out leading practices and more accurate decision making data.

Are companies ready for this?

“Outsourcing has been maturing over the years and customers are demanding more than the traditional call-center, HR/Payroll or Help Desk contracts. Currently the service and support function (such as the Help Desk) and application development and network operations remain the most popular components to outsource. IT organizations have become smarter as they enter into the third and fourth generations of outsourcing contracts and want to leverage more “value-add” services from the outsourcing providers. Companies want to enhance their revenue by tapping into the outsourcing provider’s vertical expertise, process maturity, and industry best practices.” says Ramesh Munamarty, the Director of On Demand for Oracle.

“Enterprise Software Management is a key area of outsourcing and there are several players including Oracle, which offers E-business suite On Demand, CRM On Demand. It plays in the traditional Oracle and Partner model but also offers Remote Infrastructure Management via Customer model.”

But why stop with SaaS. This year has also been the year of Second Life, where we all started to think about how we could live virtually, as well as make money doing so! A whole new world of possibilities for outsourcing not only IT sevices, but many others also.

Dave Elchoness, Founder & CEO of VRWorkplace bought a whole new perspective to the conversation. “There are a number of suitable virtual worlds and more will be released in 2008. Imagine a virtual workplace in such a world where employees regardless of physical location have a “place” to sit together for work or play or a cup of coffee.”

“Further, where any customer in the world could meet “together” with his or her service provider. With a virtual workspace, where we can “see” eachother and spend time together in the same environment, physical geography will become irrelevant. Add in other remote workingtechnologies and virtual working will be the norm. “

“I used to run a global IT outsourcing function and believe strongly that such an approach could have helped enormously as we tried to manage work across thousands of miles. We could have bonded more effectively with colleagues, spent less time traveling, had more fun”

Can you imagine that? A world where consultants do not need to travel! (Sign me up!)

Brian Regan, the President at Semper International agrees. “Once Linden Labs adds the ability to add HTML to prims (Basic building blocks of Second Life) you will be able to access your database through a website while logged into Second Life. Then you will have dbase, email, IM etc at your disposal while still be in a virtual room with your team mates. You can speak to them and hear them, hold meetings, react to things as it happens to them and assist as needed.”

We live in a time of abundant opportunities and rapidly changing corporate environments. There is no telling exactly what these technologies could potentially do to the industry of outsourcing. But it does look as if it will become far easier to telecomute between countries, even to the point of being able to establish close personal relationships with suppliers half a world away!

It may also make it easier to generate new programs, new technologies and a whole range of new value added services that we have not yet begun to contemplate.

Sales in the Outsourcing Industry

During our recent investigations into large scale big ticket consultancy sales we consulted a regular contributor, Mr Phil Pemberton. Phil is the Business Development Manager for Vertex Data Science. A broad based business process outsourcing (BPO) company with deep experience in customer management outsourcing. (CMO)

Phil has been involved in large scale complex sales within the outsourcing arena for over a decade. Normally in the $200 million to $1 billion level. My own experience with the UK market tells me that while it is a buoyant place to do consulting, it is definitely complex. (Take UK regulation of utility assets as a case in point) He was kind enough to give us the time to look deeper into the art of selling outsourced services on a grand scale.

These sales demand different skills to low value sales because above all else they are about relationships. The type of relationship that will cause a company to sign over $1 billion in budget funds, as well as the potential for business interruption and damage to the companies reputation, is far more trusting than a relationship that is built for sales of $1 – $5 million.

But, similar to other sales they still involve selling yourself, selling your company, and then selling the offer. Sales is about the transference of feeling, so enthusiasm, energy and engagement are the key traits here.

Here are some things I have found to be helpful:

1) Understand your client’s agenda. Map the stakeholders’ buying motives against your offer and keep testing as you progress through the sale.

2) The old adage “close early, close often” doesn’t apply. Close too early and you close the door. Know where the finishing line is and don’t dip too early.

3) Build rapport. Be a great questioner and listener. Evidence that you understand their business, their sector, their needs and wants. Only then will the client look to you for help in clarifying their problem, identifying candidate solutions, reassuring them that this is the right decision, delivering the solution on time and budget.

4) Hard sell never works. In complex sales, you are helping them make the right purchasing decision not thrusting your wares upon them. don’t tell them what they need or how to run their business, don’t be over familiar, and don’t be passive.

5) Understand what the “winning space” is and then occupy it. Be the trusted advisor and thought leader. Discover the buyer’s hot buttons. In complex sales, there is rarely a single economic buyer – there may be as many as 50 people involved in the decision making process. Hence, it is vital you understand all the buying motives and personal objectives of each stakeholder and spend time with each forging relationships, understanding their needs and wants, and making sure you hit the spot on their key issues.

6) Complex sales are rarely only about you. They involve large teams and it is vital that everyone plays their part in the sale. Ensuring the team understand the client, the bigger picture, and the win themes is the role of the sales lead.

7) Complex sales demand an understanding of the competition and your position against the client’s requirements. Make your value propositions simple and unambiguous, specific, deliverable, and of real value to the client. Relative to the client’s needs, you have to deploy strategies to neutralise your competitor’s strengths, emphasise your own strengths, and avoid spending time on points of parity.

Communication. You need to effectively articulate your value proposition in the form of winning proposals that are meaningful to the client, and presentations that capture your enthusiasm for the opportunity and belief in your offer. Every touch point with the client, whether its a telephone call, an email or a meeting, is an opportunity to connect with your client, to strengthen the bond, etc.. Attention to detail and high levels of professionalism shine through. In long sales cycles, there is nowhere to hide – attitude and behaviour is key.

We thank Phil for his continued support of ConsultingPulse.com. Experience such as this does not come cheaply, in terms of years, nor does it come easily. Underlying each drop of practical advice is normally a long story of failed attempts, hard fought battles, and consistent effort.

If you are in consulting, and if you are looking to get into sales, then information such as this will be invaluable for your career development. But be warned, it is not for everyone. COmplex sales involve phenomenal levels of stress, anxiety, consistent and continued effort, and tremendous teamwork.

Thanks Phil!

CapGemini Takeover Rumours Emerging out of India

The Internet is abuzz with news of a potential takeover of CapGemini by Indian IT giant Wipro. (MoneyControl) Although CapGemini has made the claim that there has been no contact with the potential suitor. However, The Hindustan Times has reported Wipro’s Chief Strategic Officer Sudip Nandy as saying: “Of course, we are interested in larger deals and aggressively looking for inorganic growth options” adding fuel to the fire.

This comes hot on the heels of another takeover rumour by Infosys earlier in 2007. But why so much talk in the market? CapGemini is still a giant of management consulting, with annual sales equal to several times that of it´s rumoured suitors. reporters out of India put the blame, conveniently, on the fact that CapGemini has been slow to adopt the trend of outsourcing large parts of their workforce to India and other cheap labor countries. But there must be more to it than that.

Since the acquisition of the outsourcing firm Kanbay in February the company has made no bones abouts its plans to increase its prescence in the outsourced sector, with reported statements putting their goals at 40,000 Indian employees within the next three years. Approximately 40% of its global workforce.

But, this is still a company that posts annual revenues of around $12 billion USD. Even with margins less than those of Wipro, it is still a sizable creature. And Wipro does not have a lot of ready cash on its books right now. recent acquisitions in its own past have left it a little stretched also. The Hindustan Times goes on to state that Wipro is frantically meeting with Bankers and other financial sector players trying to raise the capital required. (Rumoured to value CapGemini at around $7bn)

So if this financially seems a little bit off, then why in the world is it even being considered? We think the reasons for any takeover talk are more to do with global economics than any fault with the management of the growth strategy of CapGemini itself.

1) The US economy appears to be stressed and waning. At present Europe is a far better acquisition ground than the US. Europe has several strong economies right now, not excluding that of France here CapGemini is based.

2) CapGemini appears cheap! Recent closes at $45 place it a long way behind the March close of $59. If this is a true reflection of what the market actually values the stock at then Wipro would be getting it at a considerable discount.

3) Indian companies are ambitious. Tata Consulting, Mittal steel, Reliant Energy, all recognized as giants within the business world, and all emerging out of India. The nation is expanding, rapidly, and it is collectively pushing to carve out financial bases all over the globe, rather than being confined to the subcontinent.

CapGemini would give them access to a range o finternational markets that they do not currently have, lower profit levels that could be stripped out via their existing outsourcing capabilities, and access to a range of additional sectors outside of technology and IT if they wanted it.

The CapGemini acquisition, if there ends up being any substance to the story, would not be the first time a smaller company has bought out a larger one. But recent market movements, such as the BHP / RIO TINTO showpiece, have shown that acquisition targets may not always want to go quietly into the night.

ConsultingPulse.com Networking Community!

As we close down 2007 and head towards 2008, we at ConsultingPulse.com are very happy to announce the creation of our Networking Community for Management consultants all over the world.
The Consulting Hub is a networking group with several aspects to it, and it is a tool that we believe consultants all over the world will appreciate and be able to get some value from.

We are new, and we are growing, and we hope that you wil grow with us. For new members to our group we offer the folowing benefits:

• 3 months posts on our Consultants Jobs Board at a 50% discount
• A copy of the Report (Consulting Outlook 208, when it is published in February, and
• A copy of the White Paper – Implementing Business Intelligence, due for publication Feb 2008.

But this is just the beginning. We are already planning for our new research center, Consulting research, and we will be regularly posting tips to help you to get the most out of our new group.

The Consulting Hub will offer you, as a professional consultant, the ability to:

• make connections with others from within your industry
• Make connections with industry leaders
• Look for job opportunities, some of which will be unique to our network
  
• Benefit from the vast range of research reports from our new Research Center
• Benefit from the articles posted by your colleagues from all over the world.

All the best for 2008!

Selling at the big end! High Value / Long Time Frame

There is a lot of information out there relating to how to succesfully sell work in the area of professional services. Some of the better books that I have read on the subject would be Jeffrey Gitomers Little Red Book of Selling, The Irresistible Offer by Mark Joyner, or The Trusted Advisor, an industry standard written by David H Maister, Charles H. Green and Robert M. Galford.

However, there is very little available in the area of long time frame – high value engagements. Areas such as selling $1 Billion worth of Outsourced services, $50 Million worth of Caterpillar HaulTrucks, a $200 Million ERP implementation or $8 Billion worth of Airplane sales.

We recently put this question to a panel of experts from around the world to try to get to the bottom of what the skills and techniques were that consulting firms would need to master if they were going to be able to play succesfully at the big end of the market.

Phil Ghan is a Director of Business Development at Epsilon Systems Solutions. A company from within the defense sector of the USA. As with all governmental work there is a lot of lobbying, and high level discussions and negotiations that take place within this area. However, he notes that if the C-Level executives on both the buyer and the seller side are not comfortable with one another, then it isn´t going to happen.

“Just like any other sale, its all about relationships. The stakes are just higher. My personal experience is that real relationships are not made in boardroom. This is especially true when dealing with foreign companies. If you do not get invited for dinner, walk away because they do not like you enough. If you do get invited, it is all about personal equity. Never refuse to do anything (obviously within the law). If they keep you up for a week, do it. We recently got a project in the ME because we put in the personal time with the client for a month. It was worth $250 mill.”

This underlines a point made by many that we contacted in relation to this article. To underline his point relating to relationships Phil went on to add “Be flexible…if your client does not like the person you sent, replace immediately. The reasons do not matter and often times can seem frivolous. But it is most definitely not to them”

Although long sales cycles can be found within many industries, they seem particularly common in the IT sector. Tiffani Bovi, a Research Director at Gartner, offered this observation. “In the IT industry, long sales cycle by nature are complicated and (usually) have a high dollar value- they tend to touch multiple parts of an organization and impact business processes.”

So while it is about relationships, it is not just about one relationship, but many. “To sell something that requires more than 6 months of pipeline management will require a ‘team’ of people to close the deal rather than ‘one’ individual. Managing the ‘team’ and pulling all the pieces together all the way from pre-sales to post-sales support – ensuring that the customer receives all that is needed to make the decision is the true skill to selling deals like these.” Tiffani added.
“If a sales rep prefers to work alone and not involve subject matter experts when needed and appropriate, they will have a higher likelihood of failing. Whenever big deals are closed – take a look at all that touched it, rarely is it just one person. The skill is in orchestrating the entire deal start to finish – the people –– upper management and the customer.”

But what of the skills necesary? Team leadership and being able to manage client engagement is all great stuf, but what else is there?

Hamish Taylor, a consultant at Consultant at Shinergise Partners Ltd, summarized the big ticket skills as follows:

“1. Understanding your customer – at the multi-million dollar level the stakes are so much higher that your level of understanding has to be very deep and very broad simultaneously.

2. Resilience and self-belief - from zero to hero as described above is a difficult journey, it needs to be undertaken by people who have a strong sense of purpose and tenacity to go the distance.

3. Willingness to seek help and support - there are no lone warriors at the multi-million dollar level, the capacity to work as part of a diverse and dispersed international team is essential.

4. “Smell the Money!” - I attribute this skill to a particular friend and colleague of mine who exhibited the skill for the 20 years that I have known him – this is the ability to differentiate winning projects from winning big projects. This is essential at the multi-million dollar level as the worst consolation prize is picking up the crumbs when the major deal has gone to somebody else. ”

Alexander Macasaet, a marketing professional working as an account manager for DHL,agreed and added one skill that all conultants would be familiar with “A “closer” attitude (as in closing the sale) is critical of course but so is a strong team leadership background. Let’s face it, the IT guy implementing the ERP has his own agenda completely different from the guy developing the billing process.”

“It’s the salesperson’s job (or, in this case, I believe the appropriate term is Business Development Manager though, the job desription is still the same, bringing in the business) to put everyone on the same page and present a unified front for the customer and manage the program internally for the duration of the contract.”

Lastly, Ron Irving, Regional VP at The TASCON Group, added what is probably the most fundamental piece of advice for managing a team, managing relationships, and for delivering value from the overal engagement.
“Have a plan. Long sales cycles often mean things can and will change during the process. Requirements often change. Key decision makers may change. Technologies change. If you do not have a plan to stay on top of the changes, you can go from the leading solution provider to an also ran. You need a plan that includes regular contact with the key decision makers and with your team. Set expectations. Communicate the contact dates with your buyers’ team, so they know when to expect a review/update with you.”

As usual the people we contacted for this article have been exceptionally candid and provide fantastic information for all consultants who aspire to achieve great things within the game. However, as a final word, they all agreed on one particular skill… Patience! These sales cycles take years, and often with very little to smile about in the meantime. Good luck!

A great start… and more to come!

I wish all of you the compliments of the season. For those of you who celebrate Christmas I hope it was enjoyable, and I hope that the NewYear is a prosperous and eventful one for all of us in the consulting industry. For those of you who visit regularly you will notice that our community is starting to evolve.

During the final part of 2007 we have completely overhauled the site. The goal has been to try to make it more user friendly, more readable, easier for readerws to find exactly what they are looking for.

Over the course of the next few weeks we will be rolling out a number of new initiatives here; including:

• A new networking comunity, one we hope will provide readers with access to the best information, the best jobs, and the best tools that we can get our hands on!
• New elements to the site such as reader submitted articles, new search functionality, and additional levels of interactivity. (We are considering a discussion forum, please give your opinion to the poll on this page.)
• A new knowledge base, which we have been working on with some of the leading companies in the consulting field, and lastly…
• A series of new ways for you to take advantage of our growing prescence in the consulting community.

It is difficult not to be excited about where we are going and the momentum we are starting to build up here, so I hope you will join with us in launching the new year to a bigger and better start than ever before.

Slalom Consulting Surpasses $100M Revenues and Opens Dallas Office

Company Exceeds Aggressive Growth Goal for 2007 and Continues Nationwide Expansion

SEATTLE, WA–(Marketwire – December 17, 2007) – Slalom Consulting, ranked one of the best consulting firms to work for in the U.S., today announced it achieved $100M in revenues, and officially opened a new office in Dallas, fueled by the success of its national expansion plan. Slalom established aggressive growth targets for 2007 based on expectations for market traction in existing offices, and in Atlanta, Denver and San Francisco, where offices were recently opened.

Slalom’s rapid and consistent growth is attributed to its core group of expert, locally-based management consulting teams backed by specialists in advanced technology areas such as Business Intelligence and ERP. Slalom’s specialized solutions areas, including CRM, portals, compliance, architecture, development and more, have contributed significantly to the ongoing growth, delivering services that address today’s most challenging areas for large- and medium-sized enterprises. Focusing on areas of the utmost relevance in today’s business and technology climate, Slalom has built an unparalleled offering in the consulting arena. Further, Slalom’s business model, based on 50% Team-Based Initiatives and 50% Project Leadership, provides clients with important options for each project, such as implementing full-team support, or enlisting one or two specialized experts from Slalom.

