Insights Success The 50 Fastest Growing Consultant Companies
Insights Success The 50 Fastest Growing Consultant Companies
Insights Success The 50 Fastest Growing Consultant Companies
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What Google Learned<br />
About Teams<br />
(and what leaders can<br />
do about it)<br />
Patty McManus<br />
Interaction Associates<br />
Emerging Technologies<br />
From Microsoft:<br />
Remove <strong>The</strong> Limits on<br />
Your Business<br />
Kris Nanda<br />
V.L.S Systems Inc.<br />
Predictions for Q3 &<br />
Q4, 2016<br />
Andy Tabisz<br />
WorkSmart<br />
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
www.insightssuccess.com www.insightssuccess.in<br />
August June 2016 2016<br />
<strong>The</strong> way of business solutions<br />
<strong>50</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Fastest</strong> <strong>Growing</strong><br />
<strong>Consultant</strong><br />
<strong>Companies</strong><br />
Industry Outlook<br />
Stumbling Blocks<br />
Before<br />
Management<br />
Consulting Firms<br />
Editor’s Pick<br />
Staff<br />
Augmentation<br />
Editor’s Opine<br />
Effective Talent<br />
Management<br />
Building Tomorrow’s<br />
Winning<br />
Organizations
Editorial<br />
he IT consultants industry has performed a fabulous job<br />
Tsince last five years, in the challenging economic climate.<br />
Ardent performance from large markets, like Financial<br />
Services and Insurance Providers has entitled the IT Consulting<br />
Industry to expand.<br />
Last year, the US Consulting Market has experienced a very well<br />
growth. And the same is expected in this and coming year too. For<br />
the last couple of years, it has been observed that, Finance and Risk<br />
Management lead the growth, followed by Technology Consulting.<br />
IT <strong>Consultant</strong>s<br />
Industry Expected<br />
to Perform it's Best<br />
With the recovery of the economy and improving business<br />
sentiment, and corporate profit levels are expected to drive industry<br />
performance to the higher level. <strong>The</strong> condition of the IT <strong>Consultant</strong>s<br />
Industry is expected to get much better in the near future, too, like<br />
five years more. Aggrandizement in M&A activity in other industries<br />
is expected to trigger demand for IT <strong>Consultant</strong>s and, with more<br />
mergers, companies will need assistance in the integration of<br />
accounting, information storage and other systems.<br />
According to the experts, the IT Consulting Industry has a very low<br />
level of capital intensity. As per the survey, for every dollar spent on<br />
labor in 2016, industry operators are predicted to spend just $0.02 on<br />
capital.<br />
Notwithstanding, some segments within the industry may assemble<br />
and market enterprise systems that needs expensive hardware, the<br />
industry as a whole is a very labor-intensive, service-oriented<br />
industry. <strong>The</strong> big share of revenue committed to labor costs reflects<br />
the service-oriented nature of IT consulting and the high level of<br />
education needed for personnel.<br />
When we look at the larger firms in the industry, it is clearly visible<br />
that they are more labor intensive, the reason is, these larger firms<br />
employ more high-skilled staff and tend to invest more funds in<br />
research and development.
Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal<br />
Senior Editor Ariana Lawrence<br />
Managing Editor Archana Ghule<br />
Co-Editors<br />
David Smith<br />
Vikram Suryawanshi<br />
Stephanie Andrews<br />
Sonal Burghate<br />
Mary D’Souza<br />
Sugandha Sharma<br />
Visualiser David King<br />
Art & Design Director Victoria<br />
Co-designer Alex Noel<br />
Picture Editor<br />
Art Editor Kalpesh<br />
Business Development Manager Mike Thomas,<br />
Marketing Manager Chris<br />
Business Development Executive<br />
David, Peter,<br />
John, Brian<br />
Research Analyst Jennifer<br />
Circulation Manager Robert<br />
Database Management Steve<br />
Technology <strong>Consultant</strong> Vishal More<br />
<strong>Insights</strong> <strong>Success</strong> Media and Technology LLC<br />
555 Metro Place North, Suite 100,<br />
Dublin, OH 43017,United States<br />
Phone - (614)-602-1754, (302)-319-9947<br />
Email: info@insightssuccess.com<br />
For Subscription: Visit www.insightssuccess.com<br />
Mayur<br />
sales@insightssuccess.com<br />
August, 2016<br />
Corporate Ofces:<br />
Nick Adams<br />
<strong>Insights</strong> <strong>Success</strong> Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd.<br />
Ofce No. 513, 5th Floor, Rainbow Plaza, Shivar Chowk,<br />
Pimple Saudagar, Pune , Maharashtra 411017<br />
Phone - India: 020-69400110, 111, 112<br />
Email: meera@insightssuccess.in<br />
For Subscription: Visit www.insightssuccess.in<br />
6<br />
,
CXO<br />
34<br />
Patty McManus<br />
Interaction Associates<br />
56<br />
Andy Tabisz<br />
WorkSmart<br />
44<br />
Kris Nanda<br />
V.L.S Systems Inc.<br />
Editor’s Pick Industry Outlook<br />
32 58<br />
Staff<br />
Stumbling Blocks<br />
Augmentation<br />
Before<br />
Management<br />
Consulting Firms<br />
10<br />
Editor’s Opine<br />
Effective Talent<br />
Management<br />
Building Tomorrow’s<br />
Winning<br />
Organizations
CONTENT<br />
20<br />
Robert Glazer<br />
Founder and Managing Director<br />
Acceleration Partners<br />
21<br />
Angelos G. Angelou<br />
Principal Executive Officer<br />
AngelouEconomics<br />
22<br />
James L. Phipps Jr.<br />
President & Owner<br />
BeCloud LLC<br />
23<br />
Steven J. Ramirez<br />
CEO<br />
Beyond the Arc<br />
24<br />
Eric Berridge<br />
CEO<br />
Bluewolf
Dr. John Bryant<br />
President<br />
Bryant <strong>Consultant</strong>s<br />
25<br />
Beverly Chasse<br />
Founder and CEO<br />
Chasse Consulting<br />
26<br />
Larry Jones<br />
CEO<br />
Coalfire Systems<br />
27<br />
Alex Mikhael<br />
Founder and CEO<br />
Digital Consulting KC<br />
28<br />
Peter Sidenius<br />
Managing Director<br />
Edgar, Dunn & Company<br />
29<br />
Scott Gillis, Lee Mergy and Joe Shalleck<br />
Co-founders and Senior Managing Directors<br />
Galt & Company<br />
30
31<br />
Bill Pletch<br />
Founder<br />
Intelysis <strong>Consultant</strong>s<br />
38<br />
Michael Leshinsky<br />
Founder<br />
Leshinsky Finance<br />
39<br />
Kristina Roth<br />
Founder<br />
Matisia <strong>Consultant</strong>s<br />
40<br />
Maureen Metcalf<br />
CEO<br />
Metcalf & Associates<br />
41<br />
Scott Rosenberg<br />
Co-Founder & CEO<br />
Miro Consulting<br />
42<br />
Moshe Zchut<br />
Founder and CEO<br />
NetLZ Consulting
Phil Calzadilla<br />
Founder and CEO<br />
NextNet Partners<br />
43<br />
Larry Olson<br />
Chairman, CEO and President<br />
Nexus Global Business Solutions<br />
48<br />
Patrick Quinn<br />
President and CEO<br />
PQ Media<br />
49<br />
Rob Swanson<br />
CEO<br />
RAS & Associates<br />
<strong>50</strong><br />
Paul Cooney<br />
Founder and CEO<br />
Shamrock Consulting Group<br />
51<br />
Phil Davis<br />
Founder & Managing Partner<br />
St. Charles Consulting Group<br />
52
53<br />
Lior Arussy<br />
President<br />
Strativity Group<br />
54<br />
Aman Sachdeva<br />
President and CEO<br />
Synergy Consulting<br />
60<br />
John Hill,<br />
President and CEO<br />
TechSage Solutions<br />
61<br />
Susanne Rothschild<br />
Founder and CEO<br />
<strong>The</strong> Rothschild Corporation<br />
62<br />
Jessica Liu<br />
President<br />
<strong>The</strong> Spear Group<br />
63<br />
Jodi Cicc<br />
President & CEO<br />
TOP Step Consulting
Editor’s Opine<br />
Effective Talent Management<br />
Most leading organizations<br />
ranked best in both<br />
efficiency and effectiveness<br />
by intensive emphasis on talent<br />
management, and having a deep<br />
understanding of what skills required<br />
to develop or acquired in order to<br />
attain the success for their business.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se businesses primarily focus on<br />
talent processes such as planning,<br />
development, management,<br />
engagement, and retention in such a<br />
way that they operate at 23 percent<br />
lower cost per employee than typical<br />
companies, and function with 32<br />
percent less staff.<br />
Most of the global leaders use<br />
analytics to obtain high ranking<br />
business insights from the employee<br />
data. What would be the perfect<br />
solution over this? Yes, the best HR<br />
software can give this type of<br />
comprehensive picture. For best<br />
ranking companies, effective talent<br />
management is not an additional<br />
feature; it is a basic element that is an<br />
essential need for the company’s<br />
continual growth.<br />
Here we are giving you some best<br />
practices which will differ you from<br />
your competitors and makes your<br />
company’s productive growth.<br />
Aligning Organizational Goals with<br />
Clear Expectations<br />
If there is no clear understanding of<br />
work expectations, employees will get<br />
confused. Each individual of the team<br />
should know about his exact work<br />
what he is responsible for, the goals he<br />
is working towards, and how his<br />
success will be contributed against<br />
expected goals. <strong>The</strong>y also need context<br />
Building Tomorrow’s<br />
Winning Organizations<br />
in order to recognize where they well<br />
suited into the company and how they<br />
help to its overall success.<br />
Don’t waste time and start<br />
understanding your workforce and<br />
agree with the company's basic<br />
business goals. <strong>The</strong> company's mission<br />
helps to create context for projects and<br />
work activities at the department level,<br />
which gives your employees a better<br />
context for their contributions.<br />
Do not Forget, business priorities can<br />
change rapidly. Always review goals<br />
frequently to make sure they reflect the<br />
company’s current priorities.<br />
Need of Consistent Support and<br />
Improvement Cycle<br />
For reviewing past achievements,<br />
current challenges, set goals, and skill<br />
development you can go for regular<br />
performance appraisals. It is also<br />
helpful for the communication over<br />
skillsets, career aspirations, and<br />
development plans that address<br />
performance gaps. Also, keep in mind<br />
once the annual performance appraisal<br />
is delivered, it doesn’t mean the<br />
feedback ended.<br />
To increase performance, managers<br />
must provide mentoring, coaching, and<br />
support on an ongoing project.<br />
Employees require regular, quality<br />
feedback with particular guidelines on<br />
how they can improve.<br />
Developing Leaders’ Skills<br />
Once performance gaps are<br />
recognized, employees come to know<br />
exactly which skills they need to<br />
enhance in order to progress in their<br />
respective area. To help them take<br />
action and improve their performance,<br />
a firm commitment to developing new<br />
capabilities in existing staff is required.<br />
Although, developing skill for<br />
workforce planning and succession<br />
management is a real challenge for<br />
businesses. To fight with this,<br />
organizations should examine<br />
implementing a learning management<br />
system. <strong>The</strong>se programs offer<br />
`<br />
interactive, on-demand content to help<br />
you prepare employees and develop a<br />
talent pool of high-potential workers<br />
that can fill available roles as they<br />
emerge. Organizations that give<br />
learning based on performance<br />
reviews, 37% improved engagement<br />
and have 62% more positions with<br />
identified and willing successors.<br />
Enhance Talent Management with<br />
Analytics<br />
Measuring the improving talent<br />
management with analytics is the most<br />
important factor to consider. Top-<br />
Notch organizations gaining higher<br />
levels of self-service and process<br />
automation by investing 8% more on<br />
technology than typical companies.<br />
Also, analyze HR data to identify<br />
supply and demand trends, assess risks,<br />
and uncover opportunities. In addition,<br />
they are more likely to depend on<br />
common platforms and toolsets for<br />
progression and workforce planning.<br />
Finally, the conclusion is your<br />
workforce is your greatest asset which<br />
will drive the success of the<br />
organization and will keep you ahead<br />
from your competitors. Give priority to<br />
your workforce and make the effective<br />
talent management. Investing in your<br />
workforce, you are investing in the<br />
success of your organization.<br />
10 | August 2016 |
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Ad4
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> FASTEST<br />
GROWING<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
<strong>Consultant</strong>s Industry: ‘Putting the<br />
Right Talent at the Right Place’<br />
ompanies always seem to want more, when it comes to hiring the best talent for the company. As one can<br />
Cobserve, the consulting industry has been on a sustained growth binge for well more than a decade. When it<br />
comes to <strong>Consultant</strong>s Industry, the product really is the people, and companies compete on the basis of who<br />
is the smartest and the hardest working.<br />
Resultantly, every single company wants to hire the best and the brightest of all. This is why <strong>Consultant</strong>s Industry has<br />
grown to such a massive size. <strong>Consultant</strong> companies of today are contributing their best when it comes to serving their<br />
clients. <strong>The</strong>y are improving the client’s business by executing changes in response to the client’s analysis.<br />
<strong>Consultant</strong>s have to play the toughest job of all, which involves convincing the client to accept your<br />
recommendations, often in the face of opposition from client executives who resent outsiders overshadowing them<br />
with the boss or resistance from company employees who have something to lose from change.<br />
Observing this need of the best consultants in the industry, we have shortlisted the most dedicated and reliable <strong>50</strong><br />
consultants companies in this issue of <strong>The</strong> <strong>50</strong> <strong>Fastest</strong> <strong>Growing</strong> <strong>Consultant</strong> <strong>Companies</strong>. <strong>The</strong>se companies are<br />
providing the best consultants services to satisfy their clients. <strong>The</strong>se <strong>50</strong> <strong>Fastest</strong> <strong>Growing</strong> <strong>Consultant</strong> <strong>Companies</strong> are<br />
the ones, who have excellent people skills and the ability to put together the best.<br />
While it comes to selecting the best talent for your company, what works in one industry may not work in another.<br />
That is the reason, we have come up with this issue of <strong>The</strong> <strong>50</strong> <strong>Fastest</strong> <strong>Growing</strong> <strong>Consultant</strong> <strong>Companies</strong>, who strive to<br />
know all, inside and outside of every single industry to best serve their clients. <strong>The</strong>se companies are having people<br />
who are experienced, real-world professionals who will provide you practical perspectives and solutions. With the<br />
help of these, you can avoid pitfalls, minimize risk and gain an edge.
