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To what extent have management consultancies reimagined their own internal digital capabilities, affecting an excellent user experience for their employees? Interested particularly in McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture.
Hello, and thanks for your question asking to what extent management consultancies have reimagined their own internal digital capabilities, affecting an excellent user experience for their employees. I have found that these big consultancy firms are reimagining their own internal digital capabilities in different ways, some are changing in line with the way they restructure their clients' companies, like Bain. Others, like Accenture, are pushing for change through focussing on employee development in this field. Below you will find a deep dive into my research, along with all the details as to how I came to this conclusion.
OVERVIEW/METHODOLOGY
In order to answer your question thoroughly I have searched for articles, news reports and press releases relating to how McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Accenture and other management consultancies are reimagining their own internal digital capabilities, and how this is affecting user experience for their own employees. In addition to this I have sought to find sources from real employees at these companies regarding this topic, and to do this I have searched on websites such as Glassdoor and have read through employee reviews.
I have split my findings up into sections to describe what I found for each company.
Overall I was unable to find specific examples such as timesheet, expense reports and collaboration tools. I believe that these are not published online, or available for the public. Some of the examples I have used I have not been able to ascertain the specifics of and have been discussed in a more general sense, but I believe that this kind of information is likely to be highly sensitive and therefore difficult to obtain.
FINDINGS
MCKINSEY
McKinsey has made significant investment into their digital capabilities, and this focus on digital has impacted their Operating Model. Currently the firm is not synonymous with digital, but it wants to be. In order to do this it will be focussing on hiring and developing its own employees within the field of digital. It will have to implement exactly what it aims to implement for its clients within its own company. They will be focussing on pushing talent within their own staff in order to reshape the firm’s brand image.
BCG
After a thorough search I can conclude that their is no available information describing how Boston Consulting Group have reimagined their own internal digital capabilities, and how this has affected their employees. However, I have found that in general BCG is an excellent organisation for fostering development within their own staff.
BCG provides staff with formal training, with the aim of constantly helping employees grow throughout their career. They offer office-based and functional trainings, in addition to continuing education programs, worldwide training events and informal on-the-job mentoring. Further to this BCG has launched a new role-specific training program, "Knowledge Academy".
Overall BCG invests around $200,000 into learning and development programs for consultants over the entire course of their careers. The company offers a customised online learning tool, the Learning at BCG (LAB). This places employees in virtual classrooms, with specially designed curricula and newsletters to aid their development.
Finally, reviews on Vault have summarised that the best part of working for BCG is that "Besides being a top class firm in the professional sense, BCG is also a place that really cares about its people." In addition to this it is viewed as a good place to develop, offering "The development opportunities to jump-start your career."
BAIN
Bain have outlined that to implement change for clients in terms of digitalisation it must be lead through a 360 degree digital transition. They claim that real transition is the result of a combination of managerial practices such as frontline empowerment, organizational flexibility, cross-functional collaboration, decision making based on quantitative analysis, linking strategy to execution and adapting continually.
An article in Fortune shows that Bain may be restructuring using these same guidelines that they use for clients. The company will be changing from being a traditionally flat-structured company to a more dynamic structure. The aim of this will be to foster greater collaboration across the various business units of Bain, including private equity, venture capital, credit, and hedge funds.
ACCENTURE
The Financial Express published an article in July, 2016, explaining how Accenture are undergoing a digital transformation through driving an agenda of innovation. They explain that they are not just bringing about innovation through partnerships and acquisitions, but through pushing innovation in its employees. The company began an innovation contest in which all employees can participate. Staff are being encouraged to come up with their own ideas, that everybody has a spark that can be ignited.
CONCLUSION
Overall each of these big consultancy firms are reimagining their own internal digital capabilities in different ways, some are changing in line with the way they restructure their clients companies, like Bain, and others are fostering change through focussing on employee development in this field, such as Accenture.
You asked to find out to what extent are these firms "eating their own dog food", but given that many of the specifics are not available probably due to their highly sensitive nature, this is difficult to make a definitive statement on. However, we can see that McKinsey are focussing on one aspect of what they preach which is to focus on talent within their own company. Similarly BCG is investing in training and learning. Bain, on the other hand, are restructuring in a way that they are recommending their clients restructure, and so in that sense are "eating their own dog food". Finally, we see that Accenture are driving digital transformations through encouraging innovation in their current staff.
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