Already positioned for growth, the Dallas office currently supports clients including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas (HCSC), Hotwire.com, Raytheon, and others. Looking forward to 2008, the Dallas office will focus on building its leadership team, adding solution areas and expanding its client base. Nationally, Slalom’s client roster includes: Microsoft, Allstate, Boeing, AT&T, Expedia, Motorola, Schnitzer Steel, GAP, Starbucks and Western Union, and recent additions such as Qwest and Williams-Sonoma. Additionally, Slalom’s unique culture is expected to carry into Dallas, where consultants are encouraged to put local clients first, while still maintaining a work-life balance and developing their careers.

“No other consulting firm operates with the same philosophy and dedication to excellence as Slalom. Market by market we are proving to the large enterprises in the U.S. that our local model and collaborative client-focused approach works,” said John Tobin, national managing director of Slalom Consulting. “Slalom has maintained a strong growth trend through recent years, and the opening of the Dallas office comes at the perfect time to continue the extension of our nationwide footprint. If the Dallas group follows the same growth curve demonstrated by our other markets, there is no doubt it will be a thriving and profitable office within its first year of operations.”

Slalom intends to maintain its steady expansion strategy in the U.S. throughout 2008, and will announce additional office openings in the coming months.

Remote Help Desk Support Increases Workplace Efficiency, Lowers IT Support Costs

WAUKESHA, WI–(Marketwire – December 19, 2007) – Most small to medium-sized busines rely on computers to increase efficiency in the workplace. However, these same businesses often lack the internal support needed to provide help to their employees when problems arise. According to a 2003 study by Pepperdine University (http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/033/dataloss.html) (the most recent available), data loss costs U.S. businesses more than $18 billion per year.

TechSquad Live! Managed Services helps businesses eliminate expensive repairs and data recovery costs by monitoring network problems, updating computer networks daily, and providing a guaranteed 15 minute response time to help desk questions.

TechSquad’s enterprise level, 24/7 monitoring and maintenance eliminates repair and data recovery costs — guaranteed — and repair trip fees by providing remote control support for “help desk type” questions.

With daily software updates and daily spyware monitoring and removal, the distraction of IT support problems is eliminated, allowing businesses without IT support to function more efficiently. Businesses with IT support are able to use their IT support staff to address major issues, rather than running from workstation to workstation fixing small problems.

Your Reputation Preceedes You

Alan Weiss, a long/time consulting guru and unofficial mentor of mine, (I read his books), has written a lot about creating gravity towards you. That is, using variosu media to put items in the marketplace that will draw potential clients towards you.

Following his advice I now have around 30,00 pages dedicated to me on the internet, 3 published books in my field of expertise, and countless print articles throughout the world in a range of different languages.

And yes, it has worked wonderfully for me. I often get enquiries out of the blue relating to the area I have spent most of my life consulting in. Not only that, but prospective clients can now see what I have written, where I have spoken, and get the gist of what sort of services etcetera that I offer before meeting me.

But with technology advancing so rapidly, I thought I would revisit his theories with a few tricks and techniques I have learned over the years. These focus primarily on devleoping your online prescence. (Alas, this is the generation I have grown up in)

• You are what you read: Amazon lists and comments continually come up in searches. Write a few of the, get a profile at Amazon.com. Your clients will be able to immediately see what sort of things you read, and your thoughts on them.

• Get LinikedIn: My LinkedIn profile continually comes up when I search on my name or on areas that I work in. I think that in the modern marketplace this is an unavoidable must have item. Also, with this program you can also get your past clients, colelagues and employers to write a short recommendation for you. This provides prospective clients with an immediate view into your career, strengths, and abilities.

• Fresh Press Releases: When I search on my name one of the first things to come up is an article I wrote in the mid 1990’s when I was just starting to really come to grips with my craft. It’s okay, I like it – but I have moved on a lot since then! Press releases are something else to fill the search pages, and will get you into news pages also. If you craft them right, and you have something important to say, then you may even get some incoming requests for interviews etc.

• Articles Everywhere: Get published, often and everywhere. The more artiles there are out there of yours, the more likely that people all over the world will read and collect them. More to the point, if your articles offer something of real value to readers, then they will do your marketing for you and pass them to their friends.

• Write a book: Or self publish. This is still the key to generating real gravity towards you. Books are highly ranked in most search engines, and I can see many listings for 3each of the books I have written over the years.

• Documents: Clickbank offers everyone the chance to sell electronic documents and other items over the internet. So you can publish something there, get others to sell it on their own sites, and uwe this as yet another seach engine filler.

I am sure there are a lot more. (Google Adwords is also a relatively inexpensive and effective way to get your name out there)

I am continually finding new ways to get my own online personality up to a level where work comes to me directly, but these tips have worked very well for me over the years.

The Entrepreneur’s Source Jumps 45% in Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 Rankings

SOUTHBURY, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–For 8 consecutive years, The Entrepreneur’s Source, TES (www.EsourceCoach) is being honored once again by Entrepreneur Magazine, ranking the market-leading business coaching and consulting franchise in the top Franchise 500. This 8-year distinction, and a rise in rankings by 45% from 2007, further positions The Entrepreneur’s Source as a world-class franchise organization.

“This honor and new higher ranking points to the great year we had in growing the TES franchise base,” said CEO Terry Powell. “This recognition is an acknowledgement of the entrepreneurial spirit of our franchisees and the dedication of the Performance Enhancement Center staff and executives,” he added.

TES, ranked 266, is a market-leader in the business coaching and consulting industry with expertise in self-employment options, franchising, education and training working primarily with small-to-midsize businesses. TES, along with its affiliate brand, Business Advisers International, (BAI) also listed, dominates 33% of the multi-billion dollar coaching/consulting franchise market.

In separate categories, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked TES in the Top Home-Based Franchise list for 2008 placing #70 and also as one of America’s Top Global Franchises coming in at #163.

The Entrepreneur’s Source is one of the national franchise brands under FranchisEsource Brands International, FSBI (www.FranchisEsource.com), a multi-brand franchisor principally engaged in growing solid concepts into major international franchise brands. Other FSBI franchise brands include Decor&You, Business Advisers International, Business Partner and search tool FranchiseSearch.com..

Entrepreneur Magazine is the leading magazine circulating in the business and franchise community and judges all franchises for the Franchise 500 awards on factors that include: financial strength, stability, growth rate and size of the system.

Dell to Acquire The Networked Storage Company

BRACKNELL, U.K.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) has signed an agreement to acquire privately held The Networked Storage Company (TNWSC), a leading IT consultancy, that specialises in transitioning customers to proven, simplified and cost-efficient IT data storage solutions.

Terms were not disclosed and the purchase will not be final until all closing conditions are met. TNWSC is based in Epsom, United Kingdom.

TNWSC’s unique Point of Proof® methodology provides an auditable end-to-end process to evaluate, select and implement proven solutions that deliver robust, simplified and cost-effective IT infrastructures. The approach, primarily implemented with storage networks, can be extended across the entire IT environment, helping to reduce overall costs and complexity of IT infrastructure maintenance and management. TNWSC has a blue chip customer base including several of Europe’s leading financial institutions.

“The Networked Storage Company has an extremely talented team that has developed an industry-leading approach enabling customers to simplify and validate their IT infrastructures. We plan to incorporate their expertise and world-class methodologies as part of our consulting offerings and scale globally,” said Stephen Murdoch, vice president, Global Infrastructure Consulting Services, Dell.

Simon Pennock, CEO and founder, TNWSC, comments, “The Networked Storage Company is driven by a passion for doing the right thing for clients. It was obvious from the start of our relationship that Dell shares not only this commitment to clients but also our belief that IT should be less complex and the costs more transparent. Dell’s global reach and depth of capability will enable us to deliver on this vision through the proven benefits of our Point of Proof® methodology.”

The GEO Group Announces Retirement of Donald H. Keens, GEO’s President of International Services

BOCA RATON, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) (“GEO”) announced today that Donald H. Keens, GEO’s President of International Services, will retire effective January 4, 2008 after 14 years of service with GEO. Mr. Keens is 64 years old and has been responsible for management and oversight of GEO’s international marketing, sales and operations.

George C. Zoley, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of GEO said: “We have been very fortunate to have counted Don Keens as a member of our senior management team for fourteen years. Mr. Keens has decided to retire and spend more time with his family, but he may be available for GEO on a part-time consulting basis. We have undertaken an effort to recruit a successor to Mr. Keens and are in the final stages of a decision.”

During this transition period, Ronald Champion, Vice President of International Services, will continue to coordinate overseas business development efforts and operational oversight, working closely with Wayne Calabrese, GEO’s President and Chief Operating Officer.

The GEO Group, Inc. (“GEO”) is a world leader in the delivery of correctional, detention, and residential treatment services to federal, state, and local government agencies around the globe. GEO offers a turnkey approach that includes design, construction, financing, and operations. GEO represents government clients in the United States, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. GEO’s worldwide operations include the management and/or ownership of 68 correctional and residential treatment facilities with a total design capacity of approximately 59,000 beds, including projects under development.

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and future performance of GEO that involve risks and uncertainties that could materially affect actual results, including statements regarding estimated earnings, revenues and costs and our ability to maintain growth and strengthen contract relationships. Factors that could cause actual results to vary from current expectations and forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to: (1) GEO’s ability to successfully pursue further growth and continue to enhance shareholder value; (2) GEO’s ability to access the capital markets in the future on satisfactory terms or at all; (3) risks associated with GEO’s ability to control operating costs associated with contract start-ups; (4) GEO’s ability to timely open facilities as planned, profitably manage such facilities and successfully integrate such facilities into GEO’s operations without substantial costs; (5) GEO’s ability to win management contracts for which it has submitted proposals and to retain existing management contracts; (6) GEO’s ability to obtain future financing on acceptable terms; (7) GEO’s ability to sustain company-wide occupancy rates at its facilities; and (8) other factors contained in GEO’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K reports.

Huron Consulting Group Announces Senior Level Promotions

CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ: HURN), a leading provider of financial and operational consulting services, today announced that 11 directors have been promoted to the role of managing director.

“The first factor of Huron’s success is our hardworking, enthusiastic and innovative people,” said Gary E. Holdren, chairman and chief executive officer, Huron Consulting Group. “Huron congratulates these individuals on this career milestone and looks forward to their continued contributions.”

Corporate Consulting

Culberson: Curtis Culberson designs and implements corporate-wide programs to improve shareholder returns. He is based in London.

McCollum: Joanne McCollum provides practical advice to C-level executives on high value strategic, organizational and operational issues. She is based in Huron’s New York office.

Financial Consulting

Armour: Robert E. Armour specializes in accounting and finance services, including GAAP and tax accounting, SEC reporting, investor relations and cash management. He is based in Huron’s Chicago office.

Christie: Brian Christie assists management, board of directors and counsel of companies with a wide range of accounting issues. He is based in Huron’s Boston office.

Marcus: Paul A. Marcus advises clients in commercial disputes or litigation matters. He is based in Huron’s Boston office.

Health and Education Consulting

Kemp: James Kemp provides strategic and operational assistance to research universities and academic medical centers. He is based in Huron’s Chicago office.

Rohrbach: Rick Rohrbach specializes in assisting research institutions and academic medical centers with strategic planning, operational improvement and compliance management. He is based in Huron’s New York office.

Legal Consulting

Christen: Shawn Christen provides data analysis, document and electronic discovery management and expert witness services. He is based in Huron’s Houston office.

Southerland: Carolyn Southerland specializes in electronic discovery and assists clients with e-discovery strategy and scope in a variety of litigation matters, including contract disputes, product liability, governmental investigations and energy-related matters. She is based in Huron’s Houston office.

Stevens: Michael C. Stevens provides technology and operational consulting to the office of the general counsel at leading corporations and law firms. He is based in Huron’s Houston office.

Corporate

O’Connor: John P. O’Connor III manages operations for the Company’s health and education consulting segment. He is based in Huron’s Chicago office.

Marsh & McLennan Announces Search for New CEO

Michael G. Cherkasky to Step Down

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MMC) announced today that its Board of Directors has initiated a search for a Chief Executive Officer to replace Michael G. Cherkasky, who has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company since October 2004.

The Board of Directors has determined that a change in leadership will best enable MMC to move forward and enhance shareholder value. Mr. Cherkasky will continue to serve as MMC’s CEO while the search is conducted.

Stephen R. Hardis, Non-Executive Chairman of the Board, said: “MMC’s financial performance in 2007 has fallen far short of our expectations. The Board has taken this performance into account, and listened to concerns raised by some of the company’s largest shareholders in recent quarters, in making this change. The Board will continue to actively oversee MMC’s portfolio of businesses and evaluate strategies to enhance shareholder value, including optimizing the company’s capital structure, reviewing its mix of businesses and improving operating performance, particularly at Marsh. To that end, we hired Dan Glaser as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Marsh to significantly improve Marsh’s profitability. The Board believes that the full recovery of Marsh is essential to maximizing shareholder value in the most prudent and sustainable manner.”

Mr. Hardis continued: “MMC is a venerable institution that might not be here today were it not for Mike Cherkasky. His leadership and crisis management skills in the wake of the New York Attorney General’s action in 2004 enabled MMC to weather a perfect storm and positioned the company for future growth. We all owe Mike an enormous debt of gratitude for his invaluable contribution.”

“It has been an honor and a privilege for me to lead MMC through difficult times and position it for a successful future,” said Mr. Cherkasky. “This company has as fine a collection of people as I have ever worked with and I am proud of what we have achieved in many areas. I would like to thank all of my colleagues for a tremendous team effort over the past three years and look forward to seeing MMC succeed in the future.”

MMC is a global professional services firm providing advice and solutions in the areas of risk, strategy and human capital. It is the parent company of a number of the world’s leading risk experts and specialty consultants, including Marsh, the insurance broker and risk advisor; Guy Carpenter, the risk and reinsurance specialist; Kroll, the risk consulting firm; Mercer, the provider of HR and related financial advice and services; and Oliver Wyman, the management consultancy. With more than 55,000 employees worldwide and annual revenue of $11 billion, MMC provides analysis, advice and transactional capabilities to clients in more than 100 countries. Its stock (ticker symbol: MMC) is listed on the New York, Chicago, and London stock exchanges. MMC’s website address is www.mmc.com.

This press release contains “forward-looking statements,” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements, which express management’s current views concerning future events or results, use words like “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “continue,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “project” and similar terms, and future or conditional tense verbs like “could,” “may,” “might,” “should,” “will” and “would.” For example, we may use forward-looking statements when addressing topics such as: future actions by regulators; the outcome of contingencies; changes in our business strategies and methods of generating revenue; the development and performance of our services and products; market and industry conditions, including competitive and pricing trends; changes in the composition or level of MMC’s revenues; our cost structure and the outcome of restructuring and other cost-saving initiatives; share repurchase programs; the expected impact of acquisitions and dispositions; and MMC’s cash flow and liquidity.

Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. MMC and its subsidiaries operate in a dynamic business environment in which new risks may emerge frequently. Accordingly, MMC cautions readers not to place undue reliance on its forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the dates on which they are made. MMC undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date on which it is made. Further information concerning MMC and its businesses, including information about factors that could materially affect our results of operations and financial condition, is contained in MMC’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the “Risk Factors” section of MMC’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006.

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How to Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever: Experts Share Advice on PeopleJam.com

PeopleJam’s Lifestyle Experts Discuss Choosing the Right New Year’s Resolutions, Maintaining a Happy & Healthy Life and Succeeding Well into the New Year

New Year’s Resolution 2008

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PeopleJam, an online video and social networking Web site for individuals interested in making better decisions in pursuit of a great life, has emerged as a ‘one-stop shop’ for people looking to set goals that will help them maintain a happy, healthy and balanced life well into the New Year.

Visitors to the lifestyle site can interact with each other as well as with PeopleJam’s 150-plus best-selling authors, personal trainers, life coaches, nutritionists and other personal development experts. Activities include reading expert and member advice, sharing inspirational stories and setting goals in various life categories such as eating healthy, dating, career management and more.

“Reflection, starting over, goal setting, finding ways to be happier and healthier – these are all themes on peoples’ minds on January 1^st. Yet often after only a week or two back in the daily grind, we forget these important personal commitments,” said Matt Edelman, CEO and co-founder of PeopleJam. “PeopleJam is an online community that provides a support system and tools to make New Year’s Resolutions and then stick to them throughout the year.”

Some examples of expert commentary on PeopleJam focused on ways to improve one’s life in the New Year are:

• Prisoners of Our Thoughts author Dr. Alex Pattakos shares an Inspirational Story for The New Year;
• Happiness expert Aymee Coget reveals the three steps to Exclaiming Happiness in 2008;
• Relationship guru Dr. Jackie Black offers a list of Reflections for Personal Development in the New Year;
• Author and executive coach Libby Gill suggests we Resist New Years Resolutions and pick a theme instead;
• “Dating Doctor” David Coleman explains the pros and cons of Having a First Date on New Year’s Eve; and
• Fitness expert Ary Nunez discusses Getting Fit in the New Year.