Company Name<br />
Management<br />
Brief<br />
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Acceleration Partners<br />
accelerationpartners.com<br />
Advanced Management<br />
Services<br />
amsconsulting.com<br />
Robert Glazer<br />
Founder & MD<br />
Phil Ventresca<br />
Founding Partner<br />
Acceleration Partners is an award-winning digital marketing<br />
firm focused on online customer acquisition for growing<br />
consumer and e-commerce companies.<br />
Advanced Management Services, Inc. (AMS) is a global<br />
Management Consulting firm focused on improving clients'<br />
business performance by developing people, enhancing process<br />
and enabling technology.<br />
Angelou Economics<br />
angeloueconomics.com<br />
Angelos G. Angelou<br />
PEO<br />
AngelouEconomics specializes in economic development and<br />
site location.<br />
Baker Tilly Virchow Krause<br />
bakertilly.com<br />
Alan D. Whitman<br />
Chairman and CEO<br />
Baker Tilly is a full-service accounting and advisory firm with<br />
specialized professionals who connect with you and your<br />
business through refreshing candor and clear industry insight.<br />
Barkawi Group<br />
barkawi.com<br />
Karim Barkawi<br />
Founder & CEO<br />
Barkawi Management <strong>Consultant</strong>s help clients improve supply chain,<br />
operational efficiency and operational results for their primary product<br />
business as well as the aftermarket service and parts unit.<br />
BeCloud<br />
becloudit.com<br />
James L. Phipps Jr.<br />
President & Owner<br />
BeCloud LLC is a technology management, consulting, and<br />
outsourcing company.<br />
Beyond the Arc<br />
beyondthearc.com<br />
Steven J. Ramirez<br />
CEO<br />
Beyond the Arc is an integrated agency recognized as a leader<br />
in helping companies transform customer experience.<br />
Bluewolf<br />
bluewolf.com<br />
Bryant <strong>Consultant</strong>s<br />
geoneering.com<br />
CEB<br />
cebglobal.com<br />
Eric Berridge<br />
CEO<br />
Dr. John Bryant<br />
President<br />
Tom Monahan<br />
Chairman & CEO<br />
Bluewolf, an IBM Company, is a global consulting agency and<br />
proven Salesforce strategic partner that builds digital solutions<br />
designed to create results. Now.<br />
Bryant <strong>Consultant</strong>s is an engineering firm specialized in Field Testing<br />
& Observatons, Soil-Structure Interaction Investigation, Geotechnical<br />
Engineering, Structural Engineering, Laboratory Testing, Permitting &<br />
Platting.<br />
CEB is a best practice insight and Technology Company,<br />
delivering innovative solutions that help you unlocks your full<br />
potential.<br />
Centric Consulting<br />
centricconsulting.com<br />
CFO Consulting Partners<br />
cfoconsultingpartners.com<br />
Dave Rosevelt<br />
CEO<br />
David P. DeMuth<br />
Co-founder &<br />
Senior MD<br />
Centric Consulting provides full-service management<br />
consulting services.<br />
CFO Consulting Partners LLC provides interim and part-time CFO<br />
services to small and midsized public and private companies, M&A<br />
sell-side preparation and post-merger implementation, technical<br />
accounting, risk management, and financial process improvement<br />
services.
Company Name<br />
Chasse Consulting<br />
chasseconsulting.com<br />
Clarkston Consulting<br />
clarkstonconsulting.com<br />
Coalfire Systems<br />
coalfire.com<br />
Computer Sciences Corp<br />
csc.com<br />
COPC<br />
copc.com<br />
Management<br />
Beverly Chasse<br />
Founder & CEO<br />
Tom Finegan<br />
CEO & Co-founder<br />
Rob Swanson<br />
CEO<br />
Mike Lawrie<br />
Chairman,<br />
President & CEO<br />
Cliff Moore<br />
Co-founder & Chairman<br />
Brief<br />
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Chasse Consulting is a leading provider of sales performance advisory<br />
services, partnering with the world’s leading organizations to generate,<br />
execute, and bring to market inventive sales solutions that improve<br />
selling performance and increase revenue.<br />
Clarkston Consulting provides management and technology<br />
consulting services for life sciences and consumer products<br />
companies.<br />
As the cybersecurity expert and leading provider of IT advisory<br />
services, Coalfire has more than 15 years in IT security and is<br />
an approved scanning vendor (ASV) since inception.<br />
CSC provides leading-edge private and hybrid cloud<br />
management solutions, including CSC Agility Platform.<br />
COPC Inc. is a global consulting, training and certification<br />
company that helps organizations improve their customer<br />
experience operations.<br />
CSRA<br />
csra.com<br />
Lawrence B. Prior III<br />
President & CEO<br />
CSRA delivers a broad range of innovative, next-generation IT<br />
solutions and professional services.<br />
Cumberland Consulting<br />
Group<br />
cumberlandcg.com<br />
Denison Consulting<br />
denisonconsulting.com<br />
Digital Consulting KC<br />
mywebkc.com<br />
Edgar Dunn<br />
edgardunn.com<br />
Edgeworth Economics<br />
edgewortheconomics.com<br />
EDR Group<br />
edrgroup.com<br />
Engility Corporation<br />
engilitycorp.com<br />
Brian Cahill<br />
CEO<br />
Dan Denison<br />
Chairman &<br />
Founding Partner<br />
Alex Mikhael<br />
Founder & CEO<br />
Peter Sidenius<br />
Managing Director<br />
Mr. Patrick Byrne<br />
Partner & COO<br />
Glen E. Weisbrod<br />
President<br />
Lynn A. Dugle<br />
CEO & Board Member<br />
Cumberland Consulting Group is a national technology<br />
implementation and project management firm serving the<br />
healthcare industry.<br />
Denison Consulting help organizations improve business<br />
performance by focusing on culture and leadership<br />
development.<br />
As a Web Design, Graphic Design, SEO, and Internet<br />
Marketing Company, Digital Consulting KC offers a variety of<br />
options for building a lasting and effective website.<br />
Edgar, Dunn & Company is an independent global financial<br />
services and payments consultancy, acting as a trusted adviser<br />
to its clients, providing a full range of strategy consulting<br />
services, expertise and market insight.<br />
Edgeworth Economics provides economic, financial, and<br />
quantitative analysis - including expert testimony - for legal<br />
disputes and a variety of business matters.<br />
Economic Development Research Group (EDR Group) is a<br />
firm dedicated to advancing the state-of-the-art in measuring<br />
economic development performance, impacts and<br />
opportunities.<br />
Engility Corporation offers a wide range of capabilities that<br />
support the current and future needs of the U.S. government.
Company Name<br />
Management<br />
Brief<br />
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Experian<br />
experian.com<br />
FTI Consulting<br />
fticonsulting.com<br />
Galt & Company<br />
galtandco.com<br />
Intelysis <strong>Consultant</strong>s<br />
intelysisconsultants.com<br />
Jabian<br />
jabian.com<br />
Leshinsky Finance<br />
leshinskyfinance.com<br />
Mage<br />
mageusa.com<br />
Matisia <strong>Consultant</strong>s<br />
matisia.com<br />
Metcalf & Associates<br />
metcalf-associates.com<br />
Miro Consulting<br />
miroconsulting.com<br />
NERA<br />
nera.com<br />
NetLZ Consulting<br />
netlz.com<br />
NextNet Partners<br />
nextnetpartners.com<br />
Brian Cassin<br />
CEO<br />
Steven H. Gunby<br />
President & CEO<br />
Scott Gillis, Lee Mergy<br />
& Joe Shalleck<br />
Co-founders &<br />
Senior MD<br />
Bill Pletch<br />
Founder<br />
Brian Betkowski<br />
Partner & Co-Founder<br />
Michael Leshinsky<br />
Founder<br />
Jeffrey S. Davis<br />
Chairman & Founder<br />
Kristina Roth<br />
founder/CEO<br />
Maureen Metcalf<br />
CEO<br />
Scott Rosenberg<br />
Co-Founder & CEO<br />
Dr. Lawrence Wu<br />
President<br />
Moshe Zchut<br />
Founder & CEO<br />
Phil Calzadilla<br />
Founder & CEO<br />
Experian is a leading global information services company,<br />
providing data and analytical tools to the clients around the<br />
world.<br />
FTI Consulting provides critical thinking at the critical timeTM.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y combine unparalleled expertise with innovative thought<br />
leadership to address critical challenges, in both event-driven and<br />
long-term scenarios.<br />
Galt & Company works with top management to develop the<br />
strategies and organizational capabilities needed to achieve and<br />
sustain superior performance in the customer market and superior<br />
returns in the capital market.<br />
Intelysis <strong>Consultant</strong>s is a company providing solutions for IT<br />
services, Application Development, Project Management and IT<br />
Federal Contracting.<br />
Jabian Consulting enables its clients to exceed their corporate<br />
objectives through the efficient and innovative application of<br />
strategy, technology, and process.<br />
Leshinsky provides the most valuable discipline - managing<br />
money the most efficient way possible, finding the optimal<br />
solution within a feasible region, they raise capital and the<br />
lowest cost of capital.<br />
Mage provides emerging companies and family businesses<br />
with a broad range of consulting and organizational services<br />
that optimize individual, team and organizational performance.<br />
Matisia provides localized delivery of customized consulting solutions across<br />
four primary service lines (BI, ERP, Project Leadership & Product<br />
Management, and Organizational Change Management) to help clients create<br />
value, reduce operating costs, and mitigate risks.<br />
Metcalf & Associates have proven results across a range of<br />
services from leadership development, team development and<br />
organizational transformation.<br />
Miro Consulting specializes in Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, and<br />
Adobe in software audit defense, contract negotiation and<br />
license optimization and management.<br />
NERA Economic Consulting is a global firm of experts<br />
dedicated to applying economic, finance, and quantitative<br />
principles to complex business and legal challenges.<br />
NetLZ is a company specializing in Digital Marketing including custom web<br />
and graphic design, web development, search engine optimization (SEO) and<br />
marketing (SEM), paid campaigns, eCommerce, social media optimization,<br />
social marketing, etc.<br />
NextNet offers “next generation services” in four main practice<br />
areas: Collaboration, Customer Collaboration, Converged<br />
Infrastructure/Cloud and Core Networking.
