The 10 most promising business consulting companies

The way of business solutions
FEBRUARY 2018
www.insightssuccess.in
THE
10PROMISING
BUSINESS
CONSULTING
COMPANIES
SmartHead Consulting:
Delivering Outstanding Strategies that Makes
Complex Business Problems Appear Simple
MOST
Pramod Bapna
&MD Head of Strategy
& Operations Practice
BUSINESS INSIGHTS
Top Trends Disrupting the
Business Consulting Industry
CHALK TALK
Must know Tools & Techniques
in a Business Consulting World

e live in rapidly changing times, especially for businesses.
WGiven these swiftly occurring changes, businesses have had
to adapt to entirely new marketing channels (web and
social), decide how to invest in and utilize new technologies, and
compete on a global stage.
One side effect of these rapid changes and growth is that no single
CEO or any employee can be an expert in everything. This was,
perhaps, always true, but it has never been more apparent. That is why,
some of the biggest challenges businesses face today, are best met and
addressed with qualified consultants. Bringing on a consultant helps
CEOs add the expertise and skills they need to address particular
problems at particular times, and can provide the best possible
outcome.
Consultants Industries today have played an important role in the
development of the Indian business sector. In the past several years, the
Consultants Industry has not only grown in size, stature and global
reach, but it has also gone through several cycles of
professionalization, making it one of the most developed fields within
the professional services industry. Consultants are more than giving
advice; it’s such a highly extensive, multi-sourcing growing field with
experts having wide knowledge of a particular subject, which play a
crucial role in helping organizations embark on the path towards
success.
Hiring a consultant allows companies the ability to pay only for the
services they need, rather than investing in pricey technologies or
paying to keep staff on hand that may not always be needed. In
addition, hiring a consultant enables cost benefits associated with a
lack of taxes, the need to pay benefits, or human resource issues that
are associated with hiring a new full-time employee. Consultants also
provide a significant amount of value for an organization. They can
help to develop strategies for growth or manage projects. Since
consultants are not committed to a single firm, they bring experience
from a variety of companies and industries, which allows them to offer
creative solutions and enables “out of the box” thinking.
As in many other sectors, low cost was the first major initial advantage
of Indian consulting companies and consultants. But their major clients
and their partners abroad have found that Indian consultants have other
advantages too, such as professionalism, industriousness, willingness
to learn, and adaptability to technology.
Editorial
Revitalizing
your
Business
Nikita Doiphode

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Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal
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Business Development Executives
Tarun, Divya
Co-Editors
February, 2018
Shweta AmbilwadeArt Editor
Business Development Manager Akansha Garewal
Visualiser Aparna Vanzul
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Ashwini, Meera,

E TS
CO
N
SmartHead Consulting
Delivering Outstanding Strategies that
Makes Complex Business Problems Appear Simple
CoverStory
08
CONSULTING STRATEGIES
Concerns of the
Consultancy Industry and
Solutions that Keeps it Aoat
16
INSIDER’S OPINION
Future of Consulting
Industry in India
34
EXPERT’S VIEW POINT
Tips for the start-ups in
the Consulting Industry
26

AGIVETTA CONSULTING:
Guiding Lanterns for the
Ever-changing Business Demands
20
CHALK TALK
Must know Tools & Techniques in a
Business Consulting World
36
Articles
AURELIUS CORPORATE
SOLUTIONS: A Leading
Insourcing Multiplier
28
CHROME DATA ANALYTICS
& MEDIA: A Leading IT-based
Market Research and Brand
Consultation Firm
38
30
TECH & TRENDS
The criss-crossing of Articial
Intelligence and consulting
42
PINEAPPLE CONSULTING:
Designing Immaculate
Brands for the Future
EDITORIAL PIC
Management Consulting Industry:
An Overview
22
BUSINESS INSIGHTS
Top Trends Disrupting the
40

In the current economic environment, it is important that businesses find ways to stand out, tighten their
operations, and increase their revenues while keeping expenses low. As many businesses struggle to
remain profitable over longer times, the day-to-day operations of the business are more than enough to
keep management busy, especially in smaller businesses where owners or managers wear many hats.
Choosing to use an experienced consultant may allow businesses the ability to grow, rather than simply
attempting to maintain their current levels of profits.
Given the potential benefits of consulting companies, we are introducing some of the most prominent
organizations in the industry who are capable of leading their clients towards excellence by supporting them
beyond the advisory level. “ ” issue aspires toThe 10 Most Promising Business Consulting Companies
assist organizations to find the right consulting partner who has the resources and skills to deliver smart
business solutions with scalability and inventiveness.
The Cover Story features , one of the leading firms in the industry that has beenSmartHead Consulting
focused on providing thought leadership for Business Growth, Profitability, Market Development,
Product/Service Portfolio etc. in various industries and sectors. The team at SmartHead strongly believe that
mere intellectual play would mean nothing if it fails to deliver the desired results. Thus their collaborative
approach helps in creating a bond of trust and faith between them and their client.
Apart from this, we have featured , a technology-driven market researchChrome Data Analytics & Media
firm which is the largest and the only Distribution Audit specialist in India. ,Aurelius Corporate Solutions
which provide Consultative Insourcing Solutions to 40 plus domains for multiple industries. Pineapple
Consulting Frost & Sullivan, a strategic branding and design consulting company. , a growth partnership
company focused on helping their clients achieve transformational growth. , aBrandscapes Worldwide
global marketing strategy consulting company, which is focused on delivering profitable growth for brands
and companies they work with. AgiVetta Consulting, a corporate problem solving firm. GDA Consulting,
who offers a wide range of services such as Valuations, Business Setup Services,
Techno-Economic Viability Studies, Fund Tie-ups, Business Restructuring, M&A Services, Due Diligence
and other services. , who builds executive panels in select industries for members to learnStep2Strategy
what’s working and what isn’t for people in similar roles in the same and different industries. is aIntellecap
pioneer in providing innovative business solutions that help build and scale profitable and sustainable
enterprises dedicated to social and environmental change.
Additionally, to give meaningful insights and expand your knowledge base about the industry, we have
included articles written by industry experts along with some remarkable articles scripted by our in-house
editors.
So flip through the pages and explore interesting insights into the world of consulting!
Providing more than
just Advice
the
10MOST
PROMISING
BUSINESS
CONSULTING COMPANIES

Pramod Bapna
MD & Head of Strategy
& Operations Practice

Cover Story
Delivering Outstanding Strategies that Makes
Complex Business Problems Appear Simple
SmartHead Consulting:
‘Saral Samadhan’
methodology can be
used in every
complex business
situation to deliver
easy results
the
10MOST
PROMISING
BUSINESS

Management consulting is a big billion industry.
It’s big. It’s growing. It’s highly profitable. And
it’s about to be disrupted. Whether the focus is
strategy, operations, tax, finance, HR, or IT, business
consultants are a staple of corporate life. Today, many
consulting firms provide services across virtually and
globally in all the aspects of business. From defining
strategic direction to simply serving as an additional pair of
hands for outsourced work, consultants have become
intimately linked to the success of most organizations.
As over the years, business consulting firms have
mushroomed, SmartHead Consulting, with its passion for
excellence, has also emerged as one of the leading firms in
the industry. Since its inception in 2011, the company’s
portfolio has been focused on providing thought leadership
for Business Growth, Profitability, Market Development,
Product / Service Portfolio, People Management, Working
Capital Management, Supply Chain, Business Processes,
Authorization Structures etc. in various industries such as
Healthcare, Textiles, Education, Real Estate, Oil & Gas,
Energy, Water Infrastructure, Telecom Equipment, Cables,
Polyester Fiber, Pollution Control Equipment, Printing Inks
& Packaging Films & Chemicals, Dairy etc.
The founding members of the organization, who do not
come from the proverbial consulting domain, believe in
simplifying the solutions to various business issues, rather
than complicating them. This approach has helped
SmartHead to create a niche for them. There is also a huge
value proposition for the clients since SmartHead’s
solutions are easy to comprehend and implement, thereby
more efficient.
But, it is easier said than done. As they say “Simplicity is
the ultimate Sophistication.” Saral Samadhan is not easy to
achieve. It needs a drill down approach to get to the core of
the problem in order to differentiate between the symptoms
and the disease.
SmartHead’s partners come from a strong executive
operations background and with extensive hands-on
experience of widespread implementation of business
solutions, allowing them to decipher the real issues. They
believe that mere intellectual play would mean nothing if it
fails to deliver the desired results. Their collaborative
approach helps in creating a bond of trust and faith between
them and their client.
Driving Force of the Smart
Solution Provider
With the perfect approach of
an entrepreneur, the CEO of
SmartHead, Pramod Bapna,
Managing Director and
Head of Strategy &
Operations Practice advices
to the budding
young-entrepreneurs, that the
youth must be aware that
Entrepreneurship is not short
term; it’s a long haul process
which takes time and
patience to build up. He
emphasizes on the fact that
Organizations
must be proactive
and have the
right strategies
in place to keep
employees
engaged
M

