Outsource Issue 22 - (Page 26)

CONSULTANCY CAPTAIN Alan Leaman is the CEO of the UK’s Management Consultancies Association (MCA). At a time when the relationship between consultancies and government is perhaps more important than ever, we spoke with Alan about how his organisation is helping to drive the savings agenda – and what challenges still lie ahead… outsource: Alan, how closely is the MCA working with the UK’s new coalition government on driving its savings agenda? Alan Leaman: It is very much the focus of what we’re doing. Since the election they have done two things – both of which were sensible: one of which was to put a moratorium on the majority of the use of consulting. Because new management has come in, and done the stock check, and also they felt the need to make some very quick early savings. I understand why they did that. And since then they have been primarily focused on the numbers, for each individual contract. That debate is opening up but it will take time. This government – which has been very critical of past practices – has the opportunity to move things onto a better footing. So one of the things we’ve been doing is talking with the National Audit Office’s new Efficiency & Reform Group about making sure they have the processes in place to ensure it becomes about delivering value rather than just inputs. That has to be the focus of what consultancies are used for. We need to start by differentiating consultancy from staff substitution, and we would focus on genuine value-adding projects for which you need outside capacity and capability and expertise. So we are talking to the government about generating a procurement process which focuses on the value generation aspects, with a proper evaluation process afterwards, using more contingency fee contracts. And there is a whole reform agenda around that which will hopefully get us to the point where ministers and senior civil servants will be confident that when they engage with consultants it is done on the right terms. Then there is a much broader debate around the ambitious targets for closing the deficit. Those are of the order of magnitude that the private sector has undertaken in the past. But they are going to have to think really radically about the nature of the change that they are going to Consendre mod eugait alit luptati sisisisit augait num make up some 70 per cent of the UK’s consultancy industry, employing overelit Management Consultancies Association members iusti facidunt ipsumsan el eraestrud exerat ad onulla cor ing eumsandre ex atetue tet ulla feu feum niamconEm ea commodiammembers. (Source: MCA) quisim et, quissi.Volobore m iurero dolobore. 40,000 ad tem dolortio Utat lum 26 ●● ● www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk  http://www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outsource Issue 22

Outsource Issue 22
Table of Contents
Shutting the Door?
Q&A: Deborah Kops
Colombia
LPO
Editorial Board Roundtable
Head-to-Head
HR Trends
Long Live AMS!
The Provider Perspective
Platforms Make Sense in the Cloud!
NOA Pathway
Case Study: King’s College Hospital
Egypt
Silver Lining
Roundtable Write-Up
Case Study: Nokia & Hyphen
Alan Leaman
Leah Cooper
Kay Formanek
Paul Awcock
News & Comment
The Legal View
NOA Roundup
Online Roundup
Letter to the CEO
Letters to the Editor
Sourcebites
Inside Source
The Last Word

Outsource Issue 22

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