Company Name<br />
Management<br />
Brief<br />
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Nexus Global Business<br />
Solutions<br />
nexusglobal.com<br />
Larry Olson<br />
Chairman/President<br />
& CEO<br />
A company offering a unique brand of comprehensive APM<br />
business solutions throughout its Global Network.<br />
PQ Media<br />
pqmedia.com<br />
Patrick Quinn<br />
President & CEO<br />
PQ Media the leading provider of global media econometrics<br />
and pioneer of emerging media research.<br />
PwC<br />
pwc.com<br />
Tim RyanSenior<br />
Partner & Chairman<br />
PwC help organizations and individuals create the value they’re<br />
looking for, by delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory<br />
services.<br />
RAS & Associates<br />
rasandassociates.com<br />
Rob Swanson<br />
Founding Partner<br />
& CEO<br />
RAS & Associates is a strategy and management consulting<br />
firm headquartered in Denver.<br />
Shamrock Consulting<br />
Group<br />
shamrockconsulting.com<br />
St Charles Consulting<br />
Group<br />
stccg.com<br />
Strativity Group<br />
strativity.com<br />
Paul Cooney<br />
Founder & CEO<br />
Phil Davis<br />
Founder<br />
Lior Arussy<br />
President<br />
Shamrock Consulting Group is the leader in formal RFP<br />
(Request For Proposal) engagements unparalleled in Design,<br />
Legal Concessions, and Savings.<br />
St. Charles is known as a leader in the learning and<br />
performance arena and specifically for delivering solutions that<br />
are innovative, integrated, and highly effective in realizing the<br />
client’s business objectives.<br />
Strativity Group is building businesses by creating new value<br />
for customers, promoting excellence in customer interactions,<br />
and fostering a lasting commitment to exceptional customer<br />
experiences.<br />
Synergy Consulting<br />
synergyconsultingifa.com<br />
TechSage Solutions<br />
techsagesolutions.com<br />
<strong>The</strong> Rothschild<br />
Corporation<br />
rothschildcorporation.com<br />
<strong>The</strong> Spear Group<br />
speargroup.com<br />
TOP Step Consulting<br />
topstepconsulting.com<br />
Aman Sachdeva<br />
President & CEO<br />
John Hill<br />
President & CEO<br />
Susanne Rothschild<br />
Founder/CEO<br />
Jessica Liu<br />
President<br />
Jodi Cicci<br />
President & CEO<br />
Synergy Consulting, an independent international financial<br />
advisory services company.<br />
TechSage Solutions provides technology solutions for business<br />
requirements focusing on providing Simplified IT Solutions for<br />
small to medium sized businesses. Look for John’s new book<br />
titled Simplify Your Technology in August 2016.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Rothschild Corporation is a company that is focused on<br />
improving company and employee performance with<br />
recruiting; leadership, soft skills, and computer skills training;<br />
and project and change management services.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Spear Group, Inc. provides state-of-the-art owner’s<br />
representation, project management, project controls (planning,<br />
estimating, scheduling, cost engineering), and program management<br />
professional services in support of delivering our clients’ projects.<br />
TOP Step Consulting offers PSA focused solutions such as<br />
Business Efficiency Assessments, PSADeployments, and<br />
Virtual Administration.
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Robert Glazer<br />
Founder & Managing Director<br />
Helping companies grow while<br />
maintaining brand integrity is<br />
at the heart of Acceleration<br />
Partners. <strong>The</strong>y have assembled a team<br />
of the best and brightest to develop<br />
customer acquisition programs that<br />
deliver real profits. A cross between a<br />
consulting firm and a marketing<br />
agency, they bring high-quality<br />
performance marketing programs to<br />
life whether through affiliate<br />
marketing, organic search or other<br />
channels.<strong>The</strong>ir employee-focused<br />
culture ensures that your performance<br />
marketing programs are continuously<br />
managed by experts who are<br />
committed to your success.<br />
Acceleration Partners is a leader in<br />
digital and performance marketing<br />
programs combining high-level<br />
strategy and tactical implementation.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y manage programs that deliver<br />
measurable, sustainable growth for<br />
clients through transparent, high-value<br />
tactics.<strong>The</strong>ir range of services include<br />
affiliate marketing, paid marketing<br />
(paid social and paid search),<br />
display/retargeting, SEO, and digital<br />
strategy.<br />
Customer Acquisition Specialist<br />
Robert Glazer, Founder and<br />
Managing Director of Acceleration<br />
Partners, is an award-winning<br />
customer acquisition specialist with an<br />
Acceleration Partners:<br />
<strong>Growing</strong> Your Business<br />
While Respecting Your Brand<br />
exceptional track record in increasing<br />
revenue and profits for fast-growing<br />
consumer businesses. In demand by<br />
top brands and investment firms, he<br />
has extensive experience in the<br />
Consumer, eCommerce, Retail, Online<br />
Marketing, and Ad-Tech Industries. He<br />
is a contributing author with over 100<br />
published articles on Performance<br />
Marketing, Strategy, Leadership and<br />
Entrepreneurship including monthly<br />
columns for SteamFeed and<br />
Entrepreneur.com. Robert is also<br />
working on his first book that is<br />
projected to be published in the first<br />
quarter of 2017. He is a sought-after<br />
speaker having presented to large<br />
global audiences at over 20<br />
conferences including adTech, Internet<br />
Retailer, DMA and Shop.org.<br />
Delivering 360° Performance<br />
Marketing<br />
Acceleration Partners is a true hybrid<br />
of a consulting firm and a marketing<br />
agency, providing clients a unique<br />
combination of strategy and best-inclass<br />
execution.<strong>The</strong>ir expert-led<br />
management teams have a low clientto-manager<br />
ratio, therefore they are<br />
able to allocate more resources and<br />
provide a high-level of engagement to<br />
their clients.<strong>The</strong>ir teams are strategic,<br />
tactical, and proactive in looking for<br />
issues and opportunities before they<br />
arrive, rather than just responding to<br />
client requests.“We are committed to<br />
innovation and improvement which<br />
allows our clients to reach their goals.<br />
No matter what we are doing, we are<br />
always staying true to the client’s<br />
brand”, says Robert.<br />
Acceleration Partners offers an<br />
approach referred to as 360°<br />
Performance Marketing. From<br />
understanding the client’s brand and<br />
marketing goals, to developing an<br />
aligned program strategy driving the<br />
best possible results and ROI, they<br />
come full circle with how they manage<br />
their client’s programs. <strong>The</strong>ir team is<br />
always looking out for the client’s best<br />
interests and taking measured risk to<br />
drive value.<br />
Carving their Own Path to <strong>Success</strong><br />
Acceleration Partners believes in<br />
performance marketing done the right<br />
way-efficiently, profitably, and always<br />
with the integrity of the brand in mind.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y put quality first with a laserfocus<br />
on ROI, and full transparency.<br />
“<br />
“<br />
Carving my own<br />
path and being<br />
consistent with my<br />
values and what I<br />
believe in is<br />
extremely<br />
rewarding and has<br />
allowed my<br />
company to thrive<br />
and avoid a lot of<br />
ups and downs<br />
Robert shares, “In scaling Acceleration<br />
Partners, I had a vision of helping our<br />
clients grow sustainable marketing<br />
programs with a focus on ROI. I<br />
believed that a performance-based<br />
model was a better solution because<br />
that way we were managing our<br />
client’s money as if it were our own.”<br />
Although this was uncommon at the<br />
time, it has become more standard now<br />
and as a result over 90% of their<br />
business comes from referrals.<br />
20 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Angelos G. Angelou<br />
Principal Executive Officer<br />
Firm believer of ‘every business<br />
should focus on what it does<br />
best’, AngelouEconomics,<br />
focuses on economic development,<br />
public-private-partnerships and site<br />
selection-three practices. This<br />
multidisciplinary expertise of<br />
AngelouEconomics provides their<br />
clients valuable insights in competitive<br />
intelligence, best practices and<br />
analytics.<br />
AngelouEconomics guides their clients<br />
in creating globally competitive<br />
economies. Over the past 20 years,<br />
AngelouEconomics has developed<br />
over 6<strong>50</strong> strategic plans working handin-hand<br />
with towns, cities, counties,<br />
regions, states, countries and private<br />
sector companies to develop visions,<br />
strategies, and implementation plans to<br />
advance success, growth and<br />
prosperity.<br />
Unique Expertise in Strategic<br />
Economic Development Plans<br />
AngelouEconomics combines unique<br />
expertise in strategic economic<br />
development plans (primarily public<br />
sector clients), economic impact<br />
studies, SWOT analysis, strategic<br />
plans, and site location (private sector<br />
clients). <strong>The</strong>y have an ample<br />
experience in not only strategic<br />
AngelouEconomics:<br />
Specialized in Economic<br />
Development & Site Location<br />
planning but also in policy, publicprivate-partnerships,<br />
entrepreneurial<br />
accelerators, marketing, and<br />
communications strategies.<br />
Focused on producing customized<br />
economic and operational strategies<br />
that bring the clients measurable<br />
results and success, the team of<br />
AngelouEconomics brings together<br />
experts with extensive<br />
multidisciplinary expertise. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
utilize their expertise to develop<br />
unique, original strategies customized<br />
to the client’s local context.<br />
Major corporate clients of<br />
AngelouEconomics include Fortune<br />
<strong>50</strong>0 companies such as HP, Dell,<br />
Seton Health, <strong>The</strong> Cleveland Clinic,<br />
Dimension Advisors, GE, Oracle,<br />
Exodus Communications, Intel,<br />
Oracle, Sun Micro Systems, AMD,<br />
SEMATECH, CITGO, Bloom<br />
Energy, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt<br />
and ConocoPhillips; international<br />
clients in countries such as Portugal,<br />
Czech Republic, Puerto Rico, Austria,<br />
Republic of Malta, Alberta, Canada,<br />
Parana, Brazil, Vietnam; as well as<br />
countless domestic clients including<br />
major public-sector clients include<br />
Texas Lottery Commission, Texas<br />
Workforce Commission, and the State<br />
of Texas (Governor’s Office) for the<br />
Public Policy Strategic Plan and First<br />
Tech Strategic Plan.<br />
Angelos G. Angelou, Principal<br />
Executive Officer of<br />
AngelouEconomics has completed his<br />
B.A. Economics and Political Science,<br />
University of Texas, San Antonio,<br />
Texas, M.A. Economics and<br />
Management, St. Mary’s University,<br />
San Antonio, Texas and a Ph.D.<br />
coursework in Economics, Southern<br />
Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.<br />
Angelos, bringing nearly 30 years of<br />
experience in economic & business<br />
development and site location<br />
consulting, is also the Founder and<br />
Chairman of the Board of the<br />
International Accelerator in Austin,<br />
Texas, which is focused exclusively on<br />
foreign-born entrepreneurs and<br />
launching their technology startup<br />
businesses in the US. Angelos is an<br />
angel investor in half a dozen startups<br />
in Texas. He is also a founding<br />
member of the Site Selector’s Guild,<br />
the top site selector consultants group<br />
in the world.<br />
AngelouEconomics is a leading<br />
economic development consultancy in<br />
the US. <strong>The</strong> firm has an impressive list<br />
of clients in both the private and public<br />
sector and has conducted over 6<strong>50</strong><br />
economic development strategies, 1<strong>50</strong><br />
economic impact studies, and has sited<br />
over $18 billion in capital investments<br />
projects throughout the world.<br />
Prior to starting AngelouEconomics,<br />
Angelos spent 12 years with the Austin<br />
Chamber of Commerce as Vice<br />
President of Economic Development<br />
& Chief Economist. During his time at<br />
the chamber, Angelos was responsible<br />
for the recruitment of 800 technology<br />
companies and 70,000 employees.<br />
Reflecting on the question of<br />
AngelouEconomics’ future, Angelos<br />
says, “While our reputation is stellar,<br />
we refuse to rest on it. We combine<br />
continuous innovation, candid<br />
advisement, and unbounded creativity<br />
to deliver measurable and intangible<br />
value for our clients.”<br />
21 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