In addition to interacting with experts, sharing personal stories and participating across PeopleJam’s online community, members also can view online video series dedicated to personal development. A sneak preview of PeopleJam’s new original series ‘PeopleJam Voices’ – featuring ‘man on the street’ interviews asking people questions like “What is your worst habit?” – is now available at www.peoplejam.com, with new webisodes scheduled for January 2008.

Examine US Business Managed Services Expenditures by Size of Business, 2006-2011

DUBLIN, Ireland–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c77979) has announced the addition of “US Business Managed Services Expenditures by Size of Business, 2006-2011” to their offering.

This Excel-based Data-rich Deliverable (DRD) that is part of the Business Managed & Hosted Services subscription includes market intelligence on business managed & hosting services expenditures by size of business. Managed services include expenditures on network-based services that provide a network, application or computing capability to a client and are delivered on an on-going basis by a 3rd party for a recurring fee. Size of business includes SOHO (1-4 employees), Small Business (5-99 employees), Mid-Sized Business (100-999 employees), and Enterprise Business (Over 1000 employees). The Expert Guide for this deliverable is Kneko Burney. Forecasts are from 2006 through 2011 and include annual growth rate, as well as percentage of total market.

Sources: Our segment and market forecasts, which include business expenditures, market demographics, and usage and adoption statistics, are built using multiple sources, including our proprietary research. These sources include, but are not limited to:

– Secondary research

– Government data and statistics (e.g. department of commerce, federal communication commission, bureau of labour statistics and us census bureau

– Primary research

– Vendor-based research

– In-depth interviews with key decision-makers (where relevant)

We select data sources to provide greatest degree of perspective on each market or segment, in addition to the highest level of data accuracy, stability, and consistency over time.

For more information, visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c77979

FOCUS, LLC Releases 2008 Middle Market M&A Forecast

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, FOCUS, LLC, a national investment banking firm providing merger, acquisition and corporate finance services to middle market companies, released its predictions for the 2008 middle market merger and acquisition (M&A) industry.

Drawn from the collective insights of FOCUS’ 30 investment bankers, the forecast outlines the 10 most pressing issues for U.S. middle market companies, which include increasing foreign investments and “green” deals, changing demographics and upcoming slowdowns. The forecast can be downloadable for free at www.focusbankers.com.

“FOCUS has a definite pulse of the middle market M&A community, and we feel it is our corporate responsibility to provide mid-market companies the critical insight needed to make strategic decisions,” said Doug Rodgers, chief executive officer of FOCUS, LLC. “Despite recent 2008 recession predictions, FOCUS forecasts that the U.S. mid-market will thrive due to overseas buyers, baby boomers retiring and private equity firms offsetting the subprime credit meltdown.”

According to the forecast, FOCUS predicts the following trends will shape the 2008 middle market M&A activities:

1. European Buyers

2. Indian Buyers

3. Demographic Changes

4. Residential Construction Trends

5. Subprime Credit Meltdown

6. Election Slowdown

7. “Green” Deals Rise

8. Clean Tech Innovation

9. Energy and Natural Resource Company Consolidation

10. Energy Price Increases

To request a free copy of the “2008 Middle Market M&A Forecast,” visit www.focusbankers.com.

Sopra Group Announces Its Planned Acquisition of G2i,

PARIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Regulatory News:

Sopra Group (Paris:SOP) has announced its planned acquisition, in cash, of the entire share capital of G2i. This proposal, which is subject to the outcome of the Works’ Council consultation, in accordance with legal provisions, should be finalised in early 2008, subject to the standard conditions precedent. The company will then be consolidated in the Group’s financial statements as of 1 January 2008.

G2i provides consulting and services in the area of embedded software and testing resources for the aerospace industry, primarily for Airbus. G2i forecasts 2007 revenue of around 4 million euros.

For Sopra Group, this acquisition forms part of its stated strategy of underpinning its positioning in France by developing its positions with major clients.

For G2i, this partnership with Sopra Group will give it access to a much broader project, allowing it to optimise developments in its current offering and secure its client base.

The financial terms of this transaction have not been disclosed.

Bluewolf In Demand: Consulting 2.0 Becomes Ubiquitous in 2007

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Bluewolf (www.bluewolf.com), a leading on demand enterprise consulting company, today announced that the Consulting 2.0 consulting model is becoming mainstream, as demonstrated by its success in helping more than 1,000 organizations adopt on-demand solutions. Founded in 2000, Bluewolf was named by VARBUSINESS magazine as one of the “pioneers consultants in the SaaS market,” buoyed by consistent year-over-year 50 percent growth. Bluewolf’s big client wins in 2007 include Time Warner, Inc., Dow Jones & Company, AutoDesk, Inc., The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. and DuPont.

“Every organization in the world needs three things from their consulting firm: resources; process, and solutions,” said Michael Kirven, co-founder and principal, Bluewolf. “The new model in consulting, Consulting 2.0, is based on one partner being able to deliver all these needs faster and cheaper, with tangible results in 2008.”

With the growth of Software-as- a Service (SaaS) and the On Demand nature of business today, Bluewolf has seen the shift in customers’ expectations around how technology solutions and services are delivered. That has resulted in Bluewolf’s focus on the new Consulting 2.0 model, enabling it to deliver services in a way that guarantees success for clients for the long term. According to Kirven, “One of organization’s biggest concerns in 2008 will be finding and keeping their valuable IT talent.”

Additionally, Bluewolf reported that in 2007, the company:

• Was selected as a Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50 company for New York
• Was honored as CMP Channel’s CRN as a 2007 Fast Growth 100 Solution Provider
• Was selected as a Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America
• Eric Berridge, co-founder and principal, was named an Entrepreneur of the Year finalist by Ernst & Young New York
• Created partnerships with On Demand leaders; Google, Workday and Big Machines
• Delivered its 400th successful integration to Salesforce.com with Bluewolf’s Integrator application
• Opened the first On Demand authorized training center
• Launched the Bluewolf Technology Scholarship for college-bound New York City high schools students

Frost & Sullivan: Australian Water Treatment Chemicals Market to Double by 2014

SYDNEY, Australia–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Due to unprecedented droughts in past years, the Australian government has been seeking alternative water sources including used water and sea water. Water reuse and desalination have been proven to be feasible solutions for tackling the issue and both methods have boosted demand for water treatment chemicals.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.chemicals.frost.com), Strategic Analysis of the Australian Water Treatment Chemicals Market, finds that revenues in this market totalled AU$468.1 million in 2006 and is expected to increase by a CAGR of 8.1 per cent to reach AU$872.1 million in 2014.

Water reuse across the municipal and industrial sectors has been the main contributor to the growth of the Australian water treatment chemicals market. While there is still some resistance to the use of recycled water as a potential drinking water source, water reuse for other purposes especially in the industrial sector has increasingly become common practice.

The construction of desalination plants in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales has provided another new consumption sector for water treatment chemicals. It has been estimated that total spending on the water and wastewater treatment sector is AU$6.3 billion and this is projected to grow at an annual rate of 5 per cent until 2009.

“The total Australian water treatment chemicals revenue grew at a CAGR of 11 per cent from 2004 to 2006, with the coagulants and flocculants sector and the pH adjustors and other commodity chemicals sector growing faster than this average,” explains says Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Sarah Wang. “Although alternative technologies such as membrane technology and UV filtration have been much talked about, chemicals continue to provide unmatched performance in critical roles.”

As a consequence of intense competition in the water treatment service industry, providers have been forced to reduce the price of chemicals in order to make their bundled offer more attractive. This price pressure has been invariably passed onto chemicals.

“Customers tend to favour a service provider who is able to provide a customised combination of chemicals and services,” notes Ms. Wang. “This combination is formulated to suit the unique needs of each customer, hence providing high value addition to the customer in the face of intense price competition in the chemicals market.”

Hence, suppliers of water treatment chemicals need to build lasting relationships and partnerships with customers. By understanding customers’ needs and tailoring the provision of bundled packages of services and chemicals as per their requirements, suppliers can differentiate themselves, increase market share, and improve margins.

Suppliers can also ensure growth by establishing regional presence in Australia. With intense price competition in the chemicals market and the resourcing challenges that arise from supplying Australia’s dispersed customer base, suppliers are finding opportunities through the provision of bundles services and chemicals.

Strategic Analysis of the Australian Water Treatment Chemicals Market is part of the Chemicals and Materials Growth Partnership Service program, which also includes research in the following markets: European industrial water treatment chemicals and U.S. water treatment chemicals. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants. Interviews with the press are available.

Navy ERP System Reaches “Go-Live” Milestone

Up to 88,000 to Use New Integrated System for Finance, Procurement, Project Management and Workforce Management

MCLEAN, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE:BE), one of the world’s largest management and technology consulting firms, today announced that one of the largest ERP systems ever developed for the public sector, the Navy Enterprise Resource Planning Program, has reached its “go-live” milestone, completing development, test, data convergence and validation phases for this Navy ACAT I program.

The Navy ERP Program allows the Navy to unify, standardize, and streamline all its business activities into one IT system that will provide information that is secure, reliable, accessible, and current. BearingPoint is the lead systems integrator for the project, which began in 2003, and is leveraging the SAP^® for Public Sector solution portfolio.

“Across the Department of the Navy, we’re looking broadly to determine how to more effectively make a difference for the warfighter. The number one thing needed is transparency deep into the organization. The tool that’s going to get us there is Navy ERP,” said Dr. Delores Etter, former assistant secretary of the Navy, Research, Development and Acquisition.

The new system will simplify many business processes, reduce or eliminate redundancies, and generate money-saving efficiencies. Navy ERP will allow for budgeting and execution to be seen in a single integrated system for the first time.

The initial release of functionality (Release 1.0 – Finance and Acquisition) includes financial management, procurement/acquisition management, project management, and workforce management. Navy ERP is currently being turned on at the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) headquartered at Patuxent River, Md. This first implementation includes NAVAIR’s eight major locations worldwide, reaching 15,000 users. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) is scheduled to move to the new system in 2008, with 10,000 users in five major locations. Navy ERP will continue to roll out to reach nearly 88,000 users by 2013.

“Because of Navy ERP, Navy organizations will operate more effectively, finances will be more transparent, assets will be more visible, and Naval warfighters will be better supported as they engage daily in the defense of our country,” said Navy ERP program manager Ronald J. Rosenthal. “This go-live is a tremendous accomplishment and I’m confident the system will prove to be a significant asset to the Navy.”

BearingPoint, began working as the lead consultant and systems integration contractor in 2003; together with the U.S. Navy team, the Navy ERP project has met every major milestone on schedule and within the contract budget.

The program has been managed using an integrated Government and Contractor Earned Value Management System (EVM), which combines measurements of technical performance, schedule performance, and cost performance. Since 2003, Navy ERP personnel have validated the scope of Release 1.0, developed design specifications and executed 15,000 test cases against 1,500 SAP solution transactions and 223 custom programs resulting in the decision to proceed with the new system. Three rigorous rounds of integration systems tests were completed, user acceptance testing was conducted during the summer of 2007, and go-live approval was granted in September 2007. To train end users, 14 Web-based courses and 65 instructor-led courses were developed and executed through a train-the-trainer methodology.

“The Navy ERP is a cornerstone system in helping to transform the Navy, providing financial visibility across their enterprise,” said Beth Smith, senior vice president of BearingPoint’s Navy sector and leader of its DoD Business Systems practice. “BearingPoint is proud to have been the lead system integrator for one of the largest, most advanced implementations of SAP solutions in the Navy, delivering Navy ERP on time and on budget. We were able to accomplish this jointly with an excellent government leadership team, including Ron Rosenthal, Navy ERP Program Manager, and Susan Keen, Navy ERP Technical Director.”

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Zoho Guides Online Productivity and Collaboration Market into 2008

Enhanced Zoho Suite Driven by Long-term Commitment to Customers and Technology Innovation

PLEASANTON, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Zoho continues to raise the bar in the online productivity and collaboration market with relentless upgrades and enhancements to its suite of online productivity and collaboration applications. Zoho’s dedication to helping people harness the advantages inherent to the Web — mobility, collaboration, productivity and cost-efficiencies — is the driving force behind the industry’s broadest, most feature-rich online suite.

“In our first year, we focused primarily on building the broadest suite of online applications for our customers,” said Raju Vegesna, Zoho evangelist. “We spent our second year broadening our suite further and started integrating these applications into a unified suite. Moving into 2008, we’re building out the depth of the suite, striving for feature parity with desktop suites because our customers have made it clear that the ‘good enough’ functionality of most online applications is not good enough for them.”

As people live and work online more than ever, their needs and expectations continue to mature. Now, users want online applications that offer the functionality available in offline word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and other traditional productivity applications. At the same time, users are also demanding collaborative applications unique to the online environment, e.g., wiki, chat, and desktop sharing.

Zoho has resolved to meet its customers’ needs on both fronts. Zoho is redefining the traditional productivity suite by enabling enhanced collaboration and mobility simply unavailable in offline suites. More, Zoho is setting the standard for these new, online productivity and collaboration suites by constantly upgrading its applications to meet its customers’ evolving demands.

“Google Docs is good, but another online office suite has been rolling out upgrade after upgrade this year, slowly, steadily, and consistently trouncing GDocs in the features department.” Gina Trapani, LifeHacker

“…Zoho has created a terrific product and continues to improve and enhance it at a pace that is far faster than anything coming out of Google or Microsoft.” Jason Hiner TechRepublic

Zoho Upgrades Roll On in 2008

To set the online productivity and collaboration standard, Zoho has already begun rolling out a steady stream of application upgrades, including the highlights below.

• Zoho Show 2.0 gains a rich, Ajax-based user interface to 50+ default themes; shapes and symbols support; extensive editing support for text, images, bullets, etc.; clip art support; Zoho Meeting and Zoho Chat integration; and many more.
• Zoho Writer offline support lets users read and write documents while online or offline. Pagination support, header/footer support, and spell checker in 43 languages have also been added.
• Zoho Sheet adds sidebar and batch operations, auto-fill, auto-suggest, duplicate sheet, multi-language support and several more features.
• Zoho Creator Mobile version gives users access to their private and shared Zoho Creator applications from their mobile phones and devices.
• Zoho Notebook adds linking support, including links back to content sources, a new hand tool, improved books navigation, scheme support, and more.

Zoho’s commitment to long-term, continuous improvement and advancements reflects the backing it receives as a member of the AdventNet family. Unlike companies built around an exit strategy, Zoho is a brand of AdventNet, a company with an execution strategy. Privately-funded AdventNet has been profitable for 11 years, with a successful track record that demonstrates it knows how to deliver software and execute against larger players. For AdventNet, Zoho is pursuing the long-term vision of empowering people to work online.

Disclosure, Consulting Pulse is an active user of Zoho technologies for its publications and productivity tools.

Business Software: One Size Does Not Fit All

-(BUSINESS WIRE)-

In 2008, more and more common business practices will come to be customized. Consumers and professional alike want products especially designed for them. We are living in an age of customization: customized computers, custom-fitted jeans, custom-built cars, pay-per-view and on demand TV that allows viewers to watch what one wants when one wants. The business world is not exempt from this trend.

“In a culture where most everything can be made to order, why should companies expect their business software solutions to be one size fits all?” asks Jason Bishara, Chief Executive Officer of SLM Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: SMHI, http://www.slmbiz.com), a financial software company that develops products and services designed to provide Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools and enhance client support for those working in the financial sector. “In other words, if custom tailoring is good enough for your pinstripe, it should certainly be good enough for your day-to-day communications software.”

SLM Holdings has installed their unique business software on over seventeen thousand desktops at some of America’s leading brokerage firms including: Wachovia, Smith Barney, and Merrill Lynch. The company offers complete on-site training and full data migration and, once their software systems are installed, these tools are accessible by entire teams and trading desks rather than just individual users.

One software tool, ACT! For Financial Professionals (AFFP) records critical financial transactions and tracks important personal client information such as birthdays, anniversaries, hobbies, and gifts given and sent. For example, the software can be programmed to automatically send a client a favorite bottle of wine on his/her birthday.

Particularly noteworthy for those working in the financial sector, SLM software data can provide invaluable protection against arbitration. “If a broker’s primary fiduciary responsibility is to know your client and what you told them, keeping track of client roster information isn’t always as simple as it sounds,” explains Bishara. “In 2006, there were over three thousand cases due to breach of fiduciary duty; nearly three-quarters of those cases involved information directly addressed by SLM’s offered software and services. Knowing the details of your clients’ investment portfolios is crucial. The key to that is more personalized relationships.”

You can learn more about customized business software by visiting www.slmbiz.com.