there are no short cuts to success. He also advised that one
should be honest, straight forward and humble to one’s
customers, employees, partners and other stake holders. He
said one should be ready to accept challenges, feedbacks
and criticism, and make course corrections as they go
ahead. “One must learn to put down their ego if they want
to succeed,” asserts Pramod.
Pramod comes with a rich industry experience of over two
decades in managing businesses, developing potential
markets, drafting policy initiatives, and accelerating
profitable growth through strategic initiatives. Prior to
SmartHead, he served as the President & Managing
Director at Degremont Ltd. (an EPC business of the Suez
group of France). Previously he has held key positions of
General Manager & CEO of Schlumberger RMS India and
then Actaris which was a MBO from Schlumberger. He was
also Managing Director at Cooper Industries.
Reena Ahuja, a Partner and a key member of the firm’s
leadership team has over two decades of experience across
a range of industries such as telecommunications, oil & gas,
banking and education. Reena leads SmartHead’s People
Management Practice. She has been an advisor to
organizations’ chief executive officers, senior executives
and boards on issues of executive leadership, team
effectiveness, organization design, culture transformation,
and large-scale people-related change implementation.
Prior to SmartHead, Reena was the head of human
resources at Hughes Communication India Ltd. She has
also served as the Country Personnel Manager for all
business lines of Schlumberger, the only HR manager
across that company’s global organization to have held this
prestigious position. She has also worked with Citibank
Credit Services and NIIT.
Ashok Chordia, who heads the Financial Services
Practice, has over three decades of industry experience in
corporate finance, including financial advisory services,
IPOs, funding, treasury and taxation. Ashok has proven
expertise in re-structuring and re-organizing the financial
reporting and balance sheet— exercises that focus on
leveraging and unlocking the latent potential through
finance best practices, helping to overcome organizational
Reena Ahuja
Ashok Chordia

challenges. His vast experience spans a range of industries
and functional areas.
The CFO and Partner of SmartHead, Sanjiv Nanda has a
rich industry experience of more than three decades across
various Industries. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of
Foreign Trade, Sanjiv is also a Chartered Accountant. His
strength lies in crafting impactful legal structures,
developing efficient business, finance and tax management
practices, tax planning & strategic restructuring, financial &
legal due diligence, merger & acquisition advisory, risk
management and Legal & Corporate documentation are
also a part of his forte.
The Business Intelligence Reporting & Analytics
Practice at SmartHead Consulting is headed by Shubh
Mangal. He is one of the leading Business Analytics
Consultants in India. He brings strategic and creative
flavour to technology consulting experience. Shubh has
successfully implemented various information technology
solutions for global fortune 500 companies for over 15
years. Shubh is armed with master’s degree in MIS from
Case Western Reserve University, USA, and a Bachelor of
Commerce from Delhi University. He nurtured his
leadership skills at Kellogg School of Management.
Working with a Smarter Approach
Considering the background of most of their consultants
who themselves come from various corporate backgrounds
SmartHead Consulting have faced these issues themselves
and understands the pain areas. During the
conceptualization stage of SmartHead, the partners made
sure to offer a unique model different from those offered in
the consulting space. SmartHead assists companies in
finding solutions to their complex problems using its model
of “Diagnose”, “Engage” & “Deliver”. Its proprietary
“Saral Samadhan” methodology has been used for turning
around various inefficient businesses by improving their
working capital management, supporting vendor
management for improving the supply chain, handling
change management to grow / multiply their business’s top
line, creating appropriate organizational structure,
implementing effective performance management systems
We believe that if these
women are given an
opportunity, they can prove
to be better contributors
than that of a permanent
oversized workforce
Sanjiv Nanda
Shubh Mangal

& generating various business intelligence Dash Boards etc.
SmartHead believes in sharing their best practices with its
clients. They strongly advocate that applying and enhancing
best practices are more important than keeping them under
a “Lock & Key”. In fact, SmartHead offers flexible revenue
models to its clients to suit their needs. SmartHead’s
experience across various industry segments has translated
into a differentiated value proposition and powerful
solutions that meet present as well as future demands.
In a short span of seven years since its inception,
SmartHead Consulting has touched many triumphant
milestones. Within the first year of its inception, they
managed to win a contract with a Large Blue Chip
company. In 2015, they set up their first overseas office in
Dubai to serve Middle East clients. They also had an
opportunity to lead the India-UK SME business summit in
London thereby successfully signing multiple cross border
JV’s and technology licensing agreements for Indian
clients. SmartHead has also mentored many startups.
Strong Beliefs to be the Change
SmartHead’s team has got a good mix of vibrancy and
maturity which brings a lot of operational know-hows with
it. SmartHead believes in gainfully engaging women with
celebrated backgrounds having worked at key positions
with well-known organizations, however were on sabbatical
for some reason. Most of these women are looking for
independent work schedules to achieve work-life balance
and SmartHead is happy to provide them that platform. It
believes that if these women are given the opportunity they
can prove to be better contributors than that of a permanent
oversized workforce.
Under the aegis of such distinguished individuals,
SmartHead Consulting is bound to grow and attain new
heights. Nurtured by all the right values such as passion,
dedication, and ethics, SmartHead clients are in the right
hands!
Future Footsteps of SmartHead
Talking about the future plans with Pramod Bapna, he said
that SmartHead has developed solutions around diverse
GOI initiatives including ZED, Smart Cities and is now in
research phase on developing solutions relating to Women
& Elderly people’s safety due to increased exposure with
e-services work force (Cab Drivers, Delivery Boys, Home
service technicians etc.). When asked about how he has
approached change, Pramod said, “Change dawns on us
gradually. It should be handled step by step with a cool and
stable thought process. It has to be a well thought out
process involving communication with the stake holders
and clear time lines with realistic goals.”
Oneshouldbehonest,straightforwardandhumble
toone’scustomers,employees,partners
andotherstakeholders

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ManagementCompany Name
AgiVetta Consulting
agivetta.com
Madhur Kathuria
CEO
AgiVetta Consulting is a pioneer in providing collaborative
solutions to business and IT challenges with innovative ideas.
Aurelius Corporate
Solutions Pvt. Ltd
aurelius.in
Sumit Peer
CEO & Founder
Brandscapes Worldwide
brandscapesworldwide.com
Pranesh Misra
Chairman & MD
Chrome Data
Analytics & Media
chromedm.com
Pankaj Krishna
CEO & Founder
Chrome Data Analytics & Media is a technology-driven market
research firm which is the largest and only Distribution Audit
specialist in India.
GDA Management
Consulting Pvt. Ltd
gdaconsulting.in
Suhas Kunte
Director
GDA Consulting offers a wide range of services such as
Valuations, Business Setup Services, Techno-Economic
Viability Studies, Fund Tie-ups, Business Restructuring, M&A
Services, Due Diligence and other services.
Intellecap Advisory
Services Private Limited
intellecap.com
Nisha Dutt
CEO
Intellecap is a pioneer in providing innovative business
solutions that help build and scale profitable and sustainable
enterprises dedicated to social and environmental change.
Pineapple Consulting
pineappleconsulting.biz
Ameet Mehta
Co-founder &
Principal Design
Pineapple is a strategic branding and design consulting
company.
SmartHead Consulting
smartheadconsulting.com
Pramod Bapna
MD
Step2 Strategy
step2strategy.com
Ashutosh Prasad
CEO & Founder
Step2Strategy builds executive panels in select industries for
members to learn what’s working and what isn’t for people in
similar roles in the same and different industries.
Brandscapes Worldwide is a global marketing strategy
consulting company that is focused on delivering profitable
growth for brands and companies they work with.
SmartHead Consulting is one of the leading firms in the industry
and has been focused on providing thought leadership for
Business Growth, Profitability, Market Development,
Product/Service Portfolio etc. in various industries and sectors.
Frost & Sullivan
frost.com
V. Balasundaram
Senior Director
Finance
Frost & Sullivan is a growth partnership company focused on
helping their clients achieve transformational growth as they are
impacted by an economic environment dominated by accelerating
change, driven by disruptive technologies, mega trends, and new
business models.
Brief
the
10MOST
PROMISING
BUSINESS
Aurelius Corporate Solutions provide Consultative Insourcing
Solutions to 40 plus domains for multiple industries.