BeCloud LLC:<br />
Specialized Services and Care Not<br />
Attainable From Even the Largest Providers<br />
James L. Phipps Jr.<br />
President & Owner<br />
Founded five years ago to<br />
provide detailed, professional,<br />
customized Cloud and<br />
Managed Service solutions to<br />
customers around the globe, BeCloud<br />
LLC is a boutique that provides highly<br />
Customized Dedicated Servers, Virtual<br />
Private Servers and Technology<br />
Solutions for clients. With a motto<br />
“affordable, efficient and scalable IT”,<br />
Becloud designs custom solutions<br />
based on the client’s needs including:<br />
exposure, security specifications, risk<br />
tolerance and budget requirements.<br />
BeCloud uses many combinations of<br />
technologies such as Amazon Web<br />
Services, Microsoft Cloud Solutions,<br />
and even custom built hosted solutions<br />
in their own datacenters or on<br />
customer premise to match the right<br />
tools and services for clients. After<br />
implementation, BeCloud offers<br />
managed services for solutions<br />
utilizing their flagship service<br />
“Complete Care”, to make sure that<br />
services continue to be maintained,<br />
monitored and operate at peak<br />
performance.<br />
Boutique Services Offered by<br />
BeCloud<br />
Because BeCloud is a boutique they<br />
can offer specialized services and care<br />
not attainable from the largest<br />
providers. Cloud solutions represents<br />
the foundation for future technology,<br />
and BeCloud help their clients<br />
navigate the “what, when and how”<br />
cloud solutions can be utilized to<br />
better predict technology cost and<br />
provide scale. BeCloud also help their<br />
clients utilize technology in a more<br />
efficient manner by removing the daily<br />
maintenance of solutions so that<br />
customers can focus on core business<br />
strengths.<br />
BeCloud operates in a domain where<br />
change is always happening at a fast<br />
clip. <strong>The</strong>re are always new challenges,<br />
products, services and updates to keep<br />
up with. BeCloud has a diligent team<br />
of professionals that constantly read,<br />
study and test new technologies to<br />
keep up with changes. <strong>The</strong> BeCloud<br />
team’s dedication to great service,<br />
professionalism and client satisfaction<br />
is a major differentiator. <strong>The</strong>y are<br />
committed to the small and mediumsized<br />
forward-looking businesses<br />
across all verticals. This diligence,<br />
dedication, and commitment drives the<br />
rapid growth BeCloud is experiencing.<br />
James L. Phipps Jr., President &<br />
Owner of BeCloud LLC, has a<br />
background, experience and leadership<br />
which comes from over twenty years<br />
of practical work experience in<br />
technology. His past military service is<br />
where James polished his leadership<br />
skills and garnered a love for<br />
teamwork. His continual teaching and<br />
mentoring of young adults in Software<br />
Programming and Information<br />
Technology continues to be his passion<br />
and keeps his outlook fresh. James’<br />
most challenging but rewarding<br />
position demands that all of his<br />
experience, degrees and certifications<br />
be brought to bear. It is leading the<br />
world class team of astute<br />
“<br />
“<br />
Our clients<br />
are able to<br />
benefit from<br />
having a<br />
single pointof-contact<br />
for the entire<br />
IT<br />
environment<br />
professionals at BeCloud LLC to<br />
provide Information Technology<br />
Consulting Services that are second to<br />
none.<br />
Reflecting on the question of the future<br />
of Cloud Providers, James says, “<strong>The</strong><br />
future for Cloud Providers is bright,<br />
because there are many opportunities<br />
to provide web, email, server and<br />
application hosting for clients. <strong>The</strong><br />
rapid and continued growth of Internet<br />
based technologies continues to cross<br />
borders and barriers of doing business<br />
World Wide. But, customers need a<br />
trusted, informed, and dedicated<br />
partner to navigate the many cloud<br />
provider solutions. Welcome to<br />
BeCloud we are that trusted<br />
technology partner!”<br />
22 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Beyond the Arc:<br />
Enhancing Client’s Customer<br />
Experience<br />
Steven J. Ramirez<br />
CEO<br />
Taking advantage of<br />
technology has been a Bay<br />
Area agency’s approach to<br />
help their clients reach success.<br />
Beyond the Arc combines big data and<br />
analytics with strategic skills to help<br />
companies create richer, personalized<br />
experiences for customers.<br />
Steven J. Ramirez, CEO of BTA has<br />
set the vision and strategy by<br />
developing technical solutions, as well<br />
as the training and culture change<br />
needed to make new initiatives<br />
successful. With new technology<br />
constantly reframing the way we do<br />
business, the BTA team helps<br />
companies effectively and profitably<br />
manage business insights gained from<br />
new technologies to create more<br />
valuable customer relationships.<br />
Expertise Services<br />
Customer Experience Strategy<br />
BTA’s Voice of the Customer program<br />
uses strategy, text analytics and<br />
communications to help companies<br />
find and fix their pain points at the<br />
moments that matter, build a customercentric<br />
company culture, optimize<br />
communications and sharpen team<br />
skills, and evolve digital experiences<br />
to delight customers.<br />
Customer Communications<br />
From small projects to large-scale<br />
transformation, BTA specializes in<br />
communicating complex technical<br />
topics in plain language that customers<br />
understand. <strong>The</strong> BTA team has written<br />
and edited over 15,000 customer<br />
communications and represented over<br />
300 million customer touchpoints.<br />
Brand Strategy<br />
BTA believes that thoughtful brand<br />
execution and activation are critically<br />
important. By providing many tools<br />
such as reference guides, online and<br />
classroom training and model<br />
language, BTA brings brand strategy to<br />
life.<br />
Customer Analytics<br />
BTA’s expert data science team uses<br />
structured and unstructured data to<br />
gain actionable insights, driving the<br />
value of businesses. As an IBM<br />
business partner certified in IBM SPSS<br />
Modeler, they specialize in predictive<br />
analytics, text analytics, social media<br />
analytics, and analytics training.<br />
Training<br />
BTA’s customized client training<br />
builds alignment and drives success<br />
for key initiatives. Through engaging,<br />
thought-provoking learning<br />
experiences, BTA gives businesses a<br />
solid understanding of what customercentric<br />
success looks like and how to<br />
achieve it.<br />
Future Panorama<br />
While reflecting on the future, Steven<br />
says, “Predictive and text analytics are<br />
combining to create amazing new<br />
Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. By<br />
applying machine learning, devices of<br />
all types can begin to adapt to a user’s<br />
“<br />
“<br />
We help<br />
clients apply<br />
data science<br />
for insights<br />
to enrich<br />
customer<br />
experience,<br />
improve<br />
operational<br />
efficiency and<br />
grow brand<br />
loyalty<br />
preferences, without the user having to<br />
spell it out. When combined with the<br />
Internet of Things, we see a world of<br />
connected devices, and greater<br />
information and convenience. We’re<br />
on the doorstep of an exciting new<br />
period.”<br />
23 | August 2016 |
Bluewolf:<br />
Welcome to a New Era of<br />
Digital Transformation<br />
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Eric Berridge<br />
CEO<br />
Nearly two decades ago, there<br />
were only a few organizations<br />
that realized the importance of<br />
digital solutions as a key driver in<br />
achieving business outcomes.<br />
Bluewolf not only pioneered cloud<br />
consulting, but also has emerged as a<br />
global strategic leader in today’s cloud<br />
marketplace.<br />
Bluewolf, an IBM Company, is an<br />
award-winning global consulting<br />
agency that builds digital solutions<br />
designed to create exceptional<br />
customer and employee experiences.<br />
As Salesforce’s longest standing<br />
partner, the company has logged more<br />
than fifteen years of transformative<br />
work for companies around the globe.<br />
In 2000, at the peak of the dot-com<br />
bust, Bluewolf was born. Despite<br />
economic turbulence in the tech sector,<br />
the emergence of cloud computing<br />
sparked a new wave of innovation and<br />
flexibility. <strong>The</strong>re was immediate<br />
potential for the cloud to change<br />
business and technology infrastructure<br />
for the better. Eric Berridge recognized<br />
an opportunity to leverage cloud,<br />
social, and mobile technologies to help<br />
companies become more agile and<br />
better engage their customers.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Driving Force<br />
Eric Berridge, CEO of the global<br />
consulting agency Bluewolf, holds an<br />
MBA in Entrepreneurial Finance from<br />
New York University, and a BA in<br />
English from UC Berkeley. As CEO,<br />
Eric drives the strategic direction of<br />
the firm, working with his executives<br />
and their teams to deliver<br />
extraordinary customer moments.<br />
Eric’s vision and commitment to<br />
superior digital experiences and<br />
customer engagement has helped<br />
thousands of organizations globally to<br />
get closer to their customers and drive<br />
profitable growth. Prior to Bluewolf,<br />
Eric held executive positions at<br />
Interworld and Oracle.<br />
Expertise<br />
Bluewolf has expertise in Salesforce,<br />
Digital Marketing, Quote-to-Cash,<br />
Analytics, Change Management &<br />
Learning, Public & Private Training,<br />
Cloud Integration & Development,<br />
Mobile and Cloud Governance.<br />
Bluewolf’s suite of consulting services<br />
span the entire customer journey with<br />
Salesforce-from strategy and planning,<br />
to design, implementation, and<br />
ongoing innovation. <strong>The</strong> company<br />
helps align disparate functions<br />
between sales, marketing, customer<br />
service, and IT by focusing on cloud<br />
technology strategies that enhance the<br />
client's customer engagement.<br />
Effectively Delivering the Services<br />
With eyes on driving results from day<br />
one, Bluewolf’s experts embed<br />
themselves within clients’ business for<br />
a series of strategic activities that drive<br />
organizational alignment,<br />
prioritization, solution design, and<br />
success criteria.<br />
To effectively deliver a smart,<br />
frictionless customer experience,<br />
organizations need a partner who can<br />
deliver a mix of customer experience<br />
strategy, technology implementation,<br />
and design execution. This is<br />
Bluewolf’s “sweet spot”- the blend of<br />
technical subject matter experts,<br />
management consulting, and a digital<br />
design agency.<br />
“<br />
“<br />
Using our<br />
proprietary<br />
technical<br />
methods, we<br />
create a roadmap<br />
for the future of<br />
your business<br />
Shaking hands with IBM iX<br />
<strong>The</strong> Salesforce market is significant<br />
and growing. As the proven Salesforce<br />
strategic partner, Bluewolf is satisfying<br />
demand by finding and onboarding<br />
talent outside of the ecosystem to close<br />
the resource gap and further support its<br />
customers.<br />
A significant part of Bluewolf’s<br />
strategy will focus on rapid growth<br />
across the U.S., UK, EMEA, and Asia-<br />
Pacific.<br />
On future strategy, Eric says,<br />
“Combined with IBM iX, we will be<br />
able to create more transformative<br />
experiences for clients through an<br />
advanced portfolio of offerings.”<br />
24 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Bryant <strong>Consultant</strong>s:<br />
Helping Assess, Identify and<br />
Reduce Risks for Homebuilders<br />
Dr. John Bryant<br />
President<br />
Engineering concerned with the<br />
engineering behavior of earth<br />
materials before initiating any<br />
site construction plays the most<br />
important role in the building<br />
procedures, materials, lifespan of<br />
building, risks involved, etc.<br />
Geotechnical and Geoscience<br />
Engineering uses principles of soil<br />
mechanics and rock mechanics to<br />
investigate subsurface conditions and<br />
materials.<br />
Being unique in its own industry,<br />
Bryant <strong>Consultant</strong>s strives to provide<br />
its clients with the most accurate<br />
description of the subsurface, surficial<br />
and structure conditions at the site<br />
using the state-of-the-art technologies<br />
and analysis so that a realistic<br />
evaluation of the site’s present state is<br />
provided. <strong>The</strong>ir Geoneering TM<br />
approach is multi-disciplinary,<br />
utilizing geoscience and engineering to<br />
evaluate risks, identify and solve soil<br />
structure interaction problems, and<br />
mitigate the effects of the site<br />
