Discussion 5: Getting Buy-in
How can consultants help leaders get buy-in in difficult environments?
Your post must be at least 300 words, formatted and cited in proper APA style with support from at least 2 academic sources.
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Module 5 Overview
Topics
• Change Management
• Cultural Change
• Crisis Management
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this week, students will be able to:
o Evaluate the process of developing, establishing, and marketing consulting services; the functions of consulting; and consulting practices and

techniques.
o Examine key factors and concepts related to consulting engagements, and assess and integrate the interrelationships.
o Evaluate and present assessment of issues and organizational challenges from the perspective of a consultant.
o Assess and align individual strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, skills, aptitude, and goals with consulting opportunities and the processes and

interventions involved in the consulting domain.
Read & Review
• Weiss (2011): Chapter 12
• Week 5 PowerPoint
• Week 5 Lecture Notes
Module 5 Lecture Notes
Managing Your Services
• Key Findings
o Business climate growth: Consulting firms in North America and Europe are bullish for the future revenue is up 41%.
o Focus on the customer: Firms need to gain deeper visibility and the capacity to manage the lifecycle of the customer, project, and employee.
o Customer lifetime value is seen as the most important KPI by 41% of firms managing technology.
o Consulting firms are moving from a build-your-own approach to state-of-the-art cloud solutions
 73% of firms are moving to the cloud.
• How to Prepare for Growth
o Act now.
o Use detailed analytics.
o Leverage skills and match client and prospect needs.
o Understand metrics / business drivers and capitalize on them.
o To maximize profits, the consulting business model requires constant diligence through proactive management of a long list of key metrics

including:
 Utilization
 Project profitability
 Realization
o Build a metrics-driven business.
o Give management access to real-time information, and support the ongoing decision process.
• Key Business Drivers
o Operations (project and employee lifecycle)
o Business visibility – Making better business decisions
o Finding new opportunities (new clients and new service offerings)
o Focusing on the customer lifecycle
• Lifecycle Approach
o The three lifecycle processes of customers, projects, and employees are the core of a successful consulting business.
o Each must be managed with trusted operating metrics as well as a workflow that fits across the complete lifecycles.
o Prospect to customer (and ongoing client), project proposal to completion, and employee hire to retire
o Firms need to gain deeper visibility and the capability to manage each lifecycle for firm success.
• Increase Visibility
o Make better business decisions – Modernizing IT systems can provide business visibility into the key operating metrics tied to the customer-

project-employee lifecycle.
o Get IT systems that “fit” your business – There are deeply verticalized/specialized systems available “off the shelf” that are more effective

and efficient than building your own systems.
o Simply put, they “fit” your business better, they are maintained and updated by an expert, and they free up your resources to focus on critical

business activities.
• Find New Growth Opportunities
o Find and grow the “right” business. – Build new offerings and find new opportunities needs.
o Establish a process that leverages operating and market data to support building the “right” services.
o Eliminate unprofitable offerings, and grow the business by expanding into existing clients and into adjacent offerings’ clients.
o Firms need a highly evolved new service introduction process with underlying IT systems to take advantage of growth opportunities.
o Get a complete and integrated lifecycle view of your business so you can make “better” business decisions.
o Gain deeper visibility and the capability to manage the lifecycle of the project.
o Maximize the value of clients through systems that provide a lifecycle view of the client and key client metrics.
• Are In-House Systems Ineffective?
o Across the board, many firms continue to develop and manage IT systems, even though the financial and business advantage of buying systems is

an accepted approach and has many advantages.
o This trend was first observed in a previous global survey of consulting firms 2 years ago and continues to be commonplace.
o In-house developed systems are often ineffective, difficult to manage and upgrade, and in general, not built using current technology.
o Developing and maintaining your own IT systems takes business resources away from business-critical activities.
• Best Consulting Firms Use Industry-Specific Systems
o A surprising number of firms (potentially over 80%) do not have industry-specialized financial and project systems in place.
o This is despite the demonstrated advantage that they can deliver over generic financial management and customer management systems.
o Despite the critical nature of resources in a consulting business, most firms do not have HCM and talent-management systems.
o Firms do not have the systems to manage the customer-project-employee lifecycle.
• Cloud Is the Future
o 73% of consulting firms are moving to the cloud.
o The cloud provides many firms an obvious route to app modernization that helps firms move scarce resources into business-critical areas while

solving business visibility challenges with new, modern IT systems.
o This also helps to address firms’ priorities by providing ways to more effectively manage the customer, project, and employee lifecycles.
• Network and Client Server Architecture
o Network
o Client-server architecture
• The Future for HR Professionals
o The future for careers in HR seems brighter than ever.
o Firms need to seek balance between attracting, motivating, and retaining the very best talent and keeping costs as low as possible.
o Finding such a balance requires HR leaders who have a deep knowledge of the business combined with knowledge of HR issues, tools, processes,

and technology.