Bob Brown's Consulting Intelligence Briefings

The End of Consulting Intelligence?

Yes and no.

There is still considerable intelligence within the consulting profession. But, the organization known as Consulting Intelligence, which first opened its doors in 2004, has come to an end.

While I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last six years, I’m spending more of my time in the role of Vice President of Professional Services at Mosaica Partners, a rapidly growing consulting firm that specializes in the area of health information exchange (HIE) formation. (See the posts below.)

So, both the Consulting Intelligence and The Consulting Survey websites have been shuttered.

If you would like additional information or to contact me, I can be reached through Mosaica Partners.

Thanks,

- Bob Brown

Otherwise Occupied – Transitions in Consulting

For some time now, I’ve been leading a double life. Nothing that would raise any eyebrows, I’ve simply been devoting myself to two very different jobs.

While I’ve continue to work with clients that seek my advice on dealing with consulting firms, I’ve been spending the majority of my working hours in a second role, that of Vice President of Professional Services at Mosaica Partners, a rapidly growing consulting firm that specializes in the area of health information exchange (HIE) formation.

At Mosaica, I’ve had the opportunity to help the firm’s clients – the federal government, states, regions communities and even vendors of HIE related products – make significant strides in their quest to build the organizations and infrastructure that will enable the sharing of patients’ health information electronically. It’s important work. It’s also been both exhilarating and rewarding.

At Mosaica I have been able to return to one of my passions, building a first class consulting team and developing consulting methods, practices and even specific consulting offerings – in this case, tailored to the health information exchange movement that began in earnest with the release of federal funds under ARRA in February 2009.

Working side by side with Laura Kolkman, the president of Mosaica Partners, I’ve just finished writing “The Health Information Exchange Formation Guide,” which is scheduled to be published in January by the Health Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS). As co-authors, Laura focused on the need for, and benefits of, HIE and I contributed the consultant’s perspective. Together, we have written a book that will help groups of interested individuals move from an idea to a functioning organization by following a step by step approach that’s based on our extensive research into leading practices related to HIE formation. A number of our colleagues and clients have contributed their thoughts to the book and early reviews indicate it will find a receptive audience.

As my workload at Mosaica has increased, I have come to the conclusion that it is where I can have the greatest impact. As such, I have decided to close Consulting Intelligence and concentrate my efforts full time in the area of health information exchange.

To the team that helped me establish Consulting Intelligence, and all the clients we served, I extend a sincere thank you for six wonderful years.

There’s a strong possibility that I’ll return to blogging on a more regular basis and will let you know in this space.

If you would like to contact me, I can be reached at Mosaica Partners.

All Not Well at Accenture?

Accenture, the consulting firm many clients love to hate, has just issued a press release.

In a statement that could only have been crated by an Accenture consultant, their CEO said, “As part of our drive to deliver high performance — both for Accenture and for our clients — and the implementation of our comprehensive human capital strategy, which defines our global talent and leadership models, we are acting boldly to better position Accenture for both short-term economic improvement and for long-term growth and profitability.”

Translation: They’ll be laying off seven percent of its senior-executive ranks and closing some offices.

Beach, Bench or Billable?

In consulting parlance, “beach” or “bench” refers to the time that an individual consultant spends when not billing his or her hours to a client. In contrast, billable time refers to the hours that a consultant has billed to a client. Obviously, consulting firms would prefer that their consultants are billable the majority of the time; if not 100 percent the time. Individual consultants would prefer that two too, as yearly bonuses are typically tied to billable time as a percentage of total available time.

A primary, but not absolute, indicator of consultant's competence and ability is the amount of time a consultant has been billable, as opposed to being “on the beach” or “on the bench.” Why? Less qualified or less competent consultants are less likely to be chosen by consulting engagement leaders who are looking to staff a new client engagement.

So where have your new consultants been? When reviewing the resumes of the individuals a consulting firm proposes to send you to staff your project, you should be asking how and where they each spent the last six months.

It won't guarantee that you'll get the best consultants that the firm has to offer, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.

How do you know a consultant is competent?

Think about it. You understand (I hope) situational competence. We all know people who are extraordinarily competent in one area and hopeless incompetents in other areas.

So the question is really, “How do you know the consultant you’re about to engage is competent to assist you with the issue at hand?” Having the world’s greatest consulting brain surgeon working with you on a factory floor reengineering project might not be the wisest thing to do, no matter how competent the consultant was in her field or how nice she was.

What’s the approach you use to determine and verify the competence of the consultants with which you work? From my perspective, it’s less important which approach you use (as long as it works) and more important THAT YOU HAVE AN OBJECTIVE APPROACH that you use with consistency.

So. What’s the name of your approach? How often do you update it? Who is in charge of updating and maintaining it? Is it used consistently throughout your organization?

Hmmmmm.