Rajesh Shethia
Managing Director
FEBRUARY 2018 16
Consulting Strategies

Concerns of the
Consultancy Industry
and Solutions that
Keeps it Afloat
The robust economy that we
take pride in is the outcome of
some path-breaking strategies
coupled with technological
developments, that worked. The arena
of business is one of the most dynamic
sectors, playing a key role in reshaping
of the economy. Consecutive successes
are encouraging new players in the
market. With start-ups and business
expansions, the gamut of trade and
commerce has taken a seriously
interesting turn and all these have
made consultancy services more
important than ever before.
Why You At All Need To Consult A
Consultancy?
A successful business is the outcome
of some well-measured steps taken at
the right time. This calls for an expert
review, analysis, correct conclusion,
right strategies, and perfect
implementation. Consultancy services
excellently meet the requirements.
Now let’s take a detailed look at some
of the most important reasons to opt
for professional consultancy services.
The Company:
Rajesh Shethia Consultants is a company backed by decades
of experience in the field of recruitment. ey boast of a
higher number of contacts, than most recruitment
companies, which enables them to recruit the best and most
appropriate candidates for any profile, in the shortest time.
Leadership:
1. “Rajesh Shethia Consultants Pvt. Ltd. “is the result of the
passion and e orts of Rajesh Shethia, Managing Director.
Rajesh has an impressive career spanning 17 years with
companies such as Tata Interactive Systems, Educomp,
HDFC Bank, Coca-Cola and Airtel.
2. e Co-founder and Chief Success O cer of Rajesh
Shethia Consultants Pvt. Ltd. is Punita Shethia, who has a
degree in Management Programme for Women
Entrepreneurs from IIM Bangalore. She specializes in
executive placements. Within the company, Punita exerts
e ort to generate outstanding customer experiences through
her experience as an HR recruiter.
FEBRUARY 201817
ABOUT AUTHOR

Ÿ Unbiased perspective: Your business could be best to
you so often we miss to notice the smaller scopes of
improvement which later becomes significant issues. So
you need to talk to experts and obtain their perspective
on your business. It’s the best practice to obtain
unbiased opinion and improve your business.
Ÿ Incorporate updated skills: One of the most important
of consultants is to keep a track of the latest market
developments, skills that can benefit your business the
best way, strategies and market trends. When such
knowledge is brought to the board it nurtures your
business with some great ingredients strengthening your
scopes of success.
Ÿ Focus on short-term goals: Often we tend to ignore the
importance of short-term goals in order to achieve
bigger targets. However, achieving short-term goals are
proven to be very effective in meeting higher goals.
Ÿ Relevant diverse knowledge: When it comes to
running a business, you need to think out of the box.
When you work in a particular field for a longer period
of time, you tend to get surrounded by that. In the long
term, this can sabotage your business prospects. So you
must hire consultancy services to have some effective
out-of-the-box ideas.
Ÿ Efficient planning: Busy schedule and piled up work
often leaves with hardly any time for planning.
However, that’s one of the most important steps to form
a great business. So you must hire good consultancy
services. Their expert team responsibly plans your
business.
Consultancy services, in fact, acts as a catalyst for the rapid
growth of a business. However, time and changing business
scenario has had its impact on this also. There several
factors which are posing a challenge for the consultancy
industry. Interestingly, the industry is evolving to one of its
finest stages by successfully responding to these challenges.
Factors Challenging the Consultancy Industry and
Solutions to Tackle The Situation
The fast evolving market scenario has raised a few factors
which are influencing the consultancy services, challenging
it in different ways. Firstly, customers are changing. People
have become highly mobile. Increased mobility is a boon
for the markets at the same time it poses a challenge for
business to retain customers. So as a solution to this issue,
consultancy services are walking an extra mile to suggest
changes in business strategy to tap the potential of mobile
customers.
Secondly, technology is invading. Business entities are
increasingly depending on tools and technology to gauge
market trend. Dependence on one-to-one consulting has
reduced. Most of the online consultations are free and this
further pulls back businesses from taking paid help from
consultancy services. You cannot ignore the influence of
technology so as a measure to tackle this, consultancy firms
need to extend their services through the online medium to
registered entities. This will ensure a balance where
businesses can conveniently consult and the firms can even
get paid for the services.
Thirdly, there is less scope for manual control and
monitoring of information or advice to business entities.
Online medium has eased communication. But at the same
time, it has removed the points of check. This can be a
serious problem because you cannot confidently trust on a
source of advice. This is why it is all the more important to
refer to identified sources and secure the communication
between business entities and consultancy firms by
authorized registration.
Fourthly, due to pressing market competition, the prices of
commodities are substantially marginalised. It is quite a
tricky situation for consultancy services to offer strategies
that do not compromise on a company’s profit margin.
Efforts to overcome challenges have always paved the way
to evolution. The challenges faced by the consultancy
industry too have been a driving force that has developed it.
Consultancy firms adopt suitable strategies to overcome the
challenges and make optimum use of technology to meet
the requirements. The consultancy industry has evolved into
one of its best phases, in the recent times.
18FEBRUARY 2018

The definition of “consulting” is changing along with
client and preferences. In thisexpectations business
ever changing world, consulting organizations must
adapt quickly in terms of services, structure, and people
management.
Rising to this challenge, AgiVetta Consulting is providing
a gamut of Business Consulting Solutions required in
today’s fast-paced and evolving business arrangement.
Incorporated in 2015 with a motto to promote and value
enlightenment, AgiVetta Consulting is a pioneer in
providing Business Consulting Solutions in India, South
East Asia, Middle East, and Europe. They work with the
world’s leading organizations to provide collaborative
solutions to business and IT challenges with innovative
ideas that are readily embraced by their customers.
Their core philosophy roots in rigorous critical and
analytical thinking, with a swift and continuous
feed-forward process, which enhances delivery value
validating quality to all probable products and processes.
The Business Consulting Team at AgiVetta Consulting
brings new ideas and solutions, inspiration, and passion to
help their customers to apply these approaches in the
continuous changing business environment.
With vast involvement in serving organizations and
business units to transmute into successful entities, the
company is providing transforming and customized
business consulting solutions in the fields of Leadership
Consulting, Business Consulting, Strategy Consulting,
Process Consulting, New Age Leadership Consulting,
Organizational Change Management and Technical
Excellence to help businesses in developing new and
effective corporate strategies, modernize organizational
culture and align with exceptional effective performance.
At AgiVetta Consulting, they do not believe in providing
fit-for-fit solutions for their .organizations They trust in
finding a solution that works best for you and your
organization rather than imitating notions and forcefully
implementing them. Their solutions envisage in Risk
Management, Operations Strategy, Design and Business
Engineering, Product Management and Sales Process
Restructuring and Support. For AgiVetta Consulting, an
organization is not just a group of individuals working
together; it is a family with common values and principles,
which celebrates success and shares joy; helping and
building foundation hand in hand.
An Exceptional Leader
Madhur Kathuria, CEO of AgiVetta Consulting, started
his career as a Technologist. He traversed through various
roles in his journey including that of Programmer, Test
Engineer, Business Analyst, Scrum Master, Process
Consultant, CMMI Appraiser and Lead Consultant.
As India’s First CEC (Certified Enterprise Coach) and one
of the only 30 experts in the world, with the triple
certification of CEC, CST (Certified Scrum Trainer) and
CAL1 (Certified Agile Leader) from Scrum Alliance,
Madhur has been training and coaching Scrum teams across
India, Europe and USA for past 14 years. Madhur is one of
the top 12 Certified OpenSpace Agility Trainers & Coaches
in the world and the one in India.
Having worked with 300+ teams across 60+ organizations
as a transformation consultant, he has trained and coached
approximately 12000+ associates. Madhur brings these
experiences as a transformation consultant, trainer, and a
coach to ensure that learning is not just theory based but has
a pragmatic insight into the real world. He is also the
founder of “Battlefield Agility” framework that has been
successfully adopted across multiple areas of Product
Development and IT Services in India.
He looks forward to life as a vault full of opportunities and
strongly believes that every person has the right key to
“AGIVETTA CONSULTING”
Guiding Lanterns for the Ever-changing
Business Demands
the
10MOST
PROMISING
BUSINESS
20FEBRUARY 2018

