Consultants manage a slowdown

UPDATED: Business News' Management Consultancy Firms list

Perth's management consulting sector had a coming-of-age moment last year, when global leader McKinsey & Co officially opened its local office.

McKinsey followed earlier moves into the Perth market by fellow international heavyweights Bain & Co and Boston Consulting Group, all in time to catch the tail end of the mining construction boom.

The slowdown has affected the entire sector, with high-priced consultants squeezed out by the renewed focus on cost cutting at big clients such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

“The industry got hit pretty hard in the past 12 months,” Momentum Partners managing director Carl Adams told Business News.

However McKinsey insists it is encouraged by its progress to date and is on track in Western Australia.

“When we opened our office in Perth more than 12 months ago, we made a long-term commitment to our clients here,” McKinsey partner Olivier Legrand said.

“One of the highlights of this year has been the contribution we have been able to make in the energy sector.”

He said the firm was particularly pleased with the response to its research on improving Australian LNG productivity and competitiveness.

Mr Legrand also highlighted the pro bono work McKinsey was doing with the UWA Business School to design a world-class full-time MBA program.

The largest players in the local market continue to be technology-driven consulting groups such as Ajilon and Fujitsu, and the big accounting firms like Deloitte and PwC, according to updated data collected for Business News Book of Lists.

The growing use of cloud computing is a major focus for Fujitsu, which hosts its west coast cloud ‘node’ at its Malaga data centre.

“Cloud is underpinning a lot of the solutions we offer, and consulting has aligned its services around this capability,” Fujitsu national general manager consulting, Philippe Rosiere, said.

Fujitsu has also established a centre of excellence in Perth to service the growing oil and gas industry in Australia and worldwide.

The blurring of lines was illustrated by the advisory services alliance formally announced earlier this month by Deloitte and engineering firm WorleyParsons.

The alliance gives both firms an opportunity to move into new territories; the challenge, as ever, will be realising that potential.

It wasn’t the first time these firms had diversified via acquisitions.

Deloitte had previously acquired Access Economics, which is planning to open its own Perth office next month, and Worley had previously acquired project consultants Evans & Peck.

Accounting firm PwC has also been broadening its service offering, with the acquisition last month of Queensland-based GBI Mining Intelligence.

That followed the acquisition of Sydney-based The Asset Partnership, which provides management services to the mining industry.

One consulting group to benefit from the big resources projects was Houston-based JMJ Associates, which opened a new Perth office earlier this year to accommodate its 45 staff.

JMJ said its Australia business unit accounted for 28 per cent of the company’s global revenue, with much of that attributed to work on Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG projects.

Mr Adams said the entry of international players had not significantly affected Perth-based Momentum, which had been helped by its 10 years’ experience in the local market.

His firm continued to focus on high-end strategy advice and helping clients achieve operational improvements.

Its principal focus was on “actually getting projects implemented”.

“We listen, add a bit, and then get it done,” Mr Adams said.

One are of growth had been engineering firms, which were looking to diversify beyond project construction work into areas such as operational improvement, brownfields development and, in some cases, strategy.

Momentum also continued to seek growth on the east coast.

Another prominent local player is Churchill Consulting, which recently signed up mining contractor Barminco as a client.

Churchill’s principal consultant, Matt Fahey, said his firm was evaluating and selecting human resources and payroll solutions for Barminco.

“Organisations globally have typically struggled to deliver enterprise software initiatives on time and on budget with identified benefits achieved,” Mr Fahey said.

In this regard, he added, Churchill Consulting had developed a “proven capability of supporting businesses from software selection through to successful implementation”.