anomalies.<br />
Bryant <strong>Consultant</strong>s<br />
Bryant <strong>Consultant</strong>s Incorporated (BCI)<br />
Headquartered in Carrollton Texas, are<br />
Civil, Structural, Geotechnical<br />
Engineers and Geoscience and<br />
Forensic <strong>Consultant</strong>s. BCI offers<br />
comprehensive geotechnical and<br />
geoscience consulting expertise to help<br />
assess, identify and reduce risks for<br />
clients during the site development<br />
process. <strong>The</strong> company also offers<br />
design services, field testing,<br />
observation, geotechnical engineering,<br />
soil structure interaction investigation,<br />
structural engineering, permitting,<br />
platting and laboratory testing.<br />
Geo-Engineer:<br />
Dr. John Bryant, President of Bryant<br />
<strong>Consultant</strong>s, is the principal in charge<br />
of all engineering operations including<br />
forensic, geotechnical, geo-structural<br />
and geophysical modeling and testing.<br />
Dr. Bryant is a fourth generation<br />
Aggie. His passion has always been to<br />
seek the truth and he applies that<br />
philosophy in solving complex Earth<br />
Science problems. He is an Engineer<br />
and Geologist by trade, however his<br />
valued Clients consider him the foreleader<br />
in forensic engineering.<br />
Geoneering by BCI<br />
Geoneering is a multi-disciplinary<br />
approach using geoscience and<br />
engineering to evaluate risks, solve<br />
soil structure interaction problems, and<br />
mitigate the effects of site anomalies.<br />
This “geoneering” approach has been<br />
the basis for the development of their<br />
patented Limited Site Investigation<br />
process for homebuilders in order to<br />
systematically identify and delineate<br />
the gross anomalies and higher risk<br />
areas of a site associated with soilstructure<br />
interaction phenomena. <strong>The</strong><br />
Limited Site Investigation process<br />
combines soil boring, ground water<br />
sampling and resistivity analyses in a<br />
patented combination to evaluate<br />
subsurface anomalies with the state of<br />
the art accuracy.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y also provide…..<br />
Bryant <strong>Consultant</strong>s provides<br />
proprietary solutions through the<br />
utilization of exclusive techniques and<br />
disciplines developed by its worldrenowned<br />
research and development<br />
team. <strong>The</strong>se solutions include an inhouse<br />
laboratory facility, state-of-theart<br />
geophysical methods such as<br />
electrical resistivity (GMMIR),<br />
ground penetrating radar (GPR),<br />
electromagnetic surveys (EM) and<br />
seismic refraction as well as other field<br />
exploration techniques.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y also provide Field Testing &<br />
Observations, Geotechnical<br />
Engineering, Soil Structure Interaction<br />
Investigation, Structural Engineering,<br />
Permitting & Platting and Laboratory<br />
Testing.<br />
“<br />
“<br />
We are changing the<br />
face of Engineering<br />
TM by combining<br />
geoscience and state<br />
of the art engineering<br />
technology and<br />
methods to solve the<br />
most complex Earth<br />
System problems<br />
<strong>Success</strong>ful and Proficient in Business<br />
Although their operations are based in<br />
the North Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth<br />
Metroplex) area, their firm maintains a<br />
staff of five licensed professional<br />
engineers which, all together, are<br />
licensed in Arizona, Arkansas,<br />
California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas,<br />
Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New<br />
Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North<br />
Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,<br />
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and<br />
Utah.<br />
Employing licensed professional<br />
engineers with extensive education,<br />
design, analysis, and forensic<br />
experience in geotechnical and<br />
structural engineering enables their<br />
firm to fully understand soil-structure<br />
interactions and its capability to cause<br />
damage/distress to structures.<br />
25 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Chasse Consulting:<br />
Perfect Strategy & Execution for<br />
Global Business Solutions<br />
Beverly Chasse<br />
Founder & CEO<br />
Focused on developing end-toend<br />
sales solutions<br />
encompassing content, tools,<br />
training, and technology, Chasse<br />
Consulting is making solutions<br />
actionable for clients. While defining<br />
an organization’s sales strategy,<br />
Chasse Consulting maps it to the<br />
mission and goals of the companyensuring<br />
cross-departmental alignment<br />
as well-along with the means to propel<br />
that strategy towards success. A<br />
diverse team of writers, designers, and<br />
creative-thinkers make up Chasse<br />
Consulting, all of whom revel at the<br />
prospect of helping clients solve their<br />
biggest business challenges through<br />
creative and unique approaches.<br />
Top Class Sales Performance<br />
Advisory Services<br />
Chasse Consulting is a leading<br />
provider of sales performance advisory<br />
services, partnering with the world’s<br />
leading organizations to generate,<br />
execute, and bring to market inventive<br />
sales solutions that improve selling<br />
performance and increase revenue.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y know that revenue performance<br />
is directly linked to the strategy an<br />
organization has in place. Together<br />
with their in-house translation team,<br />
they engineer global business solutions<br />
spanning numerous technology<br />
platforms and media with the<br />
capability of reaching any audience,<br />
anywhere.<br />
Committed to delivering end-to-end<br />
sales performance solutions, Chasse<br />
Consulting enables their customers to<br />
address their toughest business<br />
obstacles so they can continue to<br />
compete and thrive into the future.<br />
Throughout numerous industries-from<br />
high-tech, to office retail, to<br />
hospitality, to oil and gas-their<br />
customers have seen benefits ranging<br />
from increased revenues to more<br />
efficient work streams achieved<br />
through a partnership with Chasse<br />
Consulting, highlighting one client<br />
who saw a 400% increase in net new<br />
sales over two quarters.<br />
Beverly Chasse, Founder and CEO<br />
of Chasse Consulting, a passionista for<br />
sales and bold thinking, implements<br />
her 30-year industry experience to<br />
advise companies in the areas of<br />
enterprise sales, enablement strategy,<br />
professional training and development,<br />
global events, digital enterprise<br />
solutions, mobile technology, and endto-end<br />
sales experiences.<br />
Since 2002, Beverly has led her<br />
award-winning company recognized<br />
for accolades such as the<br />
RecognizeGood Foundation’s Ethics<br />
in Business and Community Award<br />
and Austin Business Journal’s “Best<br />
Place to Work” three years running.<br />
When not aiding Fortune <strong>50</strong>0<br />
companies increase revenue by<br />
outlining and implementing sales<br />
strategies tailored to global audiences,<br />
Beverly participates in various local<br />
and national philanthropic efforts as<br />
well as international goodwill mission<br />
trips promoting causes such as health<br />
living, sustainability, and water<br />
purification. In 2016, she plans to take<br />
this focus on mission further with the<br />
launch of the company’s new causefocused<br />
app: #KickAss4Good.<br />
“<br />
“<br />
Our goal is to be<br />
exceptional<br />
business partners,<br />
colleagues, and<br />
citizens of<br />
humanity-to be<br />
good to our<br />
customers, our<br />
coworkers, and<br />
our neighbors<br />
Soon to be launched, #KickAss4Good<br />
is seeking to enable everyone to<br />
contribute to their community without<br />
necessarily having to donate money to<br />
do so. KickAss4Good will issue fun<br />
and immersive challenges to the users<br />
which, once completed, will result in<br />
Karma Points that users can apply to a<br />
cause or charity close to them. At the<br />
end of each point period leading<br />
charities with the most points will be<br />
recognized for greater awareness.<br />
Delving into the mobile app<br />
environment, Chasse Consulting is<br />
excited to venture on an endeavor that<br />
allows them to extend their<br />
philanthropic mission to a larger<br />
audience.<br />
26 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Larry Jones<br />
CEO<br />
Today, enterprises depend upon<br />
information technology as an<br />
essential tool for meeting their<br />
business objectives. But they also need<br />
to balance safeguarding their<br />
intellectual property, financial<br />
information and the company’s<br />
reputation, amongst others.<br />
Founded in 2001 with a simple<br />
idea, ‘cyber threats are increasing,<br />
compliance mandates are getting more<br />
complicated, and a well-designed<br />
cyber risk management program is<br />
your best line of defense’, Coalfire has<br />
been rethinking cybersecurity.<br />
Security Consulting<br />
Coalfire’s services include both<br />
Structured and Unstructured<br />
Consulting Services. For example,<br />
their assessment related services are<br />
considered a structured service and<br />
follow a standardized methodology<br />
that is referred to as the PASS<br />
methodology. <strong>The</strong> PASS methodology<br />
consists of four phases including:<br />
Pre-Assessment, includes kickoff,<br />
setting expectations and beginning to<br />
collect preliminary information about<br />
the customer.<br />
Analysis, includes additional<br />
information requests, policy and<br />
procedure review and starting to define<br />
the assessment in more detail as<br />
Coalfire:<br />
Elite Cyber Risk Management<br />
and Compliance Services<br />
documentation is reviewed and<br />
meetings with the customer are held.<br />
Sampling and Testing, during this<br />
phase, Coalfire’s security professionals<br />
work onsite with their customers to<br />
collect additional information related<br />
to the security and control<br />
environment to help understand the<br />
security maturity.<br />
Submission, includes the review of<br />
work papers and documenting the final<br />
report along with quality assurance<br />
reviews.<br />
Coalfire leverages standardized<br />
project management processes in<br />
support of these unstructured<br />
engagements to support the<br />
development, tracking and status of<br />
various milestones to meet the<br />
customers requested services.<br />
Coalfire uses a solution that was<br />
developed in house, the CoalfireOne<br />
Platform. Coalfire makes the often<br />
complex and daunting process of<br />
compliance easier with the<br />
CoalfireOne Platform.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Key Differentiators<br />
Client Focused<br />
Coalfire gets to know their clients’<br />
businesses and industries. With this<br />
knowledge, they select the right<br />
people, process and technology to help<br />
them understand their vulnerabilities,<br />
close security gaps, comply with<br />
regulations, and reduce risk.<br />
Comprehensive Approach<br />
Using a combination of advisory,<br />
assessment, and technical testing<br />
services, Coalfire looks at all aspects<br />
of a client’s environment to provide a<br />
complete picture of possible<br />
vulnerabilities, threats, and gaps that<br />
could impact their business.<br />
Deep Experience<br />
Coalfire draws upon more than 15<br />
years of in-depth expertise across a<br />
wide spectrum of regulations,<br />
technologies, and customer specific<br />
challenges, to deliver solutions<br />
appropriate for their clients and their<br />
industries.<br />
Risk Management Roots<br />
Being an IT risk and security services<br />
provider, Coalfire knows what’s<br />
required to stay secure in this ever<br />
changing environment.<br />
Larry Jones - CEO of Coalfire,<br />
graduated from Worcester Polytechnic<br />
Institute with a degree in computer<br />
sciences in 1975 and earned his MBA<br />
from Boston University in 1980. Mr.<br />
Jones has more than 25 years of<br />
experience building, operating and<br />
growing public and private companies<br />
in the business process outsourcing,<br />
marketing services, enterprise<br />
software, smart-grid, information and<br />
IT services industries.<br />
He has a proven track record as the<br />
CEO of six companies and has served<br />
as director of 13 private equity, public<br />
and VC-backed companies and<br />
executive chairman of two others.<br />
Also, Mr. Jones currently serves as a<br />
director of Diligent Corporation<br />
(NZX: DIL) and Essential Power,<br />
LLC.<br />
Mr. Jones says, “Our deep<br />
understanding of our client’s business,<br />
coupled with our expertise, enables us<br />
to create the shortest path to accurate<br />
and complete cybersecurity measures<br />
at a competitive price, and with<br />
minimal disruptions to the<br />
business.”<br />