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IDC Reveals Customer Perception of Leading Services Firms and Key Selection Criteria in New Special Study

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In a new special study entitled, Market Perception of Services Firms: Key Attributes for Success, IDC evaluated in-depth responses from 430 respondents in the U.S. and found that customers are most likely to focus on basic buying principals when evaluating a vendor. Core criteria like quality, competitive pricing, and technical expertise are regarded as most important factors across the board, among all company sizes, industries and professional roles. IDC believes that even a small vendor that is able to tangibly deliver on these attributes can stake a place in this market.

Companies specifically asked about as part of this survey included Accenture, BearingPoint, Capgemini, CSC, Deloitte, EDS, HP Services, IBM Global Services, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, and Unisys.

”Market perception continues to be fragmented in the services industry, but service firms that can clearly demonstrate their value proposition, put together compelling solutions across the partner ecosystem, and capitalize on their market perception strengths, will continue to succeed,” said Cushing Anderson, vice president for Consulting, Systems Integration, HR and Learning Services.

This IDC study was designed to provide service firms a better understanding of customer perceptions about service firms and the attributes that drive customers’ buying decisions. This report also identifies which services firms have the strongest market perception among customers, and the circumstances in which these perceptions are strongest. Customer preferences and their ranking of service firms for different service engagements are also included, to show a clear understanding of how clients consider and select service vendors.

Key questions addressed in this study include:

• Which service firms hold the top spots for market perception by industry and service area?
• What are leading firms’ strengths and how do customers rank their overall delivery of services?
• What criteria do customers use to evaluate services firms and how much weight do they allot to each – by industry, company size, and profession?
• Who are the best-in-class services firms and how do differences in vendor perception impact competitive positioning?

IDC will be presenting high level results of this special study in a Telebriefing on December 13, 2007 at 12:00 pm U.S. Eastern Time. To register for this event, please go to – http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=IDC_P16720 – and click the “Register Now” button.

If you are interested in purchasing the special study, Market Perception of Services Firms: Key Attributes for Success please contact your IDC Account Manager or email mbambauer@idc.com.

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Accenture Completes Acquisition of Corliant, Expanding Enterprise Networking Services and Capabilities

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has completed its acquisition of Corliant, Inc., a privately held technology consulting firm that helps clients deploy and support advanced Internet protocol (IP) networks.

Providing Accenture with specialized skills, methodologies, tools and Cisco-specific network technology expertise, Corliant strengthens Accenture’s networking services and enhances Accenture’s capabilities and market presence in the network technology space.

“This acquisition helps Accenture strengthen our networking services and skills, particularly around implementing advanced, next generation IP network solutions for our clients,” said John Kaltenmark, head of Accenture Technology Consulting. “Accenture’s experience combined with Corliant’s Cisco-based technology specialists will enable us to help our clients achieve high performance.”

The transition of Corliant’s approximately 150 employees to Accenture will enable the company to meet growing client demand for networking consulting services.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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Adecco Issues Five Best Recruitment Practices for 2008

A Refresher for Employers on Better Recruitment for Better Retention

MELVILLE, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Adecco Group North America, the world’s leading workforce solutions and recruitment company (www.adeccousa.com) issued five recruitment best practices for 2008. With unemployment remaining below 5% for the past two years, it is increasingly challenging to find the right talent – talent that will succeed within your organization for the long term. Adecco’s philosophy is that improved retention starts with strong recruitment practices.

To help employers kick off the New Year focused on better recruiting, Adecco, the company that connects more people to more jobs at more companies than anyone else in the world, shares some of its best practices for hiring mangers.

	1.		Start at the top. Take a close look at the top performers in your organization and determine what the key characteristics are that enable them to succeed. Incorporate these into your job description, discuss them with your recruiters and address them with candidates during your interviews.
	2.		Look ahead. As you begin hiring for a position, consider what success will look like a year from now for the person you hire. What will the person need to have accomplished to be deemed a success? Which key stakeholders will play a role in this person’s career at the company? How will this person fit culturally with these stakeholders and the rest of their core team?
	3.		Clarity. Have a clearly defined job description at the onset. Avoid being generic. It will only make more unnecessary work for you, your recruiter and your management team in vetting resumes. If you take the time to really capture what the job is and the key requirements for success, you’ll be able to attract more targeted candidates. Also, when you are interviewing candidates, be clear and candid about the ins and outs of the job. Quick turnover happens as a result of a lack of clarity around what a job truly requires.
	4.		Communication. It’s essential to take the time to communicate consistently with everyone involved in your recruitment process from the team the person will be working with to your recruiter and of course the candidates. First, clearly define as a team what your hiring needs are and the type of person you are looking for. If you work in a team environment, it’s essential to have buy-in from the people who will be working with the new person on the key skills and other characteristics this person should possess.
			Second, it’s very important to help your recruiter understand your needs. Whether it’s an internal recruiter in HR or from a recruitment firm, the more information you share with the recruiter the better a job they can do for you in identifying high potential candidates. The more you align your recruitment team with your business, your culture, the skill set you need and the characteristics you are looking for, the better results you’ll have with your search.
			When you do identify candidates to interview for the role, be sure you communicate all aspects of the job to them and what success looks like. This will help them understand the long-term requirements of the job and enable them to better assess whether it’s the right fit or not.
	5.		Recruiting is marketing. Every point of contact builds a brand, and recruiting is no exception. As you post jobs, interview candidates and introduce them to your company it’s an opportunity to help build your company’s reputation. Whether the candidate turns out to be the right fit or not, you should always market your company and its products/services in a positive and enthusiastic way. One, it helps generate excitement from the candidate and two, you never know if that candidate will become a customer or other type of business partner to your company one day. Also, we can never forget the impact that word of mouth has in the workforce today, so always put your best foot forward with recruits.

“It’s often so easy to let the most fundamental best practices of recruiting go when we are busy in our everyday work lives,” says Bernadette Kenny, Chief Career Officer for Adecco Group North America. “We’ve issued these five best practices as a helpful refresher or guide for hiring managers to reference as we enter another year with increasing recruitment and retention challenges ahead of us.”

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New Global Challengers Pose Growing Threat to Established Industry Leaders, According to a New Report by The Boston Consulting Group

SOURCE: The Boston Consulting Group

17 Companies Join The Boston Consulting Group’s List of 100 Emerging Giants in This New Edition for 2008

The 2008 BCG 100 New Global Challengers List Includes 17 New Entrants

NEW DELHI, INDIA–(Marketwire – December 3, 2007) – Companies from rapidly developing economies (RDEs) are globalizing so quickly that they pose an urgent threat to industry leaders, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) warns in the second edition of its report on 100 of the most formidable companies from RDEs. The report — titled “The 2008 BCG 100 New Global Challengers: How Top Companies from Rapidly Developing Economies are Changing the World” — is being published today.

The BCG New Global Challengers list comprises 100 companies that are growing fast, globalizing aggressively, and reshaping global industries. With over $1.2 trillion in total revenues(1) and more than a half trillion dollars in yearly purchases, the BCG New Global Challengers are already formidable. But their ambitions are daunting — according to the report, their combined revenues will reach $3.3 trillion by 2010 and a massive $11.8 trillion by 2015. Meanwhile, hundreds more RDE-based companies will gain critical mass and launch global expansions as well.

“Industry leaders need to understand these new rivals and act quickly,” urges David Michael, the report’s coauthor and a Beijing-based BCG senior partner. “For those who move fast, the challengers could become key clients, suppliers, and even strategic partners. For those who don’t, the challengers will represent fierce competition and, in time, become potential acquirers.”

By many measures, the BCG 100 New Global Challengers are already outperforming established industry leaders. In the past five years, the Challengers grew revenues faster than the S&P 500 — in fact almost three times as fast since 2004 — earned a higher average return on sales, and created far more shareholder value. “The challengers are increasingly looking for acquisitions abroad,” said report coauthor and BCGBCG partner Arindam Bhattacharya. “In 2006 they completed 72 outbound acquisitions, up from 21 in 2000. The average size of these transactions grew from $156 million in 2001 to $981 million in 2006.”

“Executives at established industry leaders might not be able to pronounce the names of many New Global Challengers,” commented Michael, “yet it is essential for every executive to develop clear strategies for dealing with this group of huge and ambitious companies. Never before have so many potential competitors and customers arisen so quickly on a global scale. Moreover, the challengers have completely different approaches to competition, taking advantage of their bases in emerging markets. Many established industry leaders are frankly unprepared for these new types of competitors. They are also unprepared to capitalize on the sales-growth opportunities presented by selling to these companies.”

Of the 100 companies on BCG’s list, 41 are from China, 20 from India, and 13 from Brazil, with the rest coming from 11 other rapidly developing economies. In this edition of the report, 17 companies appear on the list for the first time, as they break into the ranks of the leading challengers entering the global stage. Notable newcomers to the 2008 list include Grupo Bimbo of Mexico, Nine Dragons Paper Holdings and Sinomach of China, Suzlon Energy of India, Tenaris of Argentina, Marcopolo of Brazil, and Inter RAO UES of Russia.

The full list, which is part of the report published today, is the result of careful screening of more than 3,000 companies from all of the world’s major RDEs. The screening was based on companies’ total revenues, their share of overseas revenues, and their degree of global ambition. (See Appendix B for the full list.)

To order a copy of The 2008 BCG 100 New Global Challengers go to: http://www.bcg.com/impact_expertise/publications/request_form.html?report=global_challengers_2007

The report’s authors are Marcos Aguiar (Sao Paulo), Arindam Bhattacharya (New Delhi), Laurent de Vitton (Beijing), Jim Hemerling (San Francisco), Kim Wee Koh (Singapore), David C. Michael (Beijing), Harold L. Sirkin (Chicago), Kevin Waddell (Warsaw), and Bernd Waltermann (Singapore).

(1) Figures from 2006, the most recent full financial year data available for comparison

About the Methodology for Selecting the 2008 BCG 100

Produced by BCGBCG’s Global Advantage practice, the report — “The 2008 BCG 100 New Global Challengers: How Top Companies from Rapidly Developing Economies are Changing the World” — is based on a detailed screening of more than 3,000 companies from RDEs. First, the BCG research team ensured that the candidate companies were truly RDE-based. Next, it homed in on large players — generally those with $1 billion in sales or greater. Finally, it looked at three years of financial data and scored the remaining companies using five globalization criteria: international presence of the company; major international investments pursued in the past five years; the company’s access to capital for financing international expansion; the breadth and depth of its technologies and intellectual property; and the international appeal of its offerings and value propositions.

APPENDIX A. The new Challengers

The 17 additions to BCG’s 100 New Global Challengers list are

 

• Changhong Electric, a Chinese home appliances company (2006 sales, $2.4 billion)
• Chery Automobile, China’s leading exporter of cars (sales, $2.6 billion)
• COFCO, China’s largest manufacturer, importer, and exporter of oils and food (sales, $17.9 billion)
• CSAV, a global top-ten shipping carrier based in Chile (sales, $3.8 billion)
• CSIC (China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation), the country’s largest manufacturer of ships and marine equipment (sales, $8.0 billion)
• Grupo Bimbo, a Mexican food and beverage company (sales, $5.9 billion)
• Inter RAO UES, Russia’s largest importer and exporter of electricity (sales, $1.0 billion)
• JBS-Friboi, Brazil’s largest beef and pork processor (sales, $1.9 billion)
• Marcopolo, the world’s third-largest maker of bodywork and components for buses and vans, based in Brazil (sales, $820 million)
• MOL Group, Hungary’s leader in oil retailing, fuel retailing, and gas transport (sales, $13.7 billion)
• Nine Dragons Paper Holdings, the largest paperboard-packing manufacturer in China and one of the largest in the world (sales, $1.0 billion)
• PKN Orlen, a Polish oil and gas company (sales, $17 billion)–the largest company in Central Europe
• Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. (ZPMC), a leading China-based manufacturer of container cranes (sales, $2.1 billion)
• Sinomach, one of the world’s leading machinery contractors, based in China (sales, $5.1 billion)
• Suzlon Energy, the fifth-largest company in the world for wind energy, based in India (sales, $1.8 billion)
• Tenaris, an Argentina-based maker of tubes and pipes for the oil industry (sales, $7.7 billion)
• VTech Holdings, the China-based market leader in Europe and the United States for educational video games and an innovator in cordless phones (sales, $1.2 billion)

APPENDIX B: The full list of 100 companies that comprise the BCG 100 New Global Challengers — see graphic above.

Also available as PDF at: http://www.bcg.com/about_bcg/media_center/articles/GlobalChallengerslist.pdf

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Director of SAP Practice for The Judge Group Presents at SAP Summit in Boston

PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Harry Hirsch, SAP Practice Director for The Judge Group, a professional services firm specializing in Technology Consulting, Enterprise-Wide Staffing and Corporate Training, presented at the 5^th Annual SAP^® Influencer Summit in Boston on December 4^th.

The two-day, invitation-only event consisted of five hundred key IT and Business Influencers from around the globe. The gathering took place at The Westin Boston Waterfront where the theme of the event was “Business Network Transformation.” As an industry expert, Mr. Hirsch led an informative discussion on The Judge Group’s accomplishments and future plans with SAP. Some of the key topics discussed were Business ByDesign (BBD), All-in-One (AIO), Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Software as a Service (SAAS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

“The Judge Group was honored by Mr. Hirsch’s invitation to speak in support of SAP’s newest innovations at this year’s Summit,” said Martin E. Judge, Jr., CEO and Founder of The Judge Group. “The Summit presented a great opportunity to network with other industry experts from around the world who are all striving towards innovation and growth.”

SAP presented and demonstrated their strong commitment to Enterprise Service Oriented Architecture and how SOA enables innovation based on a stable, extendable core. “SAP has done an excellent job in developing a portfolio of products that are not only affordable for the small and medium business (SMB) sector but also give organizations like The Judge Group the opportunity to level the playing field against their larger competitors,” said Harry Hirsch, Director of SAP Practice for The Judge Group.

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Sapient Expands Its Digital Marketing Creative Team

Former Oglivy NYC Creative Director Tomas Siedleczka Joins Sapient’s Miami Studio

 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sapient (NASDAQ:SAPE) today announced that it has expanded its digital marketing creative team with the appointment of Tomas Siedleczka to creative director. This new appointment will enable Sapient to further expand its marketing services group, Sapient Interactive, which was ranked as the second largest interactive advertising agency in the United States by Advertising Age in April 2007.

“We continue to attract world-class creative talent to Sapient—a testament to our position as a dominant player in the global interactive sector,” said Sapient Chief Creative Officer Gaston Legorburu. “Our unique ability to merge outstanding creative talent with our strategic prowess and deep technology expertise will enable us to attract more marquee brands to our growing client roster.”

An award-winning interactive creative director, Siedleczka is renowned for his B2C and B2B focused multi-channel campaigns—which leverage emerging media and broadband interactive video—as well as his innovative viral campaigns for the gaming industry. Throughout his career, Siedleczka creatively led successful online initiatives and campaigns for several marquee global brands, including Cisco, Volvo, Jaguar, Exxon Mobil, Dos Equis, Zac Posen and Ivy.tv.

Prior to joining Sapient, Siedleczka was a creative director for Oglivy NYC, where he was responsible for Cisco’s day-to-day interactive marketing initiatives, including the well-received “Human Network” campaign. During his tenure at Oglivy NYC, Siedleczka also spearheaded one of the industry’s most anticipated gaming campaigns, “Save Sam,” a joint venture from Cisco and Ubisoft.

Before Oglivy NYC, Siedleczka was a part of a key creative leadership team for Euro RSCG 4D in New York, where he was responsible for driving new business concepts, account strategy, design and creative art direction. He also played a key role in Jaguar’s global online marketing initiatives, extending Jaguar’s XJ campaign online.

About Sapient

Sapient, a global services firm, operates two groups—Sapient Interactive and Sapient Consulting—that help clients compete, evolve and grow in an increasingly complex marketplace. Sapient Interactive provides brand and marketing strategy, award-winning creative work, web design and development and emerging media expertise. Sapient Consulting provides business and IT strategy, process and systems design, package implementation and custom development, as well as outsourcing services such as testing, maintenance and support.

Sapient’s passion for client success—evidenced by its ability to foster collaboration, drive innovation and solve challenging problems—is the subject of case studies on leadership and organizational behavior used by MBA students at both Harvard and Yale. Leading clients, including BP, Essent Energie, Harrah’s Entertainment, Hilton International, Janus, Sony Electronics and Verizon, rely on the company’s unique approach to drive growth and market momentum. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sapient operates across North America, Europe and India. For more information, please visit www.sapient.com.

Sapient is a registered service mark of Sapient Corporation.

Contacts

Media:
Sapient
Gail Scibelli, +1.617.452.1911
gscibelli@sapient.com
or
fama PR
Jeff Drew, +1.617.758.4145
sapient@famapr.com

Commissioning Structures for Sales

This post is by Mr Phil Pemberton, a Business Development Director at Vertex Data Science in the UK.

