Transforming Consulting: Elevating standards and expertise for the future of business
Imagine you’re a global shipping company digitising your operation across 60 countries. Or a health ministry building a centre for rare diseases for the first time from scratch. Or helping a major retailer after a critical cyber-attack or supporting a police force to digitally transform to help fight online fraud and cyber-crime and better support victims.
These are the types of critical, sensitive, transformative projects being undertaken by businesses and governments across the world, every single day. But how is it possible to achieve these ambitious goals in a world that is more complex and uncertain than ever.
In many cases, private and public sector clients turn to UK management consultancies. From the Big Four to technology specialists, infrastructure advisory firms and specialist boutique companies, Britain is home to the second largest consulting hub in the world, spanning the entire country with over 300 regional offices.
But how do clients find the right partners? When the stakes are so high and finances are tight, how do they find the right people to deliver results, not only quicky and effectively but also ethically?
Over the past five years, the consulting industry has been developing a new accreditation – a kitemark of quality and integrity – to help them do exactly that.
To become a Chartered Management Consultant, consultants must have had five years’ experience and met 53 competencies. These rigorous standards deliberately challenge some of the long-held assumptions about the industry.
For example, Chartered management consultants are encouraged to act in the interests of their client or wider society, even where that may conflict with their own firm’s short term commercial interests. They are required to challenge poor practice, question prevailing approaches and push for better outcomes, rather than simply reinforce the status quo.
The Chartered framework stipulates that consultants must scan the horizon, understanding how their specialism can address future challenges, instead of focusing simply on the here and now.
That distinction matters to clients. Independent research conducted by Savanta shows overwhelming support for Chartered status among those who buy consulting services. The vast majority say it is important that consultants hold Chartered accreditation. Three quarters say they would be more inclined to hire a firm if they knew its consultants were Chartered, while over a third say it is the single most important factor in choosing who to work with – ahead of brand or perceived innovativeness. Asked why Chartered matters, clients consistently point to higher professional standards, trust and credibility. Those qualities are prized above all else.
It was also clear what is driving client demand: the broad sphere defined as “digital and technology”. We already know a considerable proportion of our members expect this area to grow in the next year. They’re investing millions in meeting this demand, particularly AI. Indeed, UK consulting has become the go-to industry for driving AI adoption. It is therefore reassuring that this transition is being led by an industry that, through Chartered, has ethics at its core.
Momentum is growing. Since I wrote in City PM at the end of last year, 500 more consultants have become Chartered. That is nearly 50% up on the previous year, for a second year in a row. The Chartered Management Consultant accreditation is now offered by 50 consulting firms, with more than 2,500 consultants now Chartered.
But the significance of Chartered extends beyond individual consultants and client relationships. It is also about how our profession is understood by the wider public.
For too long, consulting has been misunderstood – caricatured or misrepresented rather than recognised for the value it brings. The government’s designation of management consulting as a priority sector in the Industrial Strategy is a welcome step in addressing that, acknowledging the vital contribution that professional services make to the UK economy.
Chartered provides further recognition. Just as “Chartered Accountant” or “Chartered Surveyor” signals the highest professional standards, our ambition is for Chartered Management Consultant to do the same.
Ultimately, we want every consultant either to be Chartered or to be working towards it. That is the scale of our ambition: good for our people; good for our profession; and, above all, good for the organisations, economy and society we serve.
For further information on ChMC, click here
Tamzen Isacsson, Chief Executive of the Management Consultancies Association