27 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Alex Mikhael<br />
Founder and CEO<br />
Labeling itself as “<strong>The</strong> small<br />
business owners’affordable inhouse<br />
digital marketing team”,<br />
Digital Consulting KC is thoroughly<br />
focused on responsiveness and<br />
attentiveness to the client’s needs.<br />
Digital Consulting KC was founded on<br />
the sole purpose to help small to<br />
medium size businesses with their<br />
digital solutions.<strong>The</strong>y provide a way to<br />
maintain company’s presence online<br />
and keeping up with the ever changing<br />
technology we call “<strong>The</strong> Internet” so<br />
that the clients can focus on what<br />
really matters, running their day to day<br />
operations.<br />
Digital Consulting KC is moving<br />
forward with a mindset that, a<br />
company should have an ability to<br />
receiving outside advice and seeking<br />
out others opinions, which will lead to<br />
successful business go from an A rated<br />
company to an A++ rated company.<br />
Offering Variety of Options for<br />
Building a Lasting and Effective<br />
Website<br />
As a Web Design, Graphic Design,<br />
SEO, and Internet Marketing<br />
Company, Digital Consulting KC<br />
offers a variety of options for building<br />
a lasting and effective website.<br />
Digital Consulting KC:<br />
Helping Create A<br />
Lasting & Effective Website<br />
As their Web Design Services, Digital<br />
Consulting KC offers the following<br />
services:<br />
Website Design, if you are looking for<br />
a website redesign or new design, this<br />
can be the single largest component for<br />
determining how much your web site<br />
will cost. Also, they offer website redesign<br />
too.<br />
Search Engine Optimization, to get<br />
your site better rankings and increased<br />
traffic in no time, Digital Consulting<br />
KC offers Local SEO, Search Engine<br />
Marketing and Social Media<br />
Marketing.<br />
Graphic Design, Digital Consulting<br />
KC provide graphic design services<br />
including logo/ branding design, print<br />
and online ad design, digital graphic<br />
artwork and more.<br />
Email Template Design, custom<br />
email template designs so good, your<br />
customers won’t help but to open<br />
them! Digital Consulting KC offers<br />
Content Marketing and Blogs<br />
services, which includes:<br />
Custom Infographic Design, which is<br />
an effective and unique way to get<br />
your message across send a message to<br />
your website visitors.<br />
Website Copywriting, Digital<br />
Consulting KC’s website copywriters<br />
with the expertise, talent, and skills to<br />
craft website content that increases<br />
new organic website traffic and<br />
increases your online revenue.<br />
Blog Creation, based on your current<br />
site, your brand, your target audience,<br />
and your goals, the blog designers will<br />
develop a blog look that strengthens<br />
your company’s online presence.<br />
SEO Audits, an overall analysis of<br />
your website to assess the actions<br />
needed in order to best optimize for<br />
search engine rankings.<br />
Alex Mikhael, Founder and CEO of<br />
Digital Consulting KC, is a graduated<br />
from Kansas State University in 2010<br />
with a Business Marketing Degree.<br />
Alex began his digital marketing<br />
career in 2011 at a start-up mobile<br />
application company in Kansas City.<br />
Alex gained knowledge and<br />
experience about the importance of<br />
tracking clients digital marketing<br />
efforts, importance of reaching clients<br />
“<br />
“<br />
We truly care<br />
about our clients need<br />
to grow and have a<br />
successful return on<br />
investment when it<br />
comes to their website<br />
and their presence<br />
customers through mobile and web.<br />
His past work is comprised of Graphic<br />
User Interface designs for Mobile<br />
Apps, individual magazine ad designs,<br />
and multiple websites with CRM<br />
Integration, SEO Optimization,<br />
eCommerce development, email<br />
marketing campaigns, and complete<br />
web traffic and analytics across all<br />
digital marketing platforms.<br />
Elaborating the future aspect of the<br />
company, Alex says, “<strong>The</strong>re is no limit<br />
to the amount of opportunity that the<br />
digital world has in store for<br />
companies like Digital Consulting KC,<br />
LLC. <strong>The</strong>re is a bright future to digital<br />
consulting specialist in tomorrow’s<br />
digital market place.”<br />
28 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Edgar, Dunn & Company:<br />
Translating Advice<br />
into Action<br />
analysis and recommendation that is<br />
solidly grounded in experience and<br />
know-how.<br />
competition authority challenges,<br />
expert witness/litigation matters, and<br />
transactional support activities.<br />
Peter Sidenius<br />
Managing Director<br />
Edgar, Dunn & Company is a<br />
financial services consultancy,<br />
with a deep expertise in<br />
payments. Established in 1978, they<br />
have advised their clients on many of<br />
the industry’s most significant issues,<br />
including payments strategies,<br />
customer profitability / retention,<br />
credit / fraud risk, payment process<br />
optimisation, leveraging innovation<br />
and assessing new market / product<br />
opportunities.<br />
Founded in the United States, Edgar,<br />
Dunn & Company has expanded<br />
geographically to meet the needs of an<br />
increasingly global client base. Today,<br />
they have served clients in more than<br />
<strong>50</strong> countries on six continents from<br />
offices in Frankfurt, London, Paris,<br />
San Francisco and Sydney. <strong>The</strong>ir<br />
clients include Financial Institutions,<br />
Card Issuers, Merchants, Acquirers,<br />
Processors, Technology Providers,<br />
Payment Schemes and Regulators.<br />
An Independent Strategy Consulting<br />
Firm<br />
Edgar, Dunn & Company is an<br />
independent firm owned by its<br />
directors. <strong>The</strong>y are seasoned<br />
professionals, who take a pragmatic<br />
approach to client issues and deliver<br />
<strong>The</strong> approach to consulting is clientcentered,<br />
with each assignment<br />
tailored to meet the specific client<br />
needs and objectives. Projects are<br />
structured for client participation and<br />
transparency- a collaborative approach<br />
that leverages internal knowledge and<br />
develops client ownership of both the<br />
issues and the final recommendations.<br />
Directors are actively involved in each<br />
assignment and experienced in taking<br />
the Senior management perspective -<br />
which enable them to put issues and<br />
solutions into a broader context. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
also develop a point of view on the<br />
subject in hand that goes beyond<br />
analysis.<br />
Edgar, Dunn & Company supports<br />
clients in addressing the most<br />
significant management challenges by<br />
providing deep payments experience<br />
in the following areas:<br />
Advisory Services. Edgar, Dunn &<br />
Company provides market research,<br />
strategic analysis and critical business<br />
guidance to executives across all parts<br />
of the payments value chain, as well as<br />
due diligence services and acquisition<br />
target identification.<br />
Industry Forums and Roundtables,<br />
which create a unique forum for the<br />
constructive exchange of new ideas<br />
and best practices in the payments<br />
industry.<br />
Law Firm Support. <strong>The</strong>y support law<br />
firms in regulatory reform and<br />
Peter Sidenius is Managing Director<br />
of Edgar, Dunn & Company. He holds<br />
a Master’s of Science from Denmark’s<br />
Technical University and a Masters of<br />
Philosophy in Management Studies<br />
from Oxford University. In addition,<br />
“<br />
“<br />
We offer<br />
bespoke advice<br />
rather than<br />
standard<br />
methods and<br />
solutions<br />
Peter leads their London office. Peter<br />
has over 25 years of experience in<br />
strategy consulting to a variety of<br />
leading industry clients in financial<br />
services, with wide geographical<br />
experience. He is a regular conference<br />
speaker and Chairman at events<br />
concerning the cards and payments<br />
business.<br />
Reflecting on the future of the<br />
company, Peter says “Technology and<br />
innovation are driving changes in the<br />
payment world at increasing speed.<br />
With the arrival of new technologies<br />
and greater regulatory focus the<br />
payment space will be changing<br />
substantially over the coming years.<br />
For a consultant, there has never been<br />
a better time to be in payments.”<br />
29 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Almost every chief executive<br />
wants to deliver superior<br />
returns for their shareholders;<br />
however, only a few corporations have<br />
been able to do so on a sustainable<br />
basis. In fact, over the last thirty years<br />
only two percent of Fortune <strong>50</strong>0<br />
companies have been able to deliver<br />
shareholder returns in the top quartile<br />
of their industries for five consecutive<br />
years. Galt & Company has<br />
supported a number of these topperforming<br />
corporations.<br />
Galt & Company works with Fortune<br />
<strong>50</strong>0 companies to develop the<br />
strategies and organizational<br />
capabilities needed to deliver superior<br />
shareholder returns. <strong>The</strong> firm designs<br />
and implements broad-scale, top<br />
management-led, performance<br />
improvement programs that impact<br />
corporate and business unit strategy,<br />
resource allocation and performance<br />
management. Most importantly Galt<br />
& Company helps management<br />
institutionalize the capabilities and<br />
governance disciplines needed to<br />
sustain superior performance over<br />
time.<br />
Galt & Company’s Differentiation<br />
Galt & Company is the only advisory<br />
Galt & Company:<br />
Delivering Superior<br />
Shareholder Returns<br />
firm solely dedicated to helping its<br />
clients achieve and sustain superior<br />
shareholder returns and the only firm<br />
whose clients, on average, achieve<br />
sustainable shareholder returns <strong>50</strong>%<br />
greater than their industry peers.<br />
According to the firm’s founding<br />
partners, Scott Gillis, Lee Mergy and<br />
Joe Shalleck, “We measure our results<br />
by the shareholder returns our clients<br />
deliver, relative to their industry peers,<br />
over time. That clarity of objective and<br />
explicit measure of success has been<br />
the cornerstone of our enduring client<br />
relationships and success.”<br />
Galt has global operations with offices<br />
in New York, Chicago, London and<br />
Singapore. <strong>The</strong> firm’s clients span<br />
multiple industries, including<br />
Consumer Products, Food &<br />
Beverage, Distribution, Financial<br />
Services, Retail, broad-based<br />
Industrials, Chemicals, Aerospace &<br />
Defense and Healthcare.<br />
<strong>The</strong> success and loyalty of Galt’s<br />
clients are evidenced in their client<br />
results and comments:<br />
<strong>The</strong> members of Galt & Company led<br />
a process with my team at Clorox, to<br />
create the strategies, capabilities and<br />
incentives that have driven excellent<br />
results - over the last three years our<br />
total shareholder returns have been<br />
45% vs. 10% for the S&P <strong>50</strong>0 Don<br />
Knauss, former Chairman, CEO,<br />
Clorox<br />
“Jim Kilts, Chairman and CEO is a<br />
friend of mine who has turned around<br />
several companies. I asked him how<br />
he did this and he mentioned that he<br />
used a particular firm, Galt &<br />
Company. Last fall we hired Galt &<br />
Company to look at our overall<br />
strategy … their insights were nonintuitive<br />
and highly impactful.” John<br />
Allison, former Chairman and CEO,<br />
BB&T and former Chairman of<br />
CATO Institute<br />
“<br />
“<br />
We are the only<br />
advisor that helps<br />
management build<br />
the strategies and<br />
business decisionmaking<br />
disciplines<br />
needed to<br />
outperform<br />
competition in<br />
both the<br />
customer and<br />
capital markets<br />
“Galt & Company partners are<br />
different from other top management<br />
advisors -- they deliver results, not just<br />
recommendations. <strong>The</strong>y have had a<br />
tremendous impact on our results and<br />
an enduring impact on our<br />
organization’s capabilities.” Travis<br />
Engen, former CEO, Alcan and ITT<br />
Industries<br />
30 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Intelysis <strong>Consultant</strong>s:<br />
A VA Certified Service Disabled<br />
Veteran Owned Company<br />
Bill Pletch<br />
Founder<br />
Hiring third party to take care<br />
of one parameter of company<br />
is very popular in big sector<br />
companies. However, making sure that<br />
the party contributes as a catalyst<br />
instead of becoming a burden on the<br />
company. Intelysis consultants<br />
whereas contributes its services to the<br />
IT sector of companies, to make them<br />
more reliable and more productive.<br />