There is no universal mechanism for incentivising sales professionals. Much depends on the nature of the business, its sales strategies, market, products and services, competitive landscape, etc.

The sales commission plan must be aligned to, and help achieve, the business plan – are you looking at revenue growth, increased profitability, increased market share, introduction of new products and services, the available budget for sales and marketing, etc.

In a traditional direct sales channel where the vast majority of sales come through front line sales staff, it may be appropriate to have a single sales commission plan. In other scenarios, the plan may need to include a wide range of staff that contribute to business development – from marketing through to delivery and account management.

In order to get everyone in the organization pulling in the same direction, reward/bonus structures based on achievement of business plan as well as non-financial measures spread across a wider leadership group is relatively common. A percentage of revenue accumulates in a bonus pool to be shared amongst eligible employees. Long term incentive plans have similar qualities but tend to pay out after 3/5 years based on achievement of longer term goals.

Back to individual sales commissions: In my experience, the following have all worked to some extent:
1) Individual sales person is paid a percentage of total contract value (for high margin products, 3-5% is common). This is simple to administer, unambiguous, but does rely upon there being a clear understanding of the company’s cost base, product cost-of-sales, product margins, etc. It is best suited to product sales where pricing, cost of sales, overhead allocation, margins is relatively transparent and static. For more complex services, this is often seen as an unsuitable approach simply because the contribution (gross profit margin) achievable in reality varies from one sale to the next and is not readily determinable at the point of sale.

2) Percentage of gross profit (4% of contribution is a good benchmark for high value, low margin sales). This approach incentivizes on maximization of profits and thus discourages discounting and price dumping by the sales lead in order to close the sale.

3) Sales commission pro-rata to achievement of agreed sales targets. This approach rewards performance over a period (month, quarter, year) rather than the individual sales transaction. It is normal practice to only reward performance that exceeds target or an agreed threshold – this is typically 50% of the overall sales target. So for example, if an individual has an annual sales target of £10million and she actually sells £6M at the end of the sales period, she would be awarded 60% of her bonus entitlement as she met the threshold (£5M). In this approach, an On-Target-Earning (OTE) figure is used as the bonus level. It is reasonable for pure sales roles to have an OTE at 100% of base salary. Therefore, achievement of target would earn the sales person the equivalent of his basic salary as a bonus. Over achievement of target would be paid pro-rata, with usually an earnings cap at extreme levels (c. 300%+ of OTE).

There are also team/group reward pools and the ilk.

Some organisations reward sales people on a mix of performance indicators – overall earned revenue is usually top priority, but other factors may include profitability, in-period revenue/profit, personal development KPIs, tie-in to overall business plan, etc.

Unfortunately it is still all too common to find successful sales people not paid commission due. Most sales plans are deemed discretionary (although law would support the claim for unpaid commission where the individual had worked with a reasonable expectation of it being paid). Worst still, is the practice of changing sales targets such that the sales person’s success has diminishing returns over time.

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Business Intelligence / Analytics Technology Drives 42% Improvement in Customer Retention in Best-in-Class Companies

Best-in-Class Companies Post Significant Gains in Service Profitability, Customer Retention, and First Call Fix Rates

BOSTON, MA–(Marketwire – December 6, 2007) – The recently published study by Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks company (NYSE: HHS), “Get Smart: Business Intelligence and Analytics for Service Organizations,” found that leading field service organizations are adopting business intelligence and data analytics technology and best practices to enable better and faster decisions and reporting within post-sale service organizations. They are also beginning to deploy simulation modeling within their organizations to perform sophisticated “what-if” planning and forecasting.

Among the service organizations recently surveyed, companies that have implemented technology for reporting and decision support have improved:

--  Service profitability by 17%--  Customer retention rates by an average of 29%--  Service Level Agreement (SLA) performance by 33%  

Best-in-Class organizations are showing greater improvements, with service profitability up 18%, customer retention increase of 42%, and a 44% improvement in SLA compliance.

“Top organizations have realized the value of having accurate, readily available information to drive service decisions,” said Micky Long, Research Director at Aberdeen Group. “By leveraging technology and applying the right business processes and workflows, organizations are making better, more informed decisions, providing better analysis of service performance and giving service executives the tools to perform rigorous business analysis. The result is reduced costs, better customer retention and higher service profitability.”

Other service organization Best-in-Class characteristics include:

--  80% have enterprise-wide balanced scorecard initiatives in place--  71% have a vice president or higher executive overseeing service  functions--  40% have established enterprise-wide standards and process to ensure  data accuracy

Long recommends that service organizations consider the following strategies to drive efficiency and decision support within their service organization:

--  Implement technology and process to ensure data accuracy within the  service operation.--  Provide service organization with total visibility into parts,  workforce and knowledge across the enterprise.--  Implement technology to enable "what-if" simulations.--  Focus attention on longer-term customer-facing metrics like  retention as well as profit.  

Over 250 companies participated in this quantitative study, including: ABB, Circuit City, Honeywell, KLA-Tencor, Kodak, NCR, Rockwell Automation, Trane, and Siemens.

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the following underwriters: I.B.I.S., Inc., ServiceBench, Inc., and Tavant Technologies, Inc. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4189.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen’s analytical and independent view of the “customer optimization” process of Harte-Hanks (Information – Opportunity – Insight – Engagement – Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

© 2007 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company260 Franklin StreetBoston, Massachusetts 02110-3112Telephone: (617) 723-7890Fax: (617) 723-7897www.aberdeen.com

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IBM to Acquire Arsenal Digital Solutions

Combination to Provide Clients a Complete Range of Information Protection Solutions

ARMONK, NY–(Marketwire – December 6, 2007) – IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Arsenal Digital Solutions, a privately held company based in Cary, North Carolina. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Upon completion of the acquisition, Arsenal will become part of the Business Continuity and Resiliency Services (BCRS) business unit in IBM Global Technology Services. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

An emerging worldwide leader in on-demand data protection, Arsenal delivers a comprehensive suite of information protection solutions. Arsenal’s scalable on-demand services architecture provides customers with automated infrastructure management and gives Arsenal the unique ability to provide solutions to all segments of the marketplace.

IBM and Arsenal serve small and mid-market businesses as well as large enterprises that need to achieve data resiliency in light of increasing regulatory requirements, explosive data growth and evolving technology requirements. With the acquisition of Arsenal, IBM will provide global clients with security-rich information protection services designed to handle increasing data retention requirements. Arsenal brings unique capabilities in the on-line data protection market, complementing IBM Tivoli’s flagship data protection offerings and IBM System Storage solutions designed to deliver the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio for addressing enterprise information protection needs.

“Information protection is not optional for businesses today. Continuity of data, applications, and infrastructure means survival in a world that operates around the clock, regardless of a company’s size or industry,” said Philippe Jarre, vice president, IBM Global Business Continuity and Resiliency Services. “IBM’s leading business continuity and resiliency services, combined with managed services from Arsenal, give IBM the most comprehensive range of information protection services, and provide clients the ability to back up and protect their information in a way that is integrated with their business continuity plan.”

“As organizations grapple with stringent government regulations and the continuing explosion of business information, they seek a trusted provider of products and services that will meet their needs on a global scale,” says Frank Brick, chairman and chief executive officer of Arsenal Digital Solutions. “Arsenal delivers a comprehensive information protection portfolio that is adaptable to address businesses of all sizes. Our on-demand capabilities, together with IBM’s global reach and industry-specific knowledge, position us as a strong competitor in this rapidly growing market.”

Arsenal’s services are already used by thousands of clients in a wide range of industries including healthcare, hospitality and manufacturing. Arsenal’s strategic business partnerships with the world’s leading telecommunications providers have helped the company become an industry leader in the on-demand data protection marketplace.

With forty years of global experience in the business continuity space and more than 150 BCRS recovery centers worldwide, IBM has deep industry-specific knowledge and a broad range of major clients and leading services, for an unmatched end-to-end portfolio. Together with Arsenal, IBM will be a leading provider of information protection services for clients of all sizes.

IBM plans to make Arsenal solutions available worldwide through IBM’s BCRS services business, through Arsenal’s existing channel partners, including telecommunications providers, as well as direct through IBM.com and from select business partners.

The acquisition of Arsenal will bolster IBM’s strategy to blend software, hardware, and research into replicable, asset-based standardized services that can be used with multiple clients to help them transform their businesses.

More information about IBM and Arsenal is available at www.ibm.com or www.arsenaldigital.com.

IBM and the IBM logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. Arsenal Digital Solutions is a trademark of Arsenal Digital Solutions USA, Inc. All other company and product names and service marks may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Media contact:
Tim Willeford
IBM
914-766-4618
twilleford@us.ibm.com

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Contemporary Lifestyle Consulting Offers Advice for Coping With Job Transitions Over the Holidays

With an Imminent Job Change, People May Feel a Fear of the Unknown and a Sense of Insecurity That Clashes With the Family Security and Togetherness That Make the Holiday Season Special; Tolu Adeleye of Contemporary Lifestyle Consulting Offers Some Advice for Those Undergoing a Major Job Transition During the Holiday Season

VICTORIA, BC–(Marketwire – December 6, 2007) – Facing a job transition isn’t necessarily a pleasant prospect even at the best of times. According to a study published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal), the self-reported health status of people facing a job change or job loss showed significant deterioration when compared to people with secure jobs.

“It’s already stressful to deal with career transitions normally,” said Tolu Adeleye, a partner of Contemporary Lifestyle Consulting, Inc. (http://www.staysanethroughchange.com). “When it’s the holiday season, it can be even harder to cope.”

Adeleye says that with an imminent job change, people may feel a fear of the unknown and a sense of insecurity that clashes with the family security and togetherness that make the holiday season special. The added stress of the holiday season also makes it harder to cope. She offers some advice for those undergoing a major job transition during the holiday season.

The first thing she suggests is to be in the moment, especially when attending holiday gatherings.

“If you’re present in the moment, then you’re not thinking about your impending job change or what tomorrow will bring,” Adeleye said. “You are only focusing on this time with your family and enjoying it. That alone will help coping with a job transition immensely.”

Adeleye also advises people to use the happy, euphoric feeling that comes from celebrating a joyous occasion to cast their career transition in a new and positive light.

“It’s so easy to get caught up in thinking about the stressful, negative part of a job change, and you let fear and worry take over,” Adeleye said. “You can use the positive emotion you experience from being with your family to give you momentum into the change. Instead of viewing it with fear, you can view it as a new adventure in your life.”

People with a job change in the near future should also be careful making New Year’s resolutions, Adeleye says. Throwing in more change where there’s already insecurity about a job transition could add more stress to the situation.

“Try to make realistic resolutions,” Adeleye said. “You’ve already got one major change happening in your life. Handling too many life changes at once may bring unbearable pressure on you.”

For more information about how to cope with a job change during the holiday season, visit Contemporary Lifestyle Consulting online at http://www.staysanethroughchange.com and get 10 percent off their e-book, “Stay Sane Through Change.”

About CLCI

F. David Webster, M.A. and Tolulope A. Adeleye, Ph.D. founded Contemporary Lifestyle Consulting in September 2005. CLCI seeks to empower people with time-tested tools for turning times of change into stepping stones to greater fulfillment.

Tolu Adeleye, Ph.D.
Phone: 250-744-2159
Email Contact
http://www.staysanethroughchange.com

Dave Webster, M.A.
Phone: 250-744-2411
Email Contact
http://www.staysanethroughchange.com

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SteelCloud Announces $1 Million IT Consulting Services Contract With One of the Country’s Largest Transit Authorities

December 06, 2007: 08:30 AM EST

SteelCloud, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCLD), a manufacturer of embedded integrated computing systems, announced today that it received a $1 million IT consulting services contract from one of the country’s largest transit authorities to accelerate compliance with the Payment Card Industry’s (“PCI”) Data Security Standard. SteelCloud will provide a team of security engineers to assist in implementing formal security policies and vulnerability programs to protect customer information.

Under PCI, all companies that accept credit cards are required to comply with 12 security-related requirements that call for, among other things, encrypted transmission of cardholder data, periodic network scans, logical and physical access controls, activity monitoring and logging.

The volume of the transit authority’s credit card transactions exceeds 5 million per year resulting in well over $100 million in revenue making adherence to the PCI Data Security Standard absolutely essential.

“As I mentioned in September, one of my top goals is to grow our services business with little to no additional investment,” said Robert Frick, CEO and President of SteelCloud. “This award signifies that we are achieving success in meeting this goal without diluting or losing focus on performance and growth of our core integration business. This contract utilizes our network security and IT compliance capabilities, which are two areas that we anticipate significant growth considering the current regulatory and security requirements within the marketplace.”

About SteelCloud

SteelCloud is a leading provider of embedded integrated computing systems to the industrial automation and military COTS server markets. The Company has cultivated numerous strategic relationships with thought-leading organizations such as Intel, Microsoft and systems integrators. The Company’s ISO 9001:2000 certified Quality Management System ensures commitment to high quality standards and continuous quality improvement in all aspects of its business. Over its 20-year history, SteelCloud has won numerous awards for technical excellence and customer satisfaction. To learn more about the specialized computing platform and engineering services offered by SteelCloud, please visit www.steelcloud.com.

“Safe Harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions contained in the foregoing are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. It is possible that the assumptions made by management are not necessarily the most likely and may not materialize. In addition, other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the following: business conditions and the amount of growth in the computer industry and general economy; competitive factors; ability to attract and retain personnel, including key sales and management personnel; the price of the Company’s stock; and the risk factors set forth from time to time in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including but not limited to its annual report on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports on Forms 10-Q; and any reports on Form 8K. SteelCloud takes no obligation to update or correct forward-looking statements.

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MCA Solutions Names Bob Bryant Chief Operating Officer

PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–MCA Solutions, the leader in service parts planning and optimization, today expanded its executive team by promoting Bob Bryant to chief operating officer.

Bob has more than 20 years of industry experience and as MCA’s new COO, he leads the management of functional and technical consulting, customer support, strategic consulting, education and pre-sales. He is responsible for maintaining MCA’s record of successful on-time delivery and complete customer satisfaction, and provides functional guidance for operations in EMEA.

“Since joining MCA Solutions in early 2003 as the Boeing project manager, Bob has been instrumental in our company’s growth and development,” said Bob Salvucci, president and CEO of MCA Solutions. “We‘re excited to have Bob join our executive team, and look forward to a very successful year ahead.”

Prior to joining MCA Solutions, Bob held multiple director positions at i2 Technologies, overseeing supplier relationship management, logistics and transportation. Before joining i2, he was the product manager for MARCAM Solution’s Protean ERP product. Bob spent 14 years as a program manager at Raytheon, where he captured and managed more than $50M in technology contracts.

“This is a very exciting opportunity, and I’m looking forward to playing an even stronger role in the company’s growth, development and success in the coming years,” said Mr. Bryant.

About MCA Solutions

MCA Solutions, and its Service Planning Optimization suite of solutions, helps companies in industries ranging from aerospace and defense and semiconductors to industrial and medical equipment, set new standards for asset utilization and customer support. SPO is a Web-based suite of advanced inventory planning, forecasting and execution solutions that give companies the ability to manage and monitor inventory levels of mission-critical materials. It meets the demanding requirement of the service parts planning process, reduces operating costs and provides global, real-time visibility throughout the extended service supply chain. The first commercial software to optimize assets in a multi-echelon service supply chain network, it supports collaborative planning, forecasting and execution processes by linking with a company’s enterprise and customer relationship management systems.

MCA Solutions, Service Planning and Optimization Suite and SPO are trademarks of MCA Solutions, Inc.

Contacts

MCA Solutions
Tim Andreae, 617-232-1799
Tim.Andreae@mcasolutions.com
or
Corporate Ink
Corinne Federici, 617-969-9192
cfederici@corporateink.com

ThinkFire Names Former Bain & Company Partner, Steven J. Hoffman, President

Prior Head of Bain’s Boston Office will Manage ThinkFire’s Growth and Operations

WARREN, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ThinkFire, the leading intellectual property business advisor to high-technology and private equity firms, announced today that the board of directors has named Steven J. Hoffman to the newly created position of president. Mr. Hoffman, who was also elected to the company’s board of directors, was a former Bain & Company partner and headed its largest office.

Mr. Hoffman will be responsible for the management of ThinkFire’s operations and its expansion in current and new areas. He will free CEO Dan McCurdy to spend more time developing strategic initiatives to combat the ever-increasing threats posed by patent trolls, evaluating business and IP issues in domestic and international private equity transactions, and advising business and IP executives in the U.S. and abroad.

“ThinkFire is enjoying another year of record growth,” said Dan McCurdy, CEO. “Steve brings a wealth of management and professional services experience to the company, and we welcome his expertise as we expand our business, including IP strategy, market analysis and patent brokerage.”