unlock his potential. His firm belief in Agile Philosophy and
Principles brought him to the world of Agile Coaching and
transformation. His endeavor is to spread the benefits of
Agile by helping others adopt the essence of Agile methods
outside Information Technology.
Unique Solutions and Services
AgiVetta Consulting’s principles revolve around the
elementary and the most important guidelines for success,
i.e. nurturing people for improved outcome. “Our motto is to
combine the strategy like that of human intelligence with
artificial intelligence for all our clients and partners,” says
Madhur. Understanding the importance of efficient
individuals in making a business successful, AgiVetta
Consulting ensures that they cover not just the process aspect
of customer engagement, but also keep the human values
intact for the long-lasting and self-sustaining organization.
At AgiVetta consulting, they serve their clients with an
interactive, practical experience in the concerned industry
with the right mix of spices for the transformation of their
organization. They are experienced and involved in serving
organizations and business units to transmute into a
successful self-sustained people-centric entity. They don’t
just preach about a standard model of working, but focus on
devising methods, tools, and practices which suit the
customers in business environment analysis of
organizational values and guiding principles.
As a focused professional with creative and innovative
ideas in providing training and coaching in the field of
Business consulting, AgiVetta Consulting has placed itself
as an experienced group of passionate consultants. Their
experienced trainers focus on devising methods, tools, and
practices which are best suited to guide the patrons to
prosper their growth. “Irrespective of the challenges, our
coaches have accomplished change in precision and
transformed into the most complex business environment,”
says Madhur.
Upcoming Endeavors
“Future to everything is unpredictable and full of
challenges,” says Madhur. Today’s business demands and
nuances are rapidly changing and require faster deliveries
for continuous improvement and success. Adhering to these
rapid changes, AgiVetta Consulting values the newer ways
of working such as Agile philosophy, and people centric
dynamics for success. They believe in creating a difference
in business consulting by not only providing customized
solutions, but also respecting human values. Unlike other
business consulting standards, they deeply imbibe in the
newer philosophies of people’s ability to transmute
businesses all around the world.
We trust in finding a
solution that works
best for you and your
organization rather
than imitating notions
and forcefully
implementing them
Madhur Kathuria
CST, CTC, CEC, CAL1, Certied OSA Trainer & Coach
21 FEBRUARY 2018

Management Consulting
Industry:
An Overview
Editorial Pic
Consultants as a breed
came into existence to
be able to provide
advice, ideas and even
implement them under
ambiguous situations or
under circumstances that
the company may not
have seen or been
through. The
consulting industry
in today’s age needs to
be a lot more agile and lot
more well-informed given the
business needs.
Imagine that you are driving a car, you are
controlling the steering wheel and you do
not have the directions. You would
obviously need someone to help you
navigate. Quite similar is the scenario in
most of the organizations and most people
face such difficult situations. People tend
to develop a tunnel vision of whatever
jobs they work in. That is why
management consulting exists; it
provides an opportunity to step back and
think afresh.
The role of consulting has evolved over time. Early
management consulting started way back in 1925.
Since then the business has improved from offering
plain vanilla analytics to work hand-in-hand with
clients and offering them solutions. Previously, the
added value that a consultant used to bring was with
22FEBRUARY 2018

their ability to churn huge amounts of data and make logical
sense out of it. But things have changed over the last two
decades. While problem identification is very well known,
Consulting nowadays is about working with the client and
implementing solutions. The revenues lie in implementing
whatever strategies are planned in the board rooms.
Expectations from Consultants
There are huge expectations of clients from consultants.
Out of which there are three to four important ones, and that
is what most of the clients usually look for. The first is a
better understanding of consumers and customers, which
goes far beyond the standard market research of perceptions
and the churning numbers. In today’s age of the social
media, clients are looking for insight into how the
customers are going to behave in near future. The second
zone is innovation. In the Indian context of the growing
economy you need to innovate on products and processes.
The next phase of growth and development for most Indian
consumer goods companies is coming from the rural areas.
Companies are focused on stepping into rural (and other)
markets faster, cheaper and healthier and they want
management consultants to help them get there.
There should be a robust system based on which
management consultants could structure themselves to
make up to the expectations of clients. Broadly, it could be
done through strategy, operations, and technology practices.
Simply put, strategy practices are concerned with the
“faster” aspect- growth, new product initiatives, top line,
launching new lines of businesses, and so on. The
operations practices are mainly concerned with cost
reduction, while technology enables “better”, which is
about fashioning a USP for the brand. Today, technology is
enabling and reforming businesses and a case in point is the
banking and financial industry where these technological
changes have played a disruptive role. For instance, there
was a time when banks kept opening new branches to serve
customers. Then banks diverted customers to ATMs to save
on the expenses of manpower, logistics and efficiency. Then
they realized that ATMs need to be serviced regularly, and
there were a lot of cash management, transportation and
logistics issues involved with it, so they diverted them to
the Internet. So clients are watching out for technology as
an enabler in driving serious transformation of their
businesses.
Considerations for a Consultant
The chief principal of consulting is that it is about respect
and trust. As a consultant you might receive an invitation
by the client on account of your credentials, that's when you
have to start working on to win the trust of your client so
that he could invest in your firm undoubtedly. How you do
that is by showing respect for what they have done and why
they have faced the query. If you do not understand the
question that they are facing, you will never be able to
answer them; and don't ever believe that the question that
you hear verbally from them is exactly the question that’s
on their mind-that’s the very first fallacy of consulting.
Their problem description might be totally wrong! You
have to first investigate, to understand what’s going on
beneath the surface, the job that they have done so far, and
the likelihoods that will take them to the next level.
Sometimes what seems to be most beneficial for your
consulting organization may not be in client's favor. But
giving the client the advice that will benefit his business is
what makes him a repeat customer.
Second, learning is the soul of consulting-it smears across
all levels of a consulting organization. Learning, but
particularly learning under pressure. It is not easy but if you
succeed to thrive under pressure, you will learn a variety of
things. For instance, you will learn how different
automotive engineering is in a Mahindra in comparison
with Tata Motors or Toyota.
The third aspect of consulting is uncertainty. To best
understand this aspect, have a look onto the US and
European markets over the last five years. The depths of
recession will then be very well defined to you. So every
year you would find something unexpected and new; you
just cannot predict the kind of work you will be doing in
future, the kind of client you might be working with or the
geography you will be in. There is a lot of dynamic churn in
the market and it is getting faster.
Insights on Indian Industry
In the last three years the Indian environment has started
responding to the dynamics; there has been a regulatory
churn, people have started to adapt and they constantly try
to find the new normal and this process is probably just
about to reach the equilibrium. Consider the Indian
financial services sector, there is a lot of churn in the
banking and insurance companies while they try to define
who is in the industry, and whether they are going to
succeed and make money. Several insurance companies
have stepped in and out of the insurance business. Under
such circumstances, the success for the banking and
insurance industry is achievable only if they understand that
their customers can reach out to them with the most
effective channel. In this context, consultants in the
financial services sector have a lot of opportunities to
flourish by counseling the clients about available business
opportunities and how to exploit them, the best way to
23 FEBRUARY 2018