Providing end-to-end solutions makes<br />
Intelysis, an Information Technology<br />
Service Provider to look for.<br />
Provider of Cost Effective and<br />
Integrated Solutions<br />
Intelysis <strong>Consultant</strong>s is a management<br />
and information technology consulting<br />
firm that partners with the government<br />
and private clients to address some of<br />
today’s most complex business<br />
problems. <strong>The</strong>ir program management<br />
experience, expertise and extensive<br />
industry experience allow them to<br />
collaboratively work with their clients<br />
to plan, develop and deliver innovative<br />
and integrated solutions.<br />
Positive business impact and<br />
measurable return on investment is<br />
their number one objective on every<br />
client engagement. <strong>The</strong>y look for ways<br />
to develop solutions that will have the<br />
largest effect on clients’ business or<br />
agency to drive measurable<br />
improvements in business performance<br />
and cost management.<br />
Veteran in the Business<br />
Bill Pletch, Founder of Intelysis<br />
<strong>Consultant</strong>s, attended the University of<br />
New England and obtained a Bachelor<br />
of Science in Medical Biology and<br />
Chemistry and then went on to obtain<br />
his Masters of Business<br />
Administration and Masters of Science<br />
in Leadership. Bill has recently retired<br />
from a long and distinguished Military<br />
Career as a Senior Field Grade<br />
Officer from the US Army.<br />
Bill’s career spanned over three<br />
decades service and included Enlisted<br />
and Non-Commissioned Officer Field<br />
Combat Medic and Medical<br />
Laboratory time and then over 20<br />
years as a Commissioned Officer in the<br />
distinguished Corps of Engineers<br />
Regiment. Bill had served in a<br />
distinguished manner in three named<br />
combat operations and many national<br />
and international humanitarian aid and<br />
disaster recovery efforts. His last<br />
federal deployments were to support<br />
Operations Iraqi Freedom and<br />
Enduring Freedom Afghanistan as well<br />
as the recovery efforts in Iraq in<br />
Operation New Dawn. Since returning<br />
from these operations he has<br />
developed Intelysis <strong>Consultant</strong>s to<br />
provide IT services to serve businesses<br />
with full spectrum IT services.<br />
Providing High Spectrum of<br />
Services<br />
Intelysis is proficient in providing IT<br />
services, Application Development,<br />
Project Management and IT Federal<br />
Contracting.<br />
<strong>The</strong>ir IT services includes Network<br />
Management, User Management, Data<br />
Management, Management<br />
Information Systems, Systems<br />
Management, Data center Monitoring<br />
and Management, Server Management<br />
and Monitoring, Cloud Hosting and<br />
Management, Data Backup, Data<br />
Security Management, Data Storage<br />
Service, Data Recovery / Business<br />
Continuity, Information Services<br />
Backup, Managed email security and<br />
Help Desk/Service Desk.<br />
“<br />
“<br />
We will look for ways to<br />
develop solutions that<br />
will have the largest<br />
effect in your business or<br />
agency to drive<br />
measurable improvements<br />
in business performance<br />
and cost management<br />
Future Vista<br />
<strong>The</strong>ir specialist IT knowledge coupled<br />
with the unique approach to customer<br />
service has earned them an enviable<br />
reputation. Having a truly flexible<br />
resource model and limited-to-zero<br />
overheads results in very cost<br />
conscious pricing models.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y have not only the IT Project<br />
Services and Management team; they<br />
are also working on Net Management,<br />
User Management, Data Management,<br />
Management Information System, and<br />
System Management also.<br />
Intelysis <strong>Consultant</strong>s is a VA<br />
Certified Service Disabled Veteran<br />
owned company providing<br />
transparency of operations. Already<br />
tasting the success, but believes that it<br />
still has a long way to go. <strong>The</strong>y plan to<br />
deliver Business continuity, best in<br />
class service, personal and<br />
professional caring service while<br />
expanding their business on domestic<br />
and international level.<br />
31 | August 2016 |
Editor's Pick<br />
Staff<br />
Augmentation<br />
Business owners and managers may need to think<br />
innovatively when filling up employment needs.<br />
Recruiting new staff isn’t always feasible and there<br />
may be times when you need a different solution. And in<br />
these days of economic recession and insecurity about the<br />
future, companies have been forced to reconsider the way<br />
they do business. To meet their recurring business<br />
challenges, many organizations have been forced to reduce<br />
their staff and/or stop hiring. Yet, they still need to do the<br />
same or more with very less resources and staffs. Staff<br />
Augmentation, here could help you increase the staff when<br />
you need to without making any permanent hires.<br />
Staff augmentation in simple terms can be defined as an<br />
outsourcing strategy which is used to run a project and<br />
respond to business objectives. This technique consists of<br />
appraising the current staff and then ascertaining which<br />
added skills that are required. One possible benefit of this<br />
tactic is that it may leverage current resources as well as<br />
hire outsourced services and contract workers. Employing<br />
temporary workers allows you to avoid the hiring process<br />
and the worries of additional payroll duties.<br />
So many companies have turned to staff augmentation to fill<br />
the gaps in their workforce, endure the declining economy<br />
and maintain a competitive edge. Using workers from<br />
service providers, mostly in nearshore locations,<br />
organizations are able to supplement their staff with the<br />
workers who have the skills necessary to meet the<br />
requirements of their businesses.<br />
Why Staff Augmentation Services?<br />
Experience Matters<br />
Augmenting your staff with qualified professionals at the<br />
peak of their careers permits you to allocate projects and<br />
tasks with confidence. Accomplished mid-career<br />
32 | August 2016 |
Editor's Pick<br />
professionals are not interns and so will not require much<br />
training or support. Merely assign projects and tasks as<br />
needed and an augmented staffer or team will be able to<br />
deliver the results you need right on time. An experienced<br />
professional brings his own significant set of skills to your<br />
project, and frees up your time letting you to focus on the<br />
big picture.<br />
Cost Effective<br />
<strong>The</strong>re’s no point in paying for extra employees all year<br />
round if you only need them for a very short time. With<br />
staff augmentation, you're paying for the task to be done,<br />
when you need it and only for the accurate skills at the right<br />
times. By not paying regular wages year-round, you’re<br />
saving a lot of money in both the short and long term.<br />
Risk Mitigation<br />
Another situation where augmentation is reasonable for<br />
companies those are in a situation where it is unclear if they<br />
are going to welcome growth or if they may have to deal<br />
with reducing the staff size. A company tackling this<br />
difficulty may still have a demand for increased recruitment<br />
for the short term in order to get dire products to the<br />
market. Hiring permanent employees under those<br />
conditions can be very tricky both from a financial<br />
perspective as well as public relations.<br />
Flexibility<br />
Staying flexible in business is possibly more important than<br />
staying powerful. <strong>The</strong> capability to adapt is what keeps the<br />
company at the forefront and with staff augmentation you<br />
can upgrade the passion of your staff's work output<br />
whenever needed.<br />
Control<br />
By using staff augmentation, you can maintain a complete<br />
and overall control over who is doing the important work,<br />
who gets assigned to minor tasks and who is leading your<br />
most important and crucial projects. Maintain control, the<br />
final product and every single step along the way.<br />
A motivated and balanced workforce<br />
Because consultants are hired to embark on specific projects<br />
and meet firm deadlines, they tackle the tasks with accuracy<br />
and concentration. <strong>The</strong>ir goal is to warrant the client’s<br />
success. Since they aren’t concerned about promotions or<br />
office politics, they can provide a neutral and direct opinion<br />
from an unbiased point of view.<br />
Accessibility<br />
Finding, recruiting, training, reskilling, and preserving<br />
employees take time. With staff augmentation you get<br />
speedy access to skilled and experienced talent to meet<br />
needs that can grow suddenly or more rapidly. You are<br />
protected against possibilities such as a team member<br />
proving to be a bad fit for the project, management style or<br />
the company culture.<br />
Other Benefits Staff Augmentation offers<br />
In addition to the huge advantages described earlier, the<br />
staff augmentation model also offers other benefits over<br />
other outsourcing models. One of the most apparent is that<br />
outsourced resources work with the current employees. This<br />
means that contractors will take commands from your<br />
administrators. Leveraging company leadership to supervise<br />
contractors improves the assimilation with the existing<br />
teams and increases the knowledge of what is expected of<br />
these temporary resources.<br />
33 | August 2016 |
Thought Leader<br />
What Google Learned About Teams<br />
(and what leaders can do about it)<br />
By Pa y McManus<br />
the classic suspects - structure, roles,<br />
and goals - proved necessary but<br />
insufficient to predict the highest<br />
levels of success.<br />
Patty McManus<br />
Senior <strong>Consultant</strong><br />
Interaction Associates<br />
Team members at Google are<br />
challenged in much the same<br />
way as nearly everyone else in<br />
corporate life. To get things done, they<br />
need to come together fast and tackle<br />
complex tasks that have no easy<br />
solutions. But Google loves to take on<br />
huge challenges (driverless car,<br />
anyone?) and a team of Google<br />
researchers recently set out to find the<br />
workplace equivalent of <strong>The</strong> Holy<br />
Grail: a perfect team.<br />
Google called the effort Project<br />
Aristotle and the researchers’ primary<br />
focus was to use data to uncover<br />
meaningful patterns for what makes a<br />
great team. Project Aristotle is a<br />
fascinating undertaking that was<br />
detailed recently in <strong>The</strong> New York<br />
Times.<br />
Ironically, the Project Aristotle team<br />
got nowhere fast. <strong>The</strong>y hit one brick<br />
wall after another as their hypotheses<br />
kept proving wrong, despite robust<br />
team observations, surveys, and<br />
analysis. Just because a team was<br />
made up of high IQs, big achievers, or<br />
nice guys didn’t mean they could come<br />
together to produce good work. Even<br />
But they knew something was there<br />
and they kept digging until they<br />
uncovered one factor that stood out<br />
above all others, despite numerous<br />
other variations - a culture<br />
characterized by psychological safety<br />
as a key determinant of the most<br />
effective teams. Psychological safety,<br />
according to Harvard professor Amy<br />
Edmondson, is “the shared belief that a<br />
team is safe for personal risktaking…that<br />
the team will not<br />
embarrass, reject or punish someone<br />
for speaking up.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> researchers at Google describe<br />
two factors that seem to make the<br />
biggest difference in creating<br />
psychologically safe environments for<br />
collaboration:<br />
1. Relatively equivalent air time<br />
among all team members in their<br />
discussions<br />
2. A high overall level of social<br />
sensitivity<br />
Translation: Everybody on a highly<br />
performing team could expect that<br />
they would be heard if they had<br />
something to say and that their<br />
concerns, positive or otherwise, would<br />
be attended to by the team. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
findings were borne out consistently<br />
34 | August 2016 |
Thought Leader<br />
despite variables such as a team’s goals, process, or even<br />
the style of its leader.<br />
Safety Starts with Leaders<br />
In a recent blog post, I explored the approach that<br />
animation giant Pixar takes to creating a safe environment<br />
for break-through story telling. In his 2014 book Creativity<br />
Inc, Pixar’s CEO Ed Catmull demonstrates his belief that a<br />
big part of his job is fostering that condition.<br />
In one telling example, Catmull describes a deal he made<br />
with his co-founder Steve Jobs: Catmull would commit to<br />
stay at Pixar if Jobs would agree to forego attending the<br />
meetings where unfettered truth-telling was essential to the<br />