“I’m excited to be joining an industry leader in the rapidly growing IP services sector,” said Mr. Hoffman. “ThinkFire has achieved a great deal since its inception in 2001. The company’s expertise and depth uniquely positions it to realize even greater growth in the near term as demand for business advice on IP matters continues to exceed supply.”

Mr. Hoffman was responsible for restoring Bain & Company’s 450-person Boston office to profitability in 1992. More recently he served as Senior Vice President and head of the global strategy practice for CSC Index. In his prior role as the head of Index’ Chicago office, he grew the practice from 18 to 115 people and $32mm in revenue, making it the firm’s largest and most profitable office. At Sapient, a $250MM publicly held software development and consulting firm, he served as Executive Vice President in charge of the firm’s financial services practice.

Mr. Hoffman holds a B.A. in Economics from Wesleyan University and a M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Chicago.

In a separate matter, Don Boreman has left ThinkFire. Don had served as Executive Vice President.

About the Company

ThinkFire, Inc. (www.thinkfire.com) is an intellectual property services firm that works with leading information technology, telecommunications, semiconductor, software, consumer electronics, financial services, and private equity firms. ThinkFire’s IP management resources help its clients increase profitability, minimize expense, and enhance freedom to operate. Since 2002 ThinkFire has achieved more than $1.5 billion in sales, licenses and judgments for patent owners worldwide.

ThinkFire’s professionals include negotiators, market analysts, technologists and patent attorneys who have been previously associated with leading technology and professional services firms including IBM, Accenture, Siemens, PwC, Lucent Technologies, Bain & Company, The McKenna Group, and Intel. ThinkFire offices are located in greater New York, Boston and San Francisco.

Contacts

Brody Berman Associates
Bruce Berman, (+1) 212 683 8125 x 216
bberman@brodyberman.com

BearingPoint Names F. Edwin Harbach CEO

Third-Quarter Form 10-Q Filed; Company Sheds Late Filer Status

MCLEAN, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE:BE), one of the world’s largest management and technology consulting firms, announced today that its Board of Directors has named Ed Harbach president and chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors. Harbach, who has more than 28 years of experience in the consulting industry, has been the Company’s president and chief operating officer since Jan. 2007.

Harry L. You, who joined as chief executive officer in March 2005, is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities and will be succeeded by Harbach. You successfully led BearingPoint through an important period of rebuilding and improved financial management.

The Company also today filed its third-quarter Form 10-Q making it current and up-to-date in its periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Roderick McGeary, chairman of the board, stated, “BearingPoint continues to make great progress. Harry helped to build the financial foundation necessary to position us for future success. The Board and Harry agreed that this is the perfect time for a change in leadership. We are thrilled that Ed will lead the Company into the next, critical phase of achieving strategic and operational excellence. Ed has extensive experience in the consulting industry, and has already brought great value to BearingPoint as the leader of its day-to-day operations. With his proven ability to tackle operational challenges, drive business results and increase client satisfaction, Ed will be instrumental in helping us make the final push on our business turnaround and execute our strategy for long-term growth.”

McGeary added, “Ed’s appointment reflects the Board’s determination that the best way for the Company to create value for its shareholders, clients and employees is by intensifying our focus on operations — and leveraging the full scale and scope of our global business, including continuing to own and operate our European practice as an important part of our consolidated business. Ed will pursue this strategy with a focused and disciplined approach to driving profitable growth, building the Company’s cash flow and strengthening the balance sheet.”

Harbach stated, “I am very enthusiastic about taking on the chief executive role. I have worked in the consulting business for my entire career and I am confident that our Company can create long-term value for shareholders. BearingPoint has world-class people and a solid customer base with great potential. I look forward to working with the Board, our management team and our global employee base to operate the Company efficiently and to continue to establish BearingPoint as one of the world’s premier management technology and consulting firms.”

Prior to his role as president and chief operating officer of BearingPoint, Harbach served as a managing partner and member of the leadership team at Accenture and held key client-facing and executive positions throughout the organization. In addition to leading global client relationships with several Fortune 100 companies, Harbach served as chief information officer and managing partner, Client Satisfaction and Quality, and also served as turnaround leader on a number of critical client and organizational assignments in multiple geographic regions.

McGeary added, “We thank Harry for his hard work and important contributions to BearingPoint over the last three years. Harry’s leadership has been important, particularly in building a strong foundation to bring current the Company’s financial reporting, strengthen the balance sheet and resolve a significant number of serious financial, compliance, legal and other issues which existed when he arrived. On behalf of the Board and management team, we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

You stated, “I am delighted that we have been able to get current and I look forward to pursuing other opportunities. It has been a privilege working with the many talented people throughout BearingPoint over the past three years. I am proud of the progress the Company has made. It is a real testament to our franchise and to the tenacity of our people.” You continued, “I have known Ed for several years and am confident in his abilities to lead BearingPoint into the future.”

BearingPoint will host a conference call today to discuss the Company’s 2007 third quarter 10-Q filing at 8 a.m. ET. To participate on this call, please dial: (800) 399-6696 [(706) 679-7614 outside the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada] approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the call. Alternatively, to listen to the live call, please go to the Investor Relations section of BearingPoint’s Web site at www.bearingpoint.com. A replay of the conference call will be available online at www.bearingpoint.com approximately two hours after the end of the call and via telephone by dialing +1 (800) 642-1687 [(706) 645-9291 outside the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada] and entering conference code 24637176 from 11:00 a.m. ET on Dec. 3 through 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 17.

About BearingPoint, Inc.

BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE:BE) is one of the world’s largest providers of management and technology consulting services to Global 2000 companies and government organizations in 60 countries worldwide. Based in McLean, Va., the firm has more than 17,000 employees focusing on the Public Services, Financial Services and Commercial Services industries. BearingPoint professionals have built a reputation for knowing what it takes to help clients achieve their goals, and working closely with them to get the job done. Our service offerings are designed to help our clients generate revenue, increase cost-effectiveness, manage regulatory compliance, integrate information and transition to “next-generation” technology. For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.BearingPoint.com.

Some of the statements in this press release constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections. Words such as “will,” “expects,” “believes” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and as such are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions as to future events or our future financial performance that may not prove to be accurate. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in these forward-looking statements. As a result, these statements speak only as of the date they were made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts

Media Contacts:
BearingPoint
Betsy Palmer, 404-242-4638
betsy.palmer@bearingpoint.com
or
The Abernathy MacGregor Group
Lex Suvanto, 212-371-5999
917-496-7287
lex@abmac.com
or
Investor Contacts
BearingPoint
Francesca Luthi, 646-584-0657
Francesca.luthi@bearingpoint.com
or
BearingPoint
Denise Stone, 973-214-9953
Denise.stone@bearingpoint.com

Financial Services Firms Should Grasp Emerging Opportunities from Climate Change, While Preparing for Long-Term Threats to Value

New report on climate change released by Oliver Wyman and its Senior Advisory Board

NEW YORK & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–This new report by strategy consultants Oliver Wyman does not opine on climate change per se. It assumes the consensus scientific view on climate change and maps out the implications for financial services.

Financial institutions should act now to respond to changing demand due to climate change, whilst protecting themselves against the longer term erosion of value. The report also highlights the opportunity the industry faces to play a leadership role and contribute to the growing risk management needs of companies, governments and individuals as the world adapts to climate change. It stresses that the multiple unknown impacts of climate change on financial firms will be driven as much by customer perception and public policy decisions as by environmental change or weather events.

Oliver Wyman believes that the industry is uniquely well positioned to cope with climate change, due to its risk expertise and capital mobility. Financial institutions’ ability to hedge business risks for themselves and customers, develop new products quickly, and invest in new markets means that the sector is well placed for most scenarios, with new climate change related opportunities already apparent and growing.

The report examines the likely effects across the financial services sector:

• Corporate/institutional banking and asset management will see the strongest upsides, with new carbon markets, growing demand for hedging innovation to manage energy prices and changing weather patterns, and clean tech financing and advisory revenues (potentially attracting $225bn of new investment a year by 2016).
• Insurance faces the greatest threats, and could suffer up to $150bn of annual weather-related losses by 2030, with risk pricing anomalies as underwriters adjust and necessary premium rises possibly depressed by regulation or high levels of competition.
• The “green” banking market is currently tiny, but “green” could increasingly influence consumer choice of retail bank over time.

Longer term, climate change will increase the chance of defaults, and asset value decline in credit portfolios. Financial institutions will have to spot, in the absence of robust data and with changes in historic risk/return characteristics, anomalies in achievable risk premium, and thus decide where to compete aggressively and where to increase margin and collateral requirements.

In addition, the very factors that make the financial sector resilient to climate change – its global nature and its mobile capital – also mean it is susceptible to threats that can’t be mitigated. The economic impact of temperature rises and tough greenhouse gas abatement measures will gradually outstrip the opportunities, and could lead to a loss of over $530bn in industry revenues (compared to a non-climate change adjusted base case) by 2030.

Some of the largest institutions have in place integrated approaches covering strategic positioning, product development, operational processes, and stakeholder relations, but for many firms climate change remains below the radar. Over time, the mixed effects of climate change could lead to significant divergence in firms’ performance, and Oliver Wyman outlines five recommendations for institutions aiming to outperform:

1. Re-appraise the firm’s portfolio, stress testing its geographic and business exposure to climate risk. Firms may need to re-prioritise regional markets and business lines according to their likelihood of being net beneficiaries or casualties, while monitoring regulation, emerging liability issues, technological change, and increasing public activism.

2. Innovate to capture the increased appetite for climate change related financial products, and exploit arbitrage opportunities between different markets. The consumer market is largely untapped, and there is considerable scope for insurance innovation in emerging markets. The unpredictable implications of climate change necessitate rapid innovation which is highly responsive to changing market conditions.

3. Develop the brand - consumers and new recruits will be attracted by a sense of shared values in markets where financial institutions are virtually indistinguishable, loyalty is low, and climate change concern is high. In many regions there is still scope for firms to seize the role of the green financial institution. But while firms may suffer by being slow to market their eco awareness, they must also be alert for climate change fatigue and “green wash” accusations, recognizing that green branding will soon become a hygiene factor.

4. Deliver effective “climate change governance” – financial institutions must instill a coherent stance at firm level, ensuring that a growing capability is both utilised across the organisation and matched by internal performance. Firms need structures whereby climate risk and opportunities are reported on and used to inform strategy and products, and measures are taken to reduce emissions from infrastructure and travel.

5. Collaborate with governments, NGOs, customers and competitors – the complexity of climate change means that the biggest financial firms should work collaboratively in ways that strengthen not only their individual reputations, but also that of the industry as a whole. Industry leaders should actively work to influence policy solutions to climate change that best leverage the power of capital markets for the common good, helping advise governments to steer away from unilateral policies that could create significant moral hazard and thereby latent costs for taxpayers.

Co-author of the report, David Knipe, said: “Many financial firms still have much to do on climate change. They should be focusing as much on the opportunities now opening up as on protecting themselves against the erosion of value. As an immediate priority, firms should be stress-testing their portfolios, intelligently strengthening their green credentials, and developing new products to anticipate changing customer demand. Financial firms have much to contribute to global society in our collective response to climate change, and their ability at the same time to create value from the opportunities and threats will depend on how they deftly they respond to the changing business environment.”

Notes to Editors:

The members of the Oliver Wyman Senior Advisory Board are:

Rolf E. Breuer, former Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Chief Executive of Deutsche Bank

Mathis Cabiallavetta, vice chairman of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., former chairman of the board of UBS

Henning Christophersen, former Danish Minister of Finance and EU Commissioner

Carlo Corradini, Chairman of Leonardo Italy, and member of the Board of Directors of Banca IMI

Professor Niall Ferguson, Harvard University, author of ‘The House of Rothschild’ and ‘The Cash Nexus’

Korkmaz Ilkorur, Founder of İlkorur Advisory Services and chairman of Bati Insurance Company

Alexander Hendrik George Rinnooy Kan, Chairman of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER) and Member of the Executive Board for ING Group

Sir Andrew Large, former Deputy Governor, Bank of England

David Murray, former Chief Executive of Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Emmanuel Rodocanachi, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Salomon Smith Barney, formerly Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Natexis SA

Vanni Treves, Chairman of the Board of Korn/Ferry International, The Equitable Life Assurance Society, Intertek Group Plc and the National College of School Leadership

Ignacio Sanchez-Asiain Sanz, Vice Chairman of Banco Provincial, BBVA Chile, Banco Continental and BBVA Colombia

Charles N. Bralver, Executive Director of the Master of International Business program and Center for Emerging Markets Enterprises, at The Fletcher School of Tufts University and founding partner, Oliver, Wyman & Company

Contacts

The Clarion Group
Alex Paidas, 212-931-5703
apaidas@clarionpr.com

Sapient Named a Leading Interactive Marketing Agency by Independent Research Firm

Sapient Delivers Unparalleled Technology and Analytics Skills for Interactive Marketing According to New Independent Report

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sapient (NASDAQ: SAPE) today announced that Sapient Interactive, its marketing services group, was named a leading interactive agency in the “Forrester Wave™: Interactive Marketing Agencies, Q4 2007” (December 2007) report published by leading independent analyst firm Forrester Research. According to the report, “Sapient is the agency for companies with complex interactive technology and marketing needs,” and “Sapient possesses deep technology integration capabilities and solid measurement and analytics services.”

The report also called out the following key findings:

• Sapient has a well-articulated process for defining clients’ needs in interactive marketing and has a large, well-skilled staff to deliver on that strategy.
• Sapient has a staff with diverse backgrounds and a breadth of skills (with digital and traditional media). It has experience with all of the interactive channels and has robust tools for campaign management and reporting.
• Sapient has a broad set of resources for monitoring social media including third-party brand monitoring tools as well as proprietary bots and Web crawlers. It also has a dedicated team that studies and helps implement social media channels and other emerging media.
• Sapient’s leadership includes people with backgrounds in marketing, advertising, technology, management consulting, and research. The average tenure is nine years. Sapient’s CEO, chief creative officer, and business unit leads are entrepreneurs who have created value for clients and shareholders. It has a mix of acquired talent and people that have moved up the ranks of the company. Industry expertise of the management team includes financial services, packaged goods, travel, automotive, electronics, media, as well as marketing services.

“For the second time this year, Sapient Interactive has been recognized as an industry leader in the interactive agency space, demonstrating the depth of our creative, marketing strategy and media expertise. This is further evidence that our differentiated strategy is working,” said Gaston Legorburu, chief creative officer of Sapient. “Forrester’s report provides a way by which prospective customers can evaluate our solutions and further reassures our existing clients that they are partnered with one of the best in the world. This report highlights our exceptional track record of integrating technology, strategy, creative, analytics and customer insight to solve clients’ most important brand challenges.”

Sapient Interactive is the largest independent interactive agency in the world—and the first of its kind, providing brand and marketing strategy, award-winning creative work, web design and development and emerging media expertise. The company integrates creative marketing concepts with technology tools and platforms that drive new customer acquisition build loyalty and increase meaningful dialogue between brands and their customers. Last April, Sapient Interactive was named the second-largest interactive marketing agency in the US by Advertising Age. It was also named the second-largest interactive agency in Germany by the German Association for Digital Economy and the largest digital marketing agency in the United Kingdom by New Media Age. Sapient was also recognized as a leading interactive agency in the “Forrester Wave: European Interactive Agencies – Web Design Capabilities, Q4 2007.”

To view the Forrester Interactive Marketing Agencies Wave, visit: http://web2.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,42367,00.ht ml (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser’s address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

About Sapient

Sapient, a global services firm, operates two groups—Sapient Interactive and Sapient Consulting—that help clients compete, evolve and grow in an increasingly complex marketplace. Sapient Interactive provides brand and marketing strategy, award-winning creative work, web design and development and emerging media expertise. Sapient Consulting provides business and IT strategy, process and systems design, package implementation and custom development, as well as outsourcing services such as testing, maintenance and support.

Sapient’s passion for client success—evidenced by its ability to foster collaboration, drive innovation and solve challenging problems—is the subject of case studies on leadership and organizational behavior used by MBA students at both Harvard and Yale. Leading clients, including BP, Essent Energie, Harrah’s Entertainment, Hilton International, Janus, Sony Electronics and Verizon, rely on the company’s unique approach to drive growth and market momentum. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sapient operates across North America, Europe and India. For more information, please visit www.sapient.com.

Sapient is a registered service mark of Sapient Corporation.

Contacts

Sapient
Gail Scibelli, +1 617-452-1911
gscibelli@sapient.com
or
fama PR
Doug Fraim, +1 617-758-4176
sapient@famapr.com

View marketing Jobs

SaaS Research Firm Announces Plans to Add 2.2 Million Company Profiles to Its Database

Stratascope is proud to announce it has signed a contract to add 2.2 million company profiles to its database.