structure market offerings and help clients succeed in their
markets.
The financial service industry was the first industry to
accept and adopt computers and mainframes when they
were invented and financial services businesses have been
exploiting IT for a long time. Since the 1960s and 70s, there
has been a dramatic decline in the cost of transactions. The
focus on cost is persistent and it continues to be for
financial services companies worldwide, but they are more
evenly balanced between top line and bottom line. In India
the focus is more on top line, although numerous companies
are investing in various projects for bottom line
performance.
India has been a prodigious manufacturing hub and some
form of technology has always been there in the
core manufacturing business. For a
technology consultant, the most
significant thing to be considered
when you engage with a client
is to ensure that you walk
the talk. Today’s smart
consumers won’t pay a
huge fee just for the
delivery of a strategy
paper. You will also
have to make your
strategy work in the
favor of customer’s
organization. That
is the reason we
observe that the
pure play consulting
organizations, which
were predominantly
doing top level
strategy, are coming
down two notches and
considering to work with
the client to make things
happen, whether it is around
operations, strategy, or pure play
technology.
As technology has evolved, the role of a
technology consultant has also evolved, as has the buying
pattern of the clients. A mature customer is probably
looking for opportunities to extend the value of what they
have spent and assure if they can give them the return on
investment (ROI) before they go for another spend. So, one
has to make sure of the integration of technology with their
business, which is where the ROI is.
Compendiously, a good consultant is one who enables the
customer to achieve things by applying the solution, the
technology suggested by the consultant. If you are able to
make your customer achieve his objectives by
implementation of a specific technology, you would have
then played your role as an efficient technology consultant.
There are some unambiguous differences between the
mature markets and markets like India. The first key
difference is that in a mature market, going to a consultant
for an advice on a problem is an obvious choice. In India,
while the consulting market has been functioning for the
past 25 years, it is still not an obvious port of call.
Secondly, overseas clients know what they are getting into
and they treat the consultant as an additional resource to
help them solve the problem. In India, the expectations
from consultants in some cases are very high-it is as
if the consultant will come in and work some
magic-but this might be evident since the
organizations and the consulting
businesses are still maturing. Third
important aspect is the value for
money-most clients will
negotiate and research before
they decide which
consultant they want to go
with. So it is not about
partnership, but about
getting the best solution
for that particular
problem.
Concluding
Consultants
There is a lot of merit in
cross-industry learning, it
is probably some kind of
basic instinct. In most
cases, if you are in a
particular business, your
knowledge would be confined
to that business. The consulting
team brings a lot more understanding
of what is trending across industries.
Also, when you set up teams to solve a
clients’ problem, you need to be able to exhibit a
certain level of understanding of that particular industry or
a business. So you would then deploy people who have
already worked across multiple clients within that industry,
and therefore, are able to think afresh. Another interlinked
aspect is the customer’s insight. Consultants must
essentially understand customer preferences and how they
are gradually evolving and then figure out what product or
process innovations need to be made in order to fulfill their
requirements.
24FEBRUARY 2018

usiness people have vision with some skills and
Bexpertise to run a business but with the broader
change of growth in the economic conditions or
with an unforeseen circumstances; those skills, expertise
and vision can’t meet the goals of an organization. In those
circumstances getting help from outside consultants can be
helpful or may even prove to be a necessary step to save a
business. However, the purpose behind getting a help from
those consulting firms can be different, for example some
may want to hire for a temporary assistance, others may
want to hire for specific project or can even be for
Government regulatory assistance or with respect to any
socio-economic or political change.
Once you decide to start a consultancy firm, it is always
good to know why companies now a days might want to
hire your consultancy services; what the latest trend is and
relate your skills to that. Having knowledge of a particular
subject and having specialized skills, thrive and passion for
that subject is the difference between a bad and a good
consultant.
What could these consulting firm do when they have a task
to perform? Or a problem to solve? Well, that depends upon
the task at hand and based on that the consultancy firms can
recommend, implement, provide information and facilitate
client learning, lay out a strategy for solving a
problem/issue/challenges or opportunities. You can choose
to start a consulting firm in the field of career counselling,
communications, auditing, advertising, accounting,
marketing, human resources, insurance, taxes and writing
services(in any field) or any other field which might
interests you.
So, if you now are sure of opening a consultancy firm, here
are some tips:
1. Certificates, licenses and other qualifications
requirements:
It is better to be sure beforehand about the licenses and any
other required certificates. Those licenses and certificates
depend upon the profession you choose to practice in. You
also want to make sure you have required qualifications to
get the job done. You should possess knowledge and latest
information pertaining to your field. Companies hire you
for your expertise, make sure you have that. You don’t want
to fall in trouble once your client is at from door of your
company.
2. Make it to a contract specific:
Businesses don’t want to make a longtime or a lifetime
commitments to consultancy firms as the companies also
need to change the working scenario according to the
changes in the economic climate. Make sure to adopt a
contract structure where you don’t bind yourself to a
particular company. You don’t want the same old traditional
consultancy model and you might want to change or start
with a freelancing work.
3. Have a specific task(project) based revenue model and
deliver results rather than recommendation:
You want to achieve the result by focusing on specific
project rather than getting payment on hourly bases. Focus
more on the strategy and giving outputs in the form of
solutions rather than merely giving an advice. To survive in
this competitive world, you need to deliver results in
accordance with the problems given to you. Google and
social media has transformed the social world. Any person
26FEBRUARY 2018
Expert’s View Point

can put a little effort and find recommendations/
advice and solutions as the Consultant, what all
is required is the skill and passion to put all
things together and deliver the final
product.
4. Treat clients as consumers and
be ready to work with any level
organization:
When you treat companies as
clients, you tend to have more
control over the situation, but
when you treat the companies
as a consumer, they are in
power which is the backbone of
any success. When you start a
startup, don’t restrict your area
with a particular level of
organization. Small company
problems make you confident for big
challenges.
5.Be flexible to change:
You need to adopt a flexible business model to
keep up with this changing society. You might need to
change according to the projects you have or change might
be required due to unavoidable circumstances. Do not
follow a rigid business methodology.
6. Be available for your consumers anytime, anywhere:
It is time to bring a change and this can be the most
important one. Be responsive to consumers anytime they
want help and give answers to each and every
communication. Be ready to answer questions by phone,
email or any other available media.
7. Differentiate your services:
To coup up with the ever growing market, know the
services your competitor provides and differentiate them
with your services. Bring some unique and innovative, new
ideas and see your firm in the top of the list!
For what need the business company may consult you is
unknown. But you are deemed a persons with skills and you
may be called to teach employee, to bring a new life to a
business/ organization, to identify problems, to provide a
helping hand to the staff or may be called to do the “dirty
work”. Whatever the work is make sure to give your best!
About the Author
Aurobinda Panda, Founder &
Managing Partner of Lex
Protector has worked hard to
provide a platform to the rm to
develop upon. Before the
incorporation of the Firm,
Aurobinda had been working
individually and felt the
necessity of a corporate
organization in order to provide
services more professionally.
This is how Lex Protector
started to get its shape. He has
been continuously stratigizing
and planning the growth model
of the rm.
Aurobinda Panda
Founder & Managing Partner
Lex Protector
27 FEBRUARY 2018

In this ever-changing world, business challenges require
better products, customized services, and complex
solutions. As organizations strive to address their
clients’ critical business issues, technical professionals play
an important role in creating and implementing solutions
for external and internal clients. While they are experts in
their areas, many technical professionals are not equipped
to handle the business side of a project. They need
consultative problem-solving skills to create value for
clients, and integrate their technical skills into a
consultative process.
Aurelius Corporate Solutions has strived to carve a niche
domain of operations termed as Insourcing Multiplier for
themselves wherein they have been instrumental in
providing not trainings but consultative insourcing solutions
which directly solve business problems in more than 40
domains ranging from IT, Pharmaceutical industry,
Automobile, BFSI, Aviation, Healthcare, Telecom,
Manufacturing, Engineering to functional organizational
development.
Focused Frontrunner of the Organization
All the consultative insourcing solutions that Aurelius offers
are not vanilla-off-the-shelf and are tailor-made end-to-end
for clients to exactly fit their requirements. It strives to
provide learning solution which are truly suited to the needs
of the client so that the end-goals of the client are met.
Sumit Peer is the Founder and CEO of Aurelius
Corporate Solutions. He has been instrumental in building
the organization from ground up owing to his extensive
domain expertise in system sales of Satellite/Telecom
products, infrastructure projects and P&L handling across
continents and industrial cultures. His current role entitles
him with the strategic responsibility to direct & manage
overall business of Aurelius. Having been in technology
sales for over 19 years with almost 10 years across
continents in United States, Singapore and Europe working
on multi-million dollar projects, Sumit brings to the table a
global business model and perspective for the organization.
He holds a post graduate degree in sales, marketing &
advertising management and general management from
Cornell University, which makes him the driving force in
the organization.
Through Aurelius, Sumit is focusing mostly on emerging
technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning,
Robotics, Work Fusion and many more. Currently, there are
more than 20 latest technologies, which are trending
globally. With the expertise in designing learner-centric
solutions, Aurelius truly understands how to cultivate an
effective, engaging, and result-driven learning environment.
It is 100 % independent and non-affiliate Insourcing
multiplier and also a technology agonistic.
Diligently Focusing On Tangible Results
Aurelius has been able to gain certain accolades in the
industry owing to level3 technology solutions and the
impeccable track record of the services provided. It is
empowering individuals and organizations to achieve their
goals through intelligent, effective and enjoyable learning
experiences. As a global provider of Insourcing solutions,
Aurelius has been awarded by Enterprise Excellence of the
Year in Training & Consulting in the year 2016 and L&T
Business Excellence award for the impeccable growth in the
consultation domain and for creating immense value in the
industry. Aurelius has also been portrayed in large number
of media platforms on a regular basis such as The Tribune,
Economic Times, Orlando news, Canada news, The Hindu,
Republic TV, Business World, Business Standard, The
Times of India, The Huffington Post, Kenya Star and many
more.
Developing Through its Service Delivery Engine
Aurelius runs its service delivery engine, through which it
brings world-class skills and capabilities, develops
AURELIUS CORPORATE SOLUTIONS:
A Leading Insourcing Multiplier
28
the
10MOST
PROMISING
BUSINESS
FEBRUARY 2018

