Each is unique, whether big or small, niche or mass-market.
Downsizing. Deregulation. Open access. That ought to boost both supply and demand for utility consultants, as unemployed middle managers seek out new careers and utilities struggle to survive in a more competitive and faster-moving environment.
However, since consultants come in many colors, which is right for you and your company?
Diversified Monoliths
As the giants of the consulting world, this category includes firms such as McKinsey, Andersen Consulting, The Big Six consultancies, and Booze-Allen. Diversified Monoliths, as their name suggests, consult for a wide variety of industries on a global basis, including the utility industry. These companies typically have a core utility competency group of between 20 to 50 people, who are both knowledgeable and dedicated solely to the utility industry.
Greatest Strengths:
• They can share relevant experiences of how businesses in other industries approach the same issue.
• They have some of the best functional experts (e.g., process re-engineering, systems implementation).
• Diversification and higher fees allow these consultants to adopt a more academic and soft-sell approach.
Greatest Weakness:
• Since they have a diversified focus, generally, their employees below manager level are generalists. They can require a lot of training before becoming useful on a project.
• Their large overhead costs are reflected in their fees.
• They eschew small projects (i.e., less than $50,000).
Compensation:
• Salary plus bonus is not generally directly related to size of your project.
Undiversified Mid-Caps