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Stratascope Inc., a leading provider of independent financial and operational research services, today announced that it has signed a contract to add 2.2 million global company profiles to its database. This expansion of the Stratascope Company Repository will help Stratascope client’s effectively research any company, on a global basis, with annual revenues in excess of USD 2.5 Million. The expanded database will also include more than 350,000 subsidiaries for over 60,000 parent companies.

“Our global clients continue to reach out to the worlds emerging markets as well as downmarket to smaller and smaller businesses, where it is very difficult to get accurate research and analysis. With this new database acquisition and our research teams in both the United States and India, we are able to provide the most effective research and sales intelligence available” said Bruce Brien, CEO of Stratascope Inc.

Brien also indicated that since Stratascope is already licensing data from this provider, users should see the full effects of the expansion in a matter of weeks, targeting mid to late January for the complete rollout.

About Stratascope Inc.

Headquartered in Marlborough, MA, Stratascope Inc., through its on-line expertise and on-demand collateral, help clients to establish an automated link between their solutions and the value that they bring to the business issues that their clients are facing. When our clients walk into a customer meeting they are prepared to talk about their customer’s current situation and real business issues. Through our expertise and collateral, we help our clients read their customer’s mind, looking at sales cycles from their customer’s “buying” point of view, so that they can address the customer’s needs resulting in a mutually beneficial relationship.

For more information visit www.stratascope.com.

Stratascope^® is a registered trademark of Stratascope Inc.

Contacts

Stratascope Inc.
Bruce A. Brien, CEO, 1-508-624-8900
bruce_brien@stratascope.com

View SaaS Jobs

ARLSBAD, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–U.S. Microbics (OTCBB:BUGS), an environmental enhancement company, announced that it is redefining its mission

ARLSBAD, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–c in the environmental industry by offering financial consulting services and creative growth strategies for seasoned companies with innovative green technologies, organic consumables, or eco-friendly products that enhance the environment.

The company provides consulting, administrative, and investor relations services through its financial services subsidiary, USM Capital Group, Inc. which specializes in helping developmental stage companies with proven business models and growth potential obtain the capital they need to meet their strategic plan. The company provides pre-public fund raising strategies for private companies and bridge capital funding plans using equity capital for public companies. See www.usmcapital.com for more information.

Robert Brehm CEO commented, “BUGS is going through a metamorphosis from its beginnings as an environmental biotechnology company into a remediation services company to its current emphasis of providing value added financial consulting services for developing environmental companies based upon its skill, knowledge and experience in the environmental industry as a public company.”

Brehm went on to say, “We have persevered as a company because we believe in the technology and its benefits and as such have spent many years and financial resources organically growing the business based upon the environmental cleanup paradigm, “treat the source not the symptom”. However the environmental industry is changing with the green awakening of global warming, sustainable energy and agriculture, organic and aqua farming, recycling, and a myriad of other technologies to make this earth a better place to live. Concurrent with these changes is the need, by new product and service innovators, for allied consulting support services based on our many experiences and so BUGS must also change for its future success.”

Brehm continued, “Our core competency is our environmental industry knowledge, our ability to adapt to adverse conditions, our financial experience as a public environmental company and our expertise in raising capital at times when most thought it was impossible. Seasoned environmental-related companies seeking growth capital, acquisition or a public presence need our services so that they can fast-track their success using our experience.”

Brehm summarized, “BUGS has developed an innovative technology, grown with the environmental industry, recognized its trends and is now in the process of continuing to adopt to these trends for the benefit of industry growth, corporate growth, shareholder profitability and a cleaner, healthier world for generations to come. Our shareholders and clients will experience a dramatic change as we forge into the 2008 with our new mission.”

About U.S. Microbics Inc.

U.S. Microbics is a business services company that develops creative growth strategies for client companies with innovative technologies and eco-friendly products that positively enhance the environment for the benefit of mankind.

For more information on the company, contact Robert Brehm at 760-918-1860 x102 or visit the website at www.usmcapital.com.

The information contained in this press release includes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements usually contain the words “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” or similar expressions that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include the Company’s status as a startup company with uncertain profitability, need for significant capital, uncertainty concerning market acceptance of its products, competition, limited service and manufacturing facilities, dependence on technological developments and protection of its intellectual property. The Company’s actual results could differ materially from those discussed herein. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences are discussed more fully in the “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis or Plan of Operation” and other sections of the Company’s Form 10-KSB and other publicly available information regarding the Company on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company will provide you with copies of this information upon request.

Contacts

for U.S. Microbics
Robert Brehm, 760-918-1860 x102
www.usmcapital.com

Business Intelligence on the Web

Since the turn of the century, management has had a growing fascination with “The Dashboard”. A set of metrics and visual representations of performance that allows C-level executives to understand:

- Where the company is going,

- Where it has been, and

- Provide the information to take decisions about where they want it to go.

A recent Aberdeen Group report has highlighted that there has recently been a turn in the way that companies implement Business Intelligence in their Enterprises. This indicates a large swing away from the “build-it” approach, and towards the “buy-it” approach.

For Aberdeen Group this represents not only a swing away from traditional Business Intelligence models, but also that companies are beginning to see the value in outsourcing the BI and IT skills.

In their report, they go on to say, “The current use of traditional information delivery technologies among Best-in-Class organizations will give way to emerging methods within the next 12-24 months, according to survey responses.”

Again, the potential opportunity for consultants here is enormous. Facilitating a company’s transition to a SaaS type BI model, reviewing the business processes underlying the entire data structures, and providing the expertise required to embed the Business Intelligence initiatives.

Regardless of whether your clients are leaning towards off-premise BI or not, there are still areas where you can help them.

- Asses their skill sets for BI – Poor performing companies are three times more likely to be deficient in this area.

- Determine the data sources and the timeframes that information would be required. Sixty percent of poor performing companies do not have information available to them until after one week.

- Embed the use of BI, to do this you will need to make sure that:

o Information is Actionable – relevance is tied to business goals;

o Information is Timely – information must be delivered within a time-frame that provides opportunity to act

o Information is Accessible – knowledge workers and decision makers must be able to grasp the meaning of the information and take advantage of the BI tools.

- Help them establish a BI centre of Excellence – an independent internal organization that represents all departments.

- Beware of Information overload – Ensure the right information is there to facilitate decisions, but avoid paralysis by analysis. Ensure your BI center of excellence makes sure that all measures are useful for optimal decision-making.

- Help them progress toward a self-service BI environment – Get them to a point where end users can reduce their dependence on a central IT function,

Growing areas of SaaS consulting

The SaaS revolution is starting to take on an air of inevitability.

Oracle’s online business currently brings in a surprisingly large percentage in revenues, and Charles Fisher has recently signaled that the new Fusion technology will also be available in a SaaS framework. SAP has entered the BusinessByDesign product line amid little fanfare, and Microsoft recently started to champion their Microsoft Dynamics toolset.

When added to the already impressive list of Tier 1 SaaS providers, such as WorkDay, NetSuite and Salesforce.com we can see how opportunity draws competition. An interesting recent development is a global contract awarded to Salesforce.com, the sector pioneer, by Citibank; totally debunking the myth that SaaS is for SME’s only.

So what other changes are in the offing for the world of management consultants? Where are the big opportunities within this area?

As we pointed out in a previous article, VAR’s and channel companies are already starting to embrace this change by focusing on Business Process work and the work of implementing, rather than relying on license fees for their revenue. Charles Prince has also underlined this by recent claims that after the first 2.5 years the SaaS model can be even more profitable through sales of value add services, rather then the old technology models.

Salesforce.com is again setting the pace in this area starting another wave of tremendous change and tremendous opportunity. Force.com is just one of the waves of emerging platforms that companies and consultants alike can use to create their own online systems. Coghead, SuccessFactors, the coming Microsoft platform, are all examples of how companies can be able to take the next step in software on demand.

One possible hook for consultants is to use these platforms to generate their own niche tools, driving into areas where there is still little or no SaaS coverage. Thus providing them with a grab bag of niche applications to deploy at will. Exchanges like AppExchange are already bristling with niche tools that consultants can draw from to suit client needs. Coupled with the implementation services above it can provide a range of niche areas for consultants to build on through partnerships and other mechanisms.

However, all of this does beg the question; if companies can easily build and deploy small niche business applications globally, why would they rent them from a SaaS provider?

This, I feel, is one of the real growth areas for consulting professionals at the dawn of the SaaS age. The case for SaaS is established, most IT managers are coming, kicking and screaming, to embrace this advance in technology, and the platforms and tools now exist to develop these applications quickly, easily and economically.

There is a need for specialist companies to provide the development skills, post deployment implementation experience, and the culture change techniques to make these systems permanent. Specialists who can work with HTML, Ajax, Flex and any number of emerging programming languages to take advantage of the online tools now available.

Why would companies dedicate their own resources to this? It is niche work, given the size of the systems in use it is often not gigantic systems, and the consultant can and should also bring additional experience for developing and embedding work processes, providing training, and providing an external point of view. Allowing everybody else to focus on their line roles, this is why they are there in the first place.

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MicroStrategy and the Remaining BI market Space

The world of Business Intelligence is shrinking and growing both at the same time. With the recent purchases of Hyperion by Oracle, Business Objects by SAP, and Cognos by IBM, the top three players, the number of independent vendors has shrunk significantly.

So why have they bought into these companies? Obviously, the sector is growing exceptionally fast, booming in fact. Regardless of what else has happened technologically the dashboard remains the Killer app of the early 21^st century, particularly for senior leaders.

The three purchasing companies anticipate buying market share, a developed and mature technological solution for integration with their own products, and purchasing some of the talent that has developed the products and sales pipelines for these companies.

Sounds like a good plan, particularly the first two; but holding onto the talent in these companies could prove incredibly difficult. In fact, MicroStrategy, the remaining leader in the sector, is relying on it.

Within a day of the IBM announcement, this company was setting out its stall for disgruntled employees of the three recently purchased companies. Why not, Aberdeen Group noted in their recent report “Delivering Actionable Information to the Enterprise”, “BI skills are in limited supply”.

So there is a pool of talented people, experts in their area and knowledgeable of their markets, suddenly drafted into much larger companies, finding that their goals and ambitions are now not aligned with those of their new parent company, and quickly starting to feel like small fish in a very large pond.

MicroStrategy sees the whole acquisition phase as a great time of opportunity, possibly the greatest one they have had as a company to date. There overt statements and approaches to employees of recently acquired BI companies is one area where they can snap up disaffected talent and possibly buy their way into some long term relationships within this sector.

Other advantages come from the acts of acquisition itself. All three companies will have to focus on maintaining their client base, integrating their offerings with those of their new parent companies, and aligning their messaging and sales efforts.

MicroStrategy, on the other hand, is free to poach disaffected clients, unhappy with the change in suppliers, and they will be free to continue to develop their products and technologies, while other companies focus on integration.

This will also be a time for them to look at extending partnerships and growing their distribution channels. Why would Accenture, or CapGemini, dominant management consultancies that offer Cognos to their clients, want to represent the products of IBM, One of their direct competitors?

BI is very safe as a separate sector despite the removal of the top three players as independent companies. It will of course get tighter for the existing players, but the MicroStrategy approach shows that with a bit of innovation, and the right level of determination, this could be their best opportunity for breakaway growth.

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Do you really want to be a consultant?

When somebody asks you if you are happy doing what you are doing what do you say? If you are anything like me, you probably tell them that you love it. I get to advise the leaders of industry, I am at the heart of change, and I can see the world revolve from where I sit. Along with that people pay me well and I get to travel around the world at other people’s expense.

Fantastic job, what I always wanted to do when I was growing up in the remote Australian Outback. Yes, sounds great doesn’t it, well be careful what you wish for.

Consulting is a great managerial discipline to be working in, and it does have all of the advantages above, as well as a few others. However, it also has a great deal of sacrifice, hard work, and strain associated with it.

I travel a lot; in fact, I have traveled just about every week this year away from my family. I get to see my two small kids every weekend (sort of like prison really) and the strain of raising our family has fallen squarely on the shoulders of my wife.

Like you, I work long hours. 8-hour days exist only in my distant memory. During the day, I am often client facing, and in the evenings, I have to catch up with everything else we are supposed to be dealing with, for all the other clients, the prospects and our own internal processes.

Then there is the continual self-promotion and networking activities. If you are a consultant, you need to be doing this sort of thing. Alan Weiss recommends a book, or a product of some sort, every year. Why? Credibility, notoriety,, being recognized as an obvious expert within your field, and to create gravity towards you in the marketplace.

The networking for me is a lot of fun. I have been doing this my entire career now so it is more of a hobby than a duty. Nevertheless, it is still there, meet, connect, share experiences, and find common ground, drive opportunities their way, etc, all part of the great game of building a network.

Does that sound like fun? Sometimes, at other times it is just a string of empty hotel rooms with my life on the end of a cell phone.

Jack Welch, put it clearly in his book titled “Winning”. Very few people in the world actually get to have it all. The Life/Balance thing is wonderful for consultants to talk to others about, but in reality, it does not exist. Either you can choose to be on the fast track, or you choose to be on the slow track.

That is the balance – you get to choose. Spend all the time with your family that you want to, and make sacrifices relating to your career. Alternatively, spend most of your time promoting your career or your business, with the sacrifice being on the side of the family.

Consultants don’t often get to choose this really. Our lives are ones of continually striving to keep clients happy, continually trying to justify the size of the fees that are paid, continually looking for the next purchase order – and so on.

For me right now, it is okay. I like it, I really like it actually, I miss my kids, but I have chosen things to be like this so that later I can spend all the time I need to with my wife and my kids.

The day I don’t want to do this anymore, then I need to find a way to make the work come to me rather than travel all over the world going to the work.

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Talent Management and the Resource Crunch

For a management consultant there has never been a time like right now. Business is booming all over the world. Resource shortfalls are in almost every industry, particularly those where I operate, competition and regulation are driving all companies to try to get an extra “edge” over others in their sector, and many markets are starting to use consultants more and more. (UK and USA being cases in point)

The other side of this is that it has never been harder to find good resources to help you.

There are ways however, some take a lot more effort than in the past, but you can still find and keep people of good character and skill levels to work in your consultancy. Here are a few tips that I have seen working in different countries around the world.

1. Use niche job boards – The big job boards are flooded with roles, literally. So much so that it takes a heck of a long time for anybody to wade through them until they find something that suits what they think they should be doing.

Niche boards, on the other hand, focus on specific industry requirements. Our own board focuses entirely on consulting resources and roles for consultants.

2. Use LinkedIn – Depending on the size of your network, you will be able to access hundreds or more management consultants who could be working in the areas you are looking for.

The benefit of a product like LinkedIn is that the people who turn up in searches are not necessarily looking for work. I am on LinkedIn and I am not looking for work anyway. Therefore, instead of waiting for people like this to join the job market, you get the opportunity to approach them first, giving you a first mover’s advantage.

3. Other network options – Tap into your suppliers maybe, your competitors definitely, go to your local chamber of commerce or similar enterprise group.

4. Get a good head hunter – Not a body shop, not a recruiter, but a real honest-to-goodness headhunter.

The kinds of people that will scour your competitors companies, scour his own networks, rip through social networking sites, and act as a filter for you. The downside, real head hunters cost real money, small investment for the person you need.

5. Pay good money – And advertise it! When I was in the job market if the figure was not there neither was my attention. Let us not kid each other, money matters! It matters a lot. Moreover, as time goes on it seems to matter more and more.

Offer good money, and deliver what you offer. There is nothing worse than getting stiffed on a job application. And there is nothing more likely to get people to reenter the job market.

6. Offer additional compensation – Real players get equity. Give equity, profit share, things that are going to tie people’s fortunes to the company and, if they do well, will reward them beyond what they would normally receive. Sounds like a hit on profits? It is, but only on short-term profits.

If you have hired well, using the head hunter, then your new hire is good at what they do, they have the emotional connection to your company, and as time goes on they are only going to increase in their ability to generate revenue for you.

View current openings in the job market

 

Growth of the Interim Management Market

In recent time the market for Interim Managers has gone through the roof. In Europe, the UK, the USA and throughout the Middle East, professionals working in this space are reporting greater levels of demand than many of them can cope with.

So what is an Interim Manager? How does it differ from the common areas of temping and sub-contractors? And, more importantly, how can we, as managerial consultants tap into this growing area of demand? I recently spoke with a range of experts in this field around the world to try to find the answer to these questions.

The first thing that came across is that Interim managers see themselves in a different field than management consultants. nearly all the people we spoke to in researching this piece considered consultants more focussed on giving advice and performing specific project related roles. IM’s, on the other hand, seemed to be more focussed on delivering the results, implementing and executing rather than enabling and advising could be a good description.

Eddie Mullen, A Director with Booster Interim Resources Ltd in the UK, notes that “Interim managers are normally over-qualified for assignments, and provide effective, impartial and expert support at short notice, integrated into the line management structure of the hiring organisation”.