knowledge capital, and sources, enhances and develops the
key assets central to the development of any organization.
Considering the pace at which technology grows and
updates, Aurelius acts as the one stop shop for all the clients
to gain access to all the technology updates happening across
the globe. It has a number of very satisfactory experiences
with a number of clients. Some of the most notable have
been Tata Consultancy Services, DXC, Sun Pharma, Cadilla
Pharma, World Bank, EY, KPMG, Indian Army, Renault
Nissan, Daimler, Government of Canada and many more. All
of these have long standing relations with the company
which is extremely symbiotic in nature.
Aurelius has been able to stand out in the industry owing to
the novel and hybrid model of technology application based
consultative insourcing solutions that it provides. With more
than 50 thousand working professionals connected with them
globally, Aurelius takes pride in having a power house of
knowledge resources when it comes to technology driven
insourcing solutions to solve business needs and challenges
and help them grow and scale up revenues and proﬁtability
by best use of technology. Aurelius believes to enable the
people of organization to handle its business better as
increased operations budgets are a major challenge in any
business today. It provides a highly transparent business
model with a direct return on the investment (ROI) of the
clients with an impeccable “internal rate of return” (IRR).
Promising Future in the Consultancy Industry
The future of Business Consulting Industry is believed to be
coupled with technology growth. The pace at which
technology is growing and changing will witness a
paradigm change in how business is done and consultation
for the said business is to be provided. Aurelius Corporate
Solutions has a strong background in technology and
business integrated consultation services and is fortifying
this base with every passing day to ensure that it has the
best possible resources and knowledge power house to
provide services to the clients while creating values at a
global scale.
Aurelius is implementing the insourcing solutions globally
solving complexities through technology across
demographics, cultures and geographies.
Providing Best
Consultative
Technology
Insourcing
Solutions
Sumit Peer
Founder & CEO
29 FEBRUARY 2018

The Criss-Crossing of
Artificial
Intelligence
Consulting
The diligent invention and innovation by research
teams in companies around the world have helped
to keep-up with the pace of technological
expansion in computer processing power for several
decades. This led to the ability of technology companies to
put more computing power than the whole Apollo space
program into the bags of more than a billion people
worldwide.
Everything around us including music, books and even
movies have taken a digital physiognomy. There is a
considerable amount of threat to both people and their
enterprises due to these increasingly intelligent digital
technologies and unpredictable customer expectations.
The last few decades have been an amazing time for
consultancies with full of revenue and opportunities
provided by these technological advancements. Clients
were desperate for solutions to help them match these
changing times. This has led to the growth of management
consulting in size and scale, expanding multiple
technologies and even marketing specialties. The increase
in the divergence of the large international consultancies
into other specialisms is the ﬁrst step to what fallouts in an
&
30FEBRUARY 2018
Tech & Trends

inevitable shrinkage forced upon the industry.
The same forces that are causing a feeling of disequilibrium
for the firms that consultancies serve are also causing the
same challenges, trepidation and uneasiness for the
consulting firms. One of all the major game-changers of the
consulting industry is the inception of Artificial
Intelligence.
Intervention of Artificial Intelligence
Mechanical muscles made human labor less in demand, so
are mechanical minds making human brain less in demand.
You might misinterpret this as an economic revolution
which is more appropriately a robotic evolution. When you
think of automation, you think of giant, efficient and
precise but really dumb robots blind to the world doing
their own work. They were a scary kind of automation, but
they were cost effective in narrow situations. These are the
old kind of robots (just mechanical muscles), and the real
threat is by the new kinds with Artificial Intelligence.
Chatbots, roboadvisors, and other implementations of
artificial intelligence have taken over people’s imaginations
and led to the practical implementations of artificial
intelligence. People are becoming increasingly comfortable
with artificial intelligence.
But what does the consulting industry has to do with
artificial intelligence?
In the short run, maybe consultants don’t have as much to
fear from artificial intelligence as compared to the workers
in transportation, retail, or manufacturing. But, in the wider
bandwidth of things, over time innovative technology
vendors will inexorably build upon openly available
artificial intelligence frameworks made publicly accessible
by companies like Microsoft and Google (which are
looking for an increase in the sale of cloud services) to
automate some of the tasks that lately cast undergraduate
analysts or Indians do now for the large consulting firms.
Today, we comprehend our business and our interactions
with our customers well enough, what was once a mystery,
and then we try to identify patterns inside it which then
eventually allows us to create algorithms and procedures
that can be captured in Standard Operating Procedures
(SOP’s) and then ultimately in code. This process is similar
to the heuristic technique. The power of artificial
intelligence is the ability to move the role of machine to the
left in The Knowledge Funnel, far away from pure manual
31 FEBRUARY 2018

coding by a human, to the computer programs that
write themselves and eventually to heuristic
identification and algorithm creation at some point in
the near future. This is ultimately made possible by
crowd computing, machine learning and deep learning.
The fact remains that as computer programmers and the
artificial minds their creation becomes more adept at
watching the work that consultants do and recognizing
the patterns in their recommendations.
Is the Threat Even Real?
These are challenging times for large consultancies and
small independent consultants as consultancies are
forced to respond to these attacks from three sides:
Increasingly Available Intellectual Property, Internal
Consultants and Artificial Intelligence. A huge part of
that three-pronged attack will come from an
ever-growing multitude of automation engineers taking
over the cubicles around the world to design people out
of jobs. In the same way that mechanical engineers
build robots to substitute our human muscles with
machine muscles, automation engineers and computer
programmers are creating inexpensive machine minds
with sufficient artificial intelligence to replace our more
expensive human brains. Professions like that of the
automation engineer will attract workforces from
around the world in increasing numbers, but not nearly
enough to counterbalance the losses in job opportunities
that these engineers are tasked with eliminating. Only
time will tell how quickly and how broadly artificial
intelligence (AI) threatens the core business of
consultancies.
Think, if you are in the consulting industry, what is
your strategy for responding to this threat?
Because, make no mistake, the threat is real. The only
question is how quickly it will substantially impact the
bottom line. Sooner or later Artificial Intelligence and
Machine Learning for better solutions will rule. With
the contributions of these two technologies, time
invested in primary research and data analytics can be
substantially reduced. Now decision making can be
quicker and more fine-tuned based on the client's
desires and behavior. Behavior patterns can be well
drawn out, and quick actions can be implemented.
However, for your comfort, let’s make a dulcet
statement; say consultants are a balance of EQ and IQ
so AI and robotics can't replace the EQ and sensibility
part.
32FEBRUARY 2018

Faisal Amin
The co-founder of Fruitbowl
Digital. Faisal was recognised as
50 Best Digital Marketing
Professionals in the country. Faisal
is also responsible for strategic
direction and business
development strategy of Fruitbowl
Digital. He strongly believes that
the future of marketing lies in
integrating ofine and online for an
enriched user experience.
34FEBRUARY 2018
Insiter’s Opinion