Eddies distinguishes between consultants and Interim Managers through their cross functional operational expertise;”What differentiates contractors and other temporary staff from interims is value added. In addition to core skills (HR, finance, marketing, sales, IT), interims bring much greater generalist cross-functional management experience, expertise and knowledge to the hiring organization, at a senior level. By contrast contractors tend to be recruited to operate in a relatively narrow functional area. “

Eugene Rembor Principal of Rembor Partners Ltd, takes this descriptuion a bit further, explaining some of the differences between subcontractors and IM’s ” An interim manager is a senior person, usually someone who has held board positions, been there, done it and got the t-shirt. …[Subcontractors]..do none-line-management jobs or defined projects, whereas interim managers are turnaround experts, gap-busters, change managers or strategic consultants.

But is it worth it? Eugene goes on to add “I enjoy every second…I am always working when I want, but free to take a couple of months holiday when I want, I am earning money beyond my wildest dreams and get to see places.”

THis has to rank as one of the key areas where consulting professionals can find additional revenues over the coming years. There is a genuine lack of resources out there in business and management. Demand is exceeding supply, the old guard are retiring into semi-active and full retirement roles, and business is booming as never before. (Fueled by super commodity cycles, the spike in Asian growth and a range of other well know reasons)

In fact another of the people we spoke to, Vincent Papi, the Managing Director of Boyden Interim Management, sees an influx of available talent as well as a booming market. “Our practice is limited to senior executive positions and we’re growing at a very brisk clip. On an individual level, we’re finding plenty of talent — usually execs who took early retirement and have plenty of gas still in the tank — who relish the idea of taking on a serious challenge, even a short-term one.”

With his comment that his practice is growing at “a brisk clip” he believes that Interim management is now a permanent growth area within the North American resource marketplace.

From across the pond there is a similar view. David Hay, a Partner at AshtonPenny Interim, notes that there are a lot of inquiries but he also detects a lot of “window shopping.” Like others in our discussion he also believes that Interim Managers are”…senior executives who have chosen the interim route, rather than those who are struggling to find a new permanent role; those for whom earning money is less important than the interest and the challenge; those who network effectively and continuously.”

However, he also has a warning for those wishing to work in the industry and for those looking to hire from the pool of growing executive Interim talent. “Those…who are experienced IMs will have been on the receiving end of multiple calls about the same assignment from different providers.

In the main these are connected to companies seeking to use an IM for the first time, when there is a tendency to send the enquiry to all and sundry. Whilst I can understand their reasoning I have to say it is not always in the client’s best interest to create what is in effect a race. Inexperienced or less professional providers can be tempted to submit candidates without proper vetting, just to ‘get in first’. It’s frustrating for us and I’m sure it’s no different for you IMs out there.

Once, there were only a few providers here in the UK, but the market is now quite crowded, with a grey area around what I would call the top end of contracting and that must be confusing for new IMs and clients too.”

As a “would be” IM, this has been a fascinating look into the alternate universe of Interim Management, the potential rewards within the area, and the exciting levels iof growth associated with it. When (if) I ever go into practice for myself again I personally will have the Interim management badge as part of my own portfolio of works.

Interestingly, most people we contacted about this area all commented that most of the leads they get come from within their own networks.

For those of you looking to find out some additional information there are some excellent resources on the web, two of those mentioned in our discussion are.

• Interim Management Association (UK)
• Institute of Interim Management (UK)

Eddie Mullen, new to Interim Management and the best respondant we received on this topic puts it this way “I would certainly recommend interim management to others but would strongly recommend detailed research, personal refection and structured planning and preparation before committing to an interim career, particularly as it can take time to get established.”

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The Consulting Pulse Jobs Board

Taking a leaf out of our own books we are linking up with our friends at SimplyHired to publish our own jobs board here at Consulting Pulse.com.

This is the first of a number of specialized jobs boards that we will be launching over the next couple of months. With others focusing on more specialist areas of the consulting field.

We were toying with the idea of creating our own jobs board and launching it, and we still might do in the future. However, the benefit we get from tying up with SimplyHired is that they already have a bristling board filled with a lot of top quality appointments.

And the whole goal of this site is to provide value fro consultants, so this seemed like the best option to start with!

Why launch a job board into an already crowded market? Easy! Because the market needs niche players.

Let me explain a little. I am a seasoned job hunter, since starting my career I have worked with over 60 different roles, contracts and positions. This has taken me on a journey through 27 different countries, most industrial sectors and a variety of managerial disciplines.

And at no time did I ever get a job from any of the big players such as Monster.com or HotJobs. Every one of the roles I was able to get came from small, closely knit, network types of sites or tools.

So this is what we are going to build for our readership. A network of jobs posted by people who want consultants, and read by people who are consultants.

No surfing through hours and hours of possibly related postings. If you are a consultant, and you want a job, then look here!

Our goal is to be able to build on this through being able to provide a focal point for consultants and companies looking specifically for consultants.

Always interested in hearing your thoughts on what we are doing here. (So feel free to comment)

We have included a few categories that are not the norm on most job boards around the place. Categories like SaaS, Business Intelligence, Strategy and Executive; to try to cover all of the wide range of fields that exist within the world of managerial consulting.

I hope it is of use to you.

Boostrapping for Consultants

Starting a consultancy today is far easier than it has been in the past. Particularly with the incredible range of free or low cost tools that are available for managing business infrastructure, low cost marketing or PR.

Bootstrapping is the art of pulling one’s self up by the bootstraps, or the art of going it alone, with little to no funds, and hopefully making it.

Most of the skills associated with Bootstrapping revolve around guts, determination, the willingness to take risks, and being innovative.

But… there are a lot of tools out there that make parts of this a lot easier, and there is a well worn path by those who have gone before you to show you the way through some of the common problems.

5 Must Use Tools for Bootstrapping Consultants

1) LinkedIn - I am a big fan of this networking tool and I recommend it to anybody who needs to get their name out there. Answer questions, publicize your profile, get your name seen and make sure your details draw attention to what you are doing.

2) GoDaddy - Great, easy to use, cheap and has features that can have you with a published corporate presence website within the hour. Love it and use it a lot!

3) Google Apps – Another feature of the modern Internet that I would be lost without. I use Google Mail as my corporate email account and have linked it to my emails from my other websites and companies. I also use Google Pages a lot for holding files, the Calendar for scheduling between myself and others I work with, and this Blog is published via Blogger.

4) Zoho – This is where most of my blogs are written, and where most of my files are kept. I have found the word processor to be an excellent tool and as yet I have not had the need to use any of the additional items there. I also use this for writing my articles, and I am using it to hold the manuscript of my next book.

5) Salesforce.com – For those of you that read this blog regularly you will notice that I am a bit of a fan of this product and company. In fact, I own shares! I started using this when I was working as a Business Development Manager some years ago and found ti to be a fantastic view into how business software could/should be. Cheap, functional, intuitive and useful.

I use this still today where needed to manage my customer relationships, and to drive through the statistics needed for success in sales, regardless of what you are selling.

But even with these tools the only thing that will separate you from certain failure is your core idea, the value for it in the market place, and your ability to not give up and keep driving towards your goals.

Isn’t it strange how we can’t find a way, there seems to be no path to take… then we find a way! And we’re of to the next step in our careers!

LinkedIn or Left Out?

Just as professionals prefer the Blackberry to the iPhone, they are also increasingly choosing LinkedIn over Facebook and MySpace as part of their online global networking tool set.

So what does LinkedIn offer that others do not? While the fluff and fun of social networking sites is undoubtedly good to pass a few hours, LinkedIn has a more serious edge to it. Filled with experts, corporate leaders, and industry mavens, it is a place where you can find strong contacts, leading edge candidates, job opportunities and consulting offers, as well as the ability to perform some pretty in-depth research in almost any field.

Reference Collecting

One of the more useful aspects of LinkedIn is as a place for you to detail your professional track record for all to see. Recruiters, prospects and potential partners can use this to check on your history, the sorts of people who are willing to refer you, and they can use the information to see if somebody in their own network is somehow connected to you.

Those who use the site tend to collect references, comments and endorsements that enable people to get a strong first opinion of who you are and what you are capable of.

Recruiting

Many companies that are actively looking for consultants, or candidates of all flavors, make this site their first stop today. This gives them two distinct benefits;

1) They get to speak to people who are self selected and are already engaged with the networking and job markets in one way or another and

2) They get to speak to candidates who had not considered moving previously, therefore giving them a “first mover” advantage on resources not yet in play in the job market.

For the people in the network, there are job site also. With the ability to quickly scan through the job postings.

However, more than anything else there are a range of real high flyer networks. These are pay to join networks such as ExecSuite, which I subscribe to.

ExecSuite actually holds a range of jobs in the $150K plus range and boasts an impressive level of CEO’s, VP’s and other senior business executives. This has been one of the best investments I have made personally in networking.

Research

A lot of the research I do for this blog comes from LinkedIn and the network I have created there. The Question and Answer section is well divided into relevant areas and all the questions I have posted have drawn answers from people who I could only describe as experts within their chosen fields.

I am sure there si a lot more that could be done there, like announcing your availability, testing the waters for Interim management work or even looking for consulting or contract work.

Staying in Touch

Like most of us the vast majority of my life as a consultant is either at work, traveling to work, or returning from work. So most of my contacts, either social or professional, have arisen out of my business dealings.

Like me, they are also very busy people with more work than time to do it, so LinkedIn provides an easy way for me to get in touch with them again. Through this tool I have touched base with people I had lost contact with long ago – great stuff! (Seeing as we are all a bit older and a little swollen looking these days)

This is only the tip of the iceberg, I am pretty new to this so I am sure there is a lot there that I have only just begun to discover. Have a look for yourself, and feel free to link to me if you do!

Marketing for growth

When you just start out growing the business is a very hard thing to do. You have spent a lot of money and time to get the project you are working on now, and while you are working you can’t spend the time getting the next job or filling the sales pipeline can you.

Yet if you don’t do something then you are going to reach the maximum time you can sell your services for, and there will be no where to go in terms of growth.

There there are no real easy answers to this. However, one of the best options open to you is marketing. Start to generate gravity towards your company through effective PR and marketing campaigns.
Any expert in this area will tell you that one of the secrets is that PR beats marketing any day. Remember the iPhone launch? Do you recall the ads for it? No? Thats because there were none! One of the most successful product launches of the new century was done basically through good PR, interviews, press releases, comments at conferences and other “peek-a-boo” techniques generated a level of spin that even Tony Blair would be proud of.

But you aren’t Steve Jobs, so while good PR is a must do activity, you are also going to need to supplement it with good marketing.

So spend the money, take $40,000 from last years earnings and spend it on trade publication ads, internet marketing (but low level), conference appearances, and whatever else is going to work. YOur marketing budget needs to return at least 200%. So at least $80,000 in additional revenue. Giving you the opportunity to hire an additional resource, and to start working on your practice instead of in the practice.

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Trends – Consulting growth areas

As the world moves towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century, management consulting remains one ofthe growth areas regardless of the industry you are working in. There are lots of reasons for this, past downsizing efforts, an attempt to gain competitive advantage, the search for leading practices and a whole range of other areas.

However, not all areas are created equal and the next 3 – 5 years are going to be particularly booming for certain sectors of the professional services industries. This 5 part list is an attempt to try to see into the future to detect where consultants could be very profitable in the near future.

1. Infrastructure. It aint sexy but it is booming. In almost any country in the world there is a renewed interest in infrastructure consulting and management. From the USA, where the falll of the Mississippi bridge seemed to be the starters pistol, through mature markets of Europe and the UK, through to emerging markets like the Middle East and India.

Best placed here will be management consultants with the ability to offer services in physical asset management, capital spending optimization, project management and commissioning services. Geography is going to be an issue for this area. Unlike technology consulting infrastructure consultancies will need to be local or able to get local.

Steve Bird, Independent Infrastructure Consultant in the UK focuses in on the water industry saying that “identification of appropriate good practice for the water industry with an auditable standard” will be one of the key consulting growth areas in the USA.

2. Learning and development.Leo Irakliotis, a Chicago based educator and consultant believes that “Companies realize the importance of narrowing the gap between the expected skill set and the skill set acquired in college or in previous employment, for new hires.

Strategically planned L&D, with specific methodologies, an in-house team of experts, and a network of proficient consultants and subject-matter experts is a critical growth tool.”

As the resource base continues to wane, and recruiting continues to be one of the chief issues facing consultancies, an ongoing approach that includes L&D at its core will become more and more important.

Consultancies with a proven track record in training and employee development will benefit best from this. However, geography will not be an issue with the growth in Internet training technologies and remote consulting techniques.

3. Communication. “There’s just so much change going on right now, and every time you turn around, some other company is coming out with something new that needs an explanation…whether that be writing (especially technical but also in such arenas as blogging and copy writing), speaking in front of groups, communicating ideas to a team, or public relations.” Thomas “Myerman” Myer, Triple Dog Dare.

4. SaaS. A no brainer in todays market. Consultants will be challenged to engage with this booming area quicker than they are currently. There are a whole host of ideas ion our recent post here. Basically this is a trend that is going to continue, one that SAP and Oracle founder Larry Ellison have already committed themselves to, and one that Salesforce.com has already positioned itself as an early leader in.

Whether it be through business processes, delivery of niche programs, or through the integration layers that always accompany IT advances, there can be no doubt that this is a growing area of revenues for management consultants.

5. Recruitment. Another easy one, but not in the shape it is in today. Finding key skills in todays crowded market place is going to continue to be a skill that will make or break organizations all over the world.

Consultants in this area with a proven advantage will be those who can generate innovative ways of delivering high skilled employees to companies throughout the world. This could be in the form of growing networks such as LinkedIn, through innovative uses of Interim consulting practices, or through provisions of remote services where possible.

The great opportunities offered in this area are already driving the economy of India in particular, even through their own estimates state that 50% of engineers within that country are not fit for international work.

Building value into your consulting practice

Congratulations, you are making it! Your step out on your own has gone well so far. You now have four other people working with you, revenues in the low 7 figures and you are starting to realize your dreams of independence.

The fast cars, nice houses and great vacations are taken care of. So now what?

If you look around it seems that all the people you have hired are strangely like you are, each year you need to spend the same amount of effort driving work into the firm, and what happens if you want to walk away tomorrow?

If you are honest the firm is probably not worth too much. All the value is locked away inside the skills of you and your four colleagues, and your best exit strategy is probably either to just close the doors, or to sell it to the guys you hired.

Not really a great value proposition even though it is generating good revenues. So how can you build real value into your consulting practice? The sort of value others would pay millions to have?

Tiffani Bova, a Research Director for Gartner Group, puts it like this “When you look at this type of business, the value of the company must be greater than the ‘projects’ you deliver to your clients and the people in your company.” She makes the point that successful consultancy firms build their business on a combination of both project based work and some form of predictable revenue which delivers long term predictable value.

Paul Collins, a Managing Director of Equiteq in the UK, agrees and he should know. In his career he has sold a 30% stake in his own consulting business WCI in 2004, valuing the firm at £50m. He has also built a further 2 service firms, bought 2 and sold 3!

Paul is a strong advocate for developing a strong sales pipeline, one that can be used to predict fture reveunes accurately based on todays leads, yesterdays sales, and tomorrows aspirations. Predictable revenue is the baseline requirement of any firm looking to create permanent value for stakeholders of for eventual sale.

So how can you do this?

Octavio Ballesta, a Technology Project Manager at Inelectra, believes the basis of generating value within a consulting practice revolves around strong branding, good long term relationships with clients, and strategic partnerships. However, he pays special attention to resource diversification.

“In order to consolidate a competitive advantage you should hire, train and retain progressively world-class consultants with insights in Business Process Management, Six-Sigma methodology, Knowledge Management, CRM and Change Management to offer to the relevant market an enterprise-wide solution in different disciplines of consultancy. You should avoid dependence from one superstar consultant to manage your firm.”

This is a recurring theme in all the experts we spoke to about building value. The importance of a system over one or two superstar consultants is always emphasized as a way to build permanent value into the organization. Stephen Hancock, CEO of enCONCERT, offers the following advice in this area “f you have a particular skill that is valuable then you could try to systematise it using technology and then develop consultants or solution partners that can deliver the service without you being ever present. This could create income streams in license fees or royalties which earn “while you sleep”

The last area to explore in terms of developing a pipeline of repeatable sales and performance is to do with the elusive art of developing IP. “You need to build your IP as part of the practice” Says Brian Macleod, “This could be inherent in the way you train, explain or connect with your client. It must be defined as methods and techniques that can be communicated to others with the team.”

So experts agree, if you want to build permanent value into your company, the sort of value that is worth more than the value of your projects and the people who work for you, then a few of the key areas you will need to focus on include: diversification of resources, systematizing your approach, guarding and internalizing your IP, and finding a way to generate predictable recurring revenue streams.