Future
ofConsulting
The consulting space is massive.
Even if it were to shrink by
50%, there would still be
money for the people who know how
to do it. That remark, though not
particularly insightful, will always be
correct and evergreen. India has been
globally recognised for its speedy
development, leading to an extensive
expansion in the consulting sector. The
future of consulting is all about
resilience and start up. The future of
consultancies in India based on the
current and future prospects of the
various sectors; will have critical
success factors.
Increased demand for consulting
services by domestic and foreign firms
sector in India is consistently growing.
Today, nearly all industries are
undergoing massive change. Rising
opportunities due to booming economy
and growing demand for consultancy
services are key factor for growth. The
total market growth might slow down a
bit, but there will be considerable shifts
amongst the market segments.
Traditional management consulting
will stagnate and nearly merge with IT
consulting. In general, there will be a
shift from traditional advice to
implementation. This implies that
clients will express the wish that their
consultants share more risks of the
projects.
In a world of growing complexities, it
is critical to ensure sufficient
distribution of the existing knowledge
throughout the company. Large
consultants will face structural
problems. This would limit their ability
to raise capital and slow down
decisions and changes. Some might
even consider going public due to
enormous management incapacities.
This would be an opportunity for other
players to enter some poorly serviced
fields. Also, small firms are
consistently thriving by becoming
exquisitely specialized. They could
network to fulfil complex needs which
would enable them to become medium
sized consultancy on project basis.
Other changes will occur through new
entrants. Attracted by the impressive
market growth, many
non-consultancies will establish
consultancy-divisions. An entry of sole
practitioners and small consultancies is
expected. This wave of new entries
will have dual effects. An increase in
the competition would be evident,
leading to mergers and acquisitions or
breakdowns. And, since there are no
legal regulations as to who can call
himself a consultant; there will be
quality problems in some cases which
could damage the reputation of the
whole industry.
Industry in India
35 FEBRUARY 2018

Today, we are living in a world which is changing
very rapidly. A revolution is taking place in almost
every business sector. IT, infrastructure, healthcare,
telecommunication, education, FMCG, Media & PR are
going through massive transformation. With ever growing
startups and existing old players, competitions in every
business is going a notch higher with each passing year. To
be relevant in this tough competition and earn higher proﬁt
margins, various businesses hire “Business Consultant”.
Due to a tough and highly competitive environment, the
role of a business consultant becomes very important for a
company’s growth. A consultant’s advice can make or break
an organization. Here are some of the tools and techniques
which are crucial in a business consulting job.
TECHNIQUES
in a Business
Consulting World
know
Tools
Must
&
36FEBRUARY 2018
Chalk Talk

GE McKinsey Matrix
Investment is an important aspect for the growth of any
business. The fight for investments takes place at every
level of a company; between teams, functional departments,
R&D departments, marketing and sales departments etc.
The question of where and how much to invest is an ever
going headache for business leaders. GE McKinsey is a
strategic tool which helps consultants to prioritize
investment for its client. GE Mckinsey is a strategic tool
that offers a systematic approach for a multi-business
corporation to prioritize its investments among its business
units. Ever increased competition, low profit margins,
shortage of skilled and experienced persons etc. making
business vulnerable in today’s fast moving world, GE
McKinsey Matrix is a solution, which has the potential to
help organization in better planning of their investments, in
order to gain higher profitability.
Porter 5 forces
To be relevant in a competition, it is very necessary to have
knowledge about our own and competitors strengths and
weaknesses. Porter’s five forces is a simple but powerful
tool for evaluating the competitiveness of your business
environment and for identifying a qualitative strategy for
potential profitability. Porter model is used to analyze on
ground real competition among rivals of same domains. It
helps a company to make policy framework and corporate
strategy. Business consultants use Porter five forces to
evaluate a firm’s strategic policy.
There are five parameters on which Porter’s principle is
based. Understanding these parameters help consultants to
derive a meaningful strategic policy for their client. These
parameters are competitive rivalry, supplier power, buyer
power, threat of substitution and threat of new entrants.
Balanced scoreboard
Balanced scoreboard is a tool which connects the dots
between big pictures. This tool helps an organization to
keep track of a company’s mission (our purpose), vision
(what we aspire to do), core values, strategic focus area’s
and day to day operational activities. There are different
metrics on which this tool produces necessary outcomes.
These metrics are revenue, earnings, and market share,
quality of product or services, employee morale, customer
satisfaction.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the process of comparing one’s business
process and performance metrics with its competitors. It
helps an organization to improve its performance. Metrics
on which benchmarking typically done are production
costs, employee turnover, process cycle time.
Core Competencies
You can find multiple companies who are offering the same
product and services at different prices across the domains.
These companies may be varied in size, employee’s
strength, profit, market share, growth rate etc., but still they
fight and remain in competition for long. The factor which
makes many small and medium size companies even big
MNC’s to fight and survive in an ever increased, tough and
highly competitive market is some unique characteristics.
Each organization has its unique strength; we can call this
unique strength as a core competency. A core competency is
an expertise in an area that is not easily replicated by
competitors. It allows your organization to deliver unique
value to customers, thus giving the company a “leg up” on
the competition.
Identifying core competencies and putting extra effort to
refine and develop it further can make an organization
relevant in the long run. It also helps in achieving better
results in terms of marketing and profits.
As the economy and GDP are growing in many parts of the
world, especially in developing countries, the demand of
business consultant is also increasing across the domains.
Not only private companies are utilizing the service of a
business consultant but many government organizations as
well. With having good knowledge of these tools and
techniques, a business consultant can give much better
advice to its clients and helps an organization to grow and
compete in these challenging business environments.
37 FEBRUARY 2018

Like most businesses, consulting too is in the
throes of churning and change. In an increasingly
knowledge-driven economy where automation,
artificial intelligence, and big data have already made
their presence felt, data consulting as a business is
becoming more and more challenging and open-ended
by the day. With digitization of television distribution
and the shift from analog to digital and DTH, Chrome
Data Analytics & Media with its advanced tracking
technologies has managed to map the complete
on-the-ground audience migration.
A data consulting company, Chrome DM is unique and
one-of-its-kind corporation that not only is the sole
provider of possibly the most granular and precise
broadcasting and associated data in the country, but also
a leading technology driven market research and brand
consultation firm that has worked with some of the
biggest brands in business today.
An Astute and Fascinating Leader
Knowing that technology completely redefines
businesses and disrupts business models; change has
been underway in data consulting space too. Chrome
DM has promptly kept pace with the advancement in
data collection as well as television tracking
technologies. The Founder and CEO, Mr. Pankaj
Krishna, an alumnus of Harvard University, is an
industry veteran who has been in media and analytics
space for around 20 years now. Running Chrome DM for
about a decade now, with his tireless efforts and
razor-sharp and intuitive business acumen, he has
transformed Chrome DM from a 5-member team to a
company with over 1200 staff with offices in
Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore.
Mr. Krishna’s innate ability to spot the right talent for the
right job has made Chrome DM, an organization where
the team (of professionals) has proved to be as good as
the captain. Leading from the front, Mr. Krishna is a
hands-on CEO who likes to be directly involved in most
projects. Wherever relevant, he also keeps himself
informed of the minutest details of a project before a
discussion with a colleague or a client. With an eye on
the long-term prospects of the company in mind, he also
assiduously nurtures and grooms the younger promising
leaders for a lot bigger roles and responsibilities.
Fostering a work culture where process is given the same
due as product and where the end not quite justifies the
means, Chrome DM under Mr. Krishna’s expert
guidance observes the best standards of corporate
governance.
Building a Camaraderie with the Client
Recognizing that it is the human element that essentially
operates even in the context of a vendor-client
relationship, Chrome DM professionals have been
adequately trained to deal with their clients always
taking a long-term view. While the end-goal of any
business must be business at the end of the day,
extending the vendor-client dynamics into a somewhat
more informal and personalized zone of comfort makes
the process more easy, trustful and long-lasting for both
sides. Also by keeping the client up to speed on the latest
product and service trends especially the newer products
and services that the client may require and that Chrome
DM could offer competitively, Chrome DM effectively
becomes the custodian of its clients’ interests. Placing
great emphasis on client servicing, Chrome DM ensures
that the company has repeat clients, a feat difficult to
achieve in an intensely competitive market space
nowadays.
CHROME DATA ANALYTICS & MEDIA:
A Leading IT-based Market Research
and Brand Consultation Firm
38
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Development of Innovative Tools and Products
Chrome DM has promptly kept pace with the
advancement in data collection as well as television
tracking technologies. Chrome DM’s marquee product by
the name of Chrome Connect has made it possible for
auditing of channel distribution without any human
intervention whatsoever. Since the technology is time and
platform-agnostic, the client can access the relevant
information literally ‘anytime anywhere’. Chrome DM’s
primary survey tool named Chrome Real Time Insights
takes the customary quantitative analysis to the next level
by introducing a qualitative component. This qualitative
component is made possible through a content analysis
that informs the channel not only whether a programme or
content is popular, but also why a particular content is
popular on a channel vis-à-vis any other content on a
competitor channel or channels. For the advertisers, the
company’s product named Chrome Optimal turns out to
be a great monitoring tool as to whether a particular
campaign that was supposed to be played on contracted
channels was played, and for the full duration that it was
supposed to.
Futuristic Approach and Market Expansion
Known for employing advanced data collection
methodologies as well as unconventional scientific tools
for the television industry, Chrome DM has redefined the
science of measurement for analyzing television
distribution and ratings data in India. By making an
expansion into market research and brand space, Chrome
DM has emphatically gone ahead of the curve. Chrome
DM addresses the perpetual need for ‘speed to market’
for brands through its flagship 10k that covers 10,000
respondents in flat 4 days and has been a real blockbuster
among brands.
Positioning itself as a
unique and e ective
solution provider for
both broadcasters
and brands
Pankaj Krishna
CEO & Founder
39 FEBRUARY 2018

TopTrends
DISRUPTING
onsulting is one of the fastest-growing industries in India. It contributes to the rapid growth of sectors such as
Ctelecommunications, e-commerce, software designs, hardware systems design & implementation, intranet & the
internet, and website development & operation. The consulting industry is growing at a compounded annual growth
rate of 30 percent and as per the reports of The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, it is expected to
emerge into INR 27,000 crores industry by 2020.
Currently, there are about 6000 consultancy firms in metropolitan cities. The Consulting Industry is growing at a fast pace
and soaring to new heights all across the world. It is vital now to make an action plan to exploit the tremendous potential
available for growth of the consulting market. Also, there is a need to reinforce the framework of Indian consulting industry
by including innovation, nurturing talent, improving the quality of consulting services, and enhancing consulting skills. The
adoption of best practices data warehousing, knowledge management tools, and the internet ensures the faster growth of this
industry in the near future.
Let us look at some of the trends promising to disrupt the Business consulting industry in the near future:
Merging of Digital Agencies and Consulting Firms
As the definition of Consulting continues to evolve, digital agencies are increasingly offering consulting services, and
established consulting firms are adding digital expertise to their offerings. The consulting world is undergoing a shift. Since
40FEBRUARY 2018
Business Insights

the last few years, consulting firms have been rapidly launching new
digital consulting divisions. What started off as a fascination with
product design and more engaging web interfaces has become a full
blown movement towards digitalization.
Commodification of Knowledge and Expertise
Today, increasing amounts of Internet-based content is available to the
public. Similar to best practices, guidelines and case studies, consulting
“knowledge” and “expertise” are more commoditized. Even the
concept of “micro consulting” has entered into the language of the
consulting industry. This concept involves an expert engaging in short,
targeted projects for clients as opposed to months-long work by a team
of consultants.
Freelancers Retain Independent Role
Similar to other professions, the freelance model of work continues its
influence within the consulting field. Some freelance consultants work
independently while some consultants join online consulting
marketplaces or partner with small or large
consulting firms.
A recent independent survey found that most
freelancers had no intention of leaving the
independent world in order to transition to
full-time work for a consulting firm. The
freelance consultants are in high demand due
to such issues as cost pressures by clients.
Freelance experts often can customize their
prices and billing, whereas larger
consultancies may not have that flexibility.
Growing demand for Performance-Based
Billing Models
As the repercussions of the 2008 recession still
permeate the thinking of many clients, the pay
structures of some consultancies are being
affected. Since many clients now have the
technological capability to analyze every
expense, they are analyzing spending on
consulting and examining the return on its
investment. Accordingly, many clients are
requesting customized prices for targeted
projects. Additionally, performance-based
billing is also trending among consultants.
Such pricing styles can prevent client concerns
regarding unexpected fees, as well as provide
a real attainable benchmark for consultancies
to prove their value.
Consulting Firms and Individual Experts
Crowd Source Together
Similar to the freelance trend, the consulting
industry is also availing itself of talent from
external sources. The crowdsourcing trend is
becoming very common among consultancies.
It is difficult to have every required expertise
that a client desires, so firms are often working
with specialty companies and experts outside
of the consultancy. With this expanded
network of knowledge, a client can gain their
desired insights. The consultants are working
with digital agencies or tech startups and even
independent freelance professionals in order to
gain the expertise that is needed. The
relationships among the different firms are
mutually beneficial.
41 FEBRUARY 2018

We are living in a Screen-Age. While the
individual’s quest of self-discovery is gaining
center-stage, new ideas are creating disruptive
businesses each day. In this fast changing world driven by
digital technologies, brands have become a living entity,
embracing, thriving and driving change.
In this connected world, from a consumer’s perspective,
there are only a few things that separate a big conglomerate
from a neighborhood startup. Entire business and societal
ecosystem the world over has already woken up to the
importance of branding, and the role that brand perception
plays in making a dent in the crowded market-space.
Understanding what drives emerging India & the Indian
consumers, Pineapple Consulting, a strategic branding and
design consulting company, is creating designs that are not
just aesthetic, but also translate into measurable business
growth and offer real value to their clients.
Pineapple Consulting is an International Award winning
Branding & Strategic Design Firm with a credo – Designs
for Business! Their offerings include solutions that can go a
long way in building up a perception. They leverage the
edge that each specific media offers to create a space in the
hearts of a potential consumer.
The Dynamic Duo
Pineapple’s founding duo, Tina Jain Mehta and Ameet
Mehta, quit their well-paying corporate jobs to start
Pineapple Consulting. One of their key beliefs was and still
remain is that Branding is a means to an end- the end being
better value to all stakeholders. So, both of them work
closely with the clients to first understand their aspirations,
and then together with their strong, closely knit team
deliver value, both tangible & intangible.
Tina is the Principal Branding & Strategy Expert at
Pineapple Consulting. With an inherited business acumen,
Tina brings with herself an eye for immaculate detailing,
and persistence to see through the difficulties. Ameet, on the
other hand is the Principal Design Expert. A graduate in
fashion and lifestyle accessories design from India’s
premier design institute – NIFT, New Delhi. Ameet brings
with him a passion for creating new ideas, and care to
execute it to its final details. A designer who understands
the importance of keeping things business focused is what
makes him a person who delivers!
Over a period of time, both Tina and Ameet have been
successfully able to create and refine processes which help
merge the lines of Science & Art - to understand the
business scenario, competition and needs of the
consumer- both functional & psychological and then use the
knowledge to create stunning designs.
Out-of-the-box Services and Strategies
Pineapple Consulting prefers staying ‘in-the-box’ and
delivering results which reflect in business success. “If one
is in any kind of non-monopolistic business, there is always
a bigger box available,” says Tina. The key for a brand is to
first find that sweet spot and then go about nurturing it,
which over a period of time, reaches to consumer’s hearts
and they start relating & believing in the brand promise.
“We do this with our proprietary 3W+1H process, which is
all about applying a combination of common + aesthetic
sense together,” asserts Tina.
The core areas of expertise offered by Pineapple Consulting
are split into two broad categories;
· Strategy, which includes Brand Audit and Analytics,
Articulation of Brand Positioning, Go to market
PINEAPPLE CONSULTING:
Designing Immaculate Brands for the Future
42
the
10MOST
PROMISING
BUSINESS
FEBRUARY 2018

Design of American Center, US Embassy to being
felicitated as IWLF Young Innovative Entrepreneur in 2013,
to Kyoorius Design Award for Marimbula Packaging.
At Pineapple Consulting, they believe in going out of the
way to bring emotional well-being to all stakeholders, be it
clients or employees. They have been steadily increasing
their understanding of how AI will change the way humans
make decisions and use that knowledge to help the clients
across industries.
strategies, Identiﬁcation of target audience, Competition
analysis & Creating medium to long term design
strategy in line with companies vision and marketing
philosophy.
· Design, which includes Brand Naming & Logo, Brand
Identity Eco-Systems, Communication - Online / Oﬄine
/ Experiential, Packaging Design
At Pineapple Consulting, they have a proprietary tool for
coming up with branding strategy and Brand Purpose. It may
sound slightly philosophical, but just like humans, it is
imperative for brands to articulate the purpose that they have
for their existence. That has to be genuine. Pineapple
Consulting aid their clients in arriving at answers to these
deeper aspects, and almost every time, the clients become
their ‘co-designers’ in creating an emotionally connecting
brand communication invoking a sense of genuineness. This
then, leads to mutual respect and a long term relationship
with clients who are spread across industries.
What’s Next?
Apart from industry recognition, Pineapple Consulting has
won diverse awards. From being the winner of Brand Logo
At Pineapple
Consulting, they
believe in going out of
the way to bring
emotional well-being
to all stakeholders, be
it clients or employees
Ameet Mehta
Co-founder & Principal,
Design
Tina Jain Mehta
Co-founder & Principal,
Branding & Strategy
43 FEBRUARY 2018

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