success of their films. Despite his brilliance, Jobs was<br />
known as the last leader on earth you’d look to for creating<br />
a safe environment. Catmull knew he had to protect against<br />
the risk of Jobs’ larger-than-life style overwhelming<br />
people’s need to speak the hard truths.<br />
While Catmull didn’t use the term, he was describing<br />
psychological safety as an essential ingredient of success<br />
for Pixar’s film makers. If you’re a leader like Catmull<br />
looking to adopt the same practice for your teams, special<br />
care and attention are required.<br />
Here are three essentials for leadership that make a<br />
difference:<br />
Develop clear goals and ground rules.<br />
People in teams need enough common focus to feel<br />
competent to do the work at hand--hard to find in a world<br />
that is always shifting under their feet. Whether it’s stated<br />
outcomes for a last-minute meeting, short-term milestones<br />
on a project path, or high level objectives in a charter,<br />
effective teams share a common view of what they are<br />
trying to accomplish. Period.<br />
Psychological safety cannot exist in an on-going state of<br />
ambiguity. While they may not know what the future will<br />
look like in a month or a year, they can be clear about the<br />
nature and scope of what they are working on right now. If<br />
it needs to change, so be it-and that requires a discussion,<br />
some decision-making, and a collective reset.<br />
Setting the team up with ground rules, as clearly stated<br />
norms, goes a long way to creating mindfulness about<br />
individual actions. Despite our best intentions, not everyone<br />
is naturally inclined to set aside their positions to hear what<br />
others are thinking. Pressure, timelines, and politics just<br />
compound the challenge. Getting a team’s agreement on<br />
simple ground rules, such as “Equal access to the air<br />
waves” or “Listen before you give an opinion” can shift<br />
team members’ inclinations. Keep ground rules spare and<br />
specific, revisit them often. And, most especially as the<br />
leader: Hold the line when someone crosses it.<br />
Actively commit to creating psychological safety.<br />
Google is hardly packed with touchy-feely types who<br />
expect to be talking about emotions at work. However, one<br />
leader described the value of having actual data that<br />
demonstrated the importance of paying attention to the<br />
subtle or even blatant barriers to people’s experience of<br />
safety on a team. <strong>The</strong> most common: Members getting shut<br />
down without a hearing on a controversial opinion, or being<br />
marginalized because of stylistic differences. <strong>The</strong>se and<br />
other issues like them need to be noticed, named, and<br />
resolved as soon as they appear-and if the leader doesn’t<br />
start, who will?<br />
But it doesn’t stop there for leaders. In her research on<br />
teams, Stanford Professor Maggie Neale (2) has<br />
demonstrated the potential of diversity - when and if a team<br />
can take advantage of each member’s perspective. Neale<br />
emphasizes the importance of actually managing diversity<br />
so that the team creates an inclusive culture that enables<br />
healthy dynamics and solid results.<br />
Even if no one else does, leaders need to keep the<br />
importance of psychological safety front and center,<br />
especially about their own actions. If a team has ground<br />
rules about equal access to air time, yet the leader<br />
repeatedly does most of the talking or lets the two high<br />
status members take over, the team faces not only a loss of<br />
safety but the cynicism that results when a leader says one<br />
thing and does another. Which brings me to the third<br />
essential for team leaders…<br />
Take a hard look in a good mirror.<br />
Having the ability to see their impact on others is the place<br />
to start. A leader may truly believe in the power of<br />
collaboration, understand the importance of psychological<br />
safety on a team, AND continue to act in ways that create<br />
the opposite effect. I am continually astounded by how hard<br />
35 | August 2016 |
Thought Leader<br />
it can be for well-intentioned people to change their habits<br />
and patterns.<br />
One of my favorite insights in the last year came from a<br />
book entitled Immunity to Change by Kegan and Lahey<br />
(2009). <strong>The</strong> authors describe many of the barriers to change<br />
that reside in both organizations and individuals. Given the<br />
complex psychological challenges when taking on even the<br />
most obvious changes, they recommend that individuals<br />
focus on one area, and start by asking a few individuals the<br />
following question: “What is one big thing I could do to<br />
improve…?”<br />
If you talk to a few people who aren’t afraid to tell you the<br />
truth, you’ll probably start to hear a theme or two. <strong>The</strong>n<br />
take on one change and one change only-and make it<br />
concrete and specific. “Be a better listener” is way too<br />
vague. Try something as specific as “asking two questions<br />
before giving my opinion” or “looking around to see who<br />
hasn’t had a chance to weigh in.”<br />
As the Project Aristotle findings began making their way<br />
into the popular press, the world around Google-up, down,<br />
and around Silicon Valley-seemed to let out a collective<br />
“duh!” Or maybe it was a sigh of relief. So many of us have<br />
known the agony of being on a team that not only felt<br />
unsafe but couldn’t deliver on its promise. <strong>The</strong> hard part is<br />
knowing what to do about it. Fortunately, even though<br />
leaders can’t create psychological safety on their own, small<br />
but intentional shifts in their mindset and actions can set the<br />
tone for better things.<br />
About<br />
Patty McManus<br />
Senior <strong>Consultant</strong> Patty McManus develops leaders who<br />
are equipped to embrace both the responsibilities and the<br />
potential of their roles. She works at the levels of values,<br />
skill development, and motivation to support leaders’ and<br />
organizations’ success. Patty is a frequent blogger and<br />
podcaster on interactionassociates.com and author of the<br />
popular ebook, “<strong>The</strong> Little Book of Big Change”. She is<br />
also a sought-after presenter, speaking most recently at the<br />
American Library Association's National Conference.<br />
36 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Leshinsky Finance:<br />
Following the Right Processes to<br />
Ensure Present and Future <strong>Success</strong><br />
Michael Leshinsky<br />
Founder<br />
Diagnosticating the importance<br />
of wise strategic and financial<br />
choices at all phases of<br />
business-from the contemplation<br />
stages to the maturation and sale of the<br />
business, Leshinsky Finance has<br />
designed the service to take the<br />
frustration and uncertainty out of the<br />
key decisions needed allowing the<br />
clients to focus on the business.<br />
Providing services to the cities like,<br />
Providence, Rhode Island, Boston,<br />
Massachusetts, New York, and Palo<br />
Alto, California, but Leshinsky<br />
Finance is always happy and excited to<br />
assist anywhere globally.<br />
Leshinsky Finance knows that the<br />
biggest mistakes come at times of<br />
transition, when people neglect to put<br />
the right processes in place to ensure<br />
their present and future success; they<br />
threaten the efficiency of their business<br />
and survival. <strong>The</strong>y also know that most<br />
entrepreneurs and small business<br />
owners get consumed by daily<br />
operations and can neglect their<br />
optimal financial performance.<br />
Knowing this fact, Leshinsky Finance<br />
provides the most valuable discipline -<br />
managing money the most efficient<br />
way possible, finding the optimal<br />
solution within a feasible region, they<br />
raise capital and the lowest cost of<br />
capital.<br />
Wise Strategic and Financial<br />
Solutions<br />
Leshinsky Finance, at a high level<br />
create pro forma, valuations, financial<br />
statements, sensitivity analyses, review<br />
key performance indicators, raise<br />
capital via their network and<br />
experience, assist in mergers and<br />
acquisitions, be retained by banks and<br />
other lenders for underwriting, and<br />
companies that need a value on their<br />
business among other things, like real<br />
estate valuations, feasibility studies,<br />
etc.<br />
Michael Leshinsky, Founder of<br />
Leshinsky Finance, started out after<br />
undergrad buying and building<br />
franchises up and down interstate 95 in<br />
MA when he noticed a bubble was<br />
forming and sold them for 200%<br />
return on investment. <strong>The</strong> trick is to<br />
continuously reviewing cap rate or<br />
yield. NOI/Value and when the yield is<br />
below a certain threshold you sell. In<br />
the meantime he was in grad school,<br />
getting his MBA concentration<br />
Finance Modern Portfolio <strong>The</strong>ory<br />
Investment Analysis.<br />
Michael took the proceeds from the<br />
sale of the businesses and invested it in<br />
real estate at a <strong>50</strong>% discount due to the<br />
housing crash which today is up 100%<br />
from purchase price on his balance<br />
sheet. As buying real estate decided to<br />
go for second masters in real state<br />
valuation, finance and underwriting,<br />
while holding the real state he worked<br />
at an accounting firm that transferred<br />
to an incubator in Boston called<br />
MassChallenge. He worked with<br />
Harvard grads that wanted to start their<br />
own business; his practice grew and<br />
now works with bigger clients in terms<br />
of annual sales. He also still invests in<br />
real estate, does real estate<br />
development, and created a small<br />
hedge fund.<br />
“<br />
“<br />
Our focus is<br />
on helping<br />
businesses<br />
improve their<br />
financial<br />
performance<br />
and<br />
operations<br />
While recalling his experience of the<br />
foundation of Leshinsky Finance,<br />
Michael says, “We followed the key<br />
values like, Brand recognition, our<br />
vast network, impeccable work, 100%<br />
success rate on raising capital, among<br />
knowing powerful politicians and<br />
private equity players globally.”<br />
Further he adds, “We don’t have a<br />
strategy, we haven’t found a company<br />
that can provide the same quality of<br />
work, with that said, we should have a<br />
strategy. I am sure there are other<br />
companies that do compete.”<br />
Reflecting on the future of Leshinsky,<br />
Michael asserts, “We want unlimited<br />
growth potential done correctly and<br />
meeting and helping all the different<br />
types of companies and people.”<br />
38 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Kristina Roth<br />
Founder<br />
Focused on inspiring clients and<br />
getting them to think and act<br />
differently, Matisia works with<br />
a level of commitment, expertise and<br />
enthusiasm that is unmatched. Matisia<br />
<strong>Consultant</strong>s strategizes and moves the<br />
companies they work with forward,<br />
giving them the power to grow at the<br />
speed of change.<br />
Matisia provides highly skilled<br />
consultants with an average of 10<br />
years of consulting experience. <strong>The</strong>ir<br />
localized delivery of consulting<br />
services deepens the connection and<br />
trust with their clients. Matisia<br />
provides a transparent, simplified allinclusive<br />
pricing model, which is<br />
widely appreciated by clients.<br />
Customized Consulting Solutions<br />
Matisia provides localized delivery of<br />
customized consulting solutions across<br />
four primary service lines or centers of<br />
excellence, on both a project delivery<br />
and technical resourcing basis:<br />
Business Intelligence, ERP Services,<br />
Project Leadership & Product<br />
Management, and Organizational<br />
Change Management.<br />
Business Intelligence (BI), the BI<br />
professionals handle projects of all<br />
sizes, spanning the development of<br />
impactful dashboards (e.g. Power BI<br />
Matisia <strong>Consultant</strong>s:<br />
Top-Notch Customized<br />
Consulting Solutions<br />
and Tableau) to implementing multiterabyte<br />
data warehouses.<br />
ERP Systems, practice enables clients<br />
to envision roadmaps, plan<br />
investments and successfully deliver<br />
on complex business transformation<br />
initiatives, supported by deeply<br />
experienced consultants.<br />
Project Leadership & Product<br />
Management, helps clients organize,<br />
plan and deliver unique goals and<br />
objectives, achieving an optimal<br />
balance between scope, schedule, and<br />
budget. Product Management services<br />
span the areas of eCommerce, Web<br />
Self-Service, Marketing, and Call<br />
Center technologies.<br />
Organizational Change<br />
Management, Matisia partners with<br />
clients to develop, launch and manage<br />
tailored, multi-faceted change<br />
management strategies to help their<br />
most valuable assets - their people - let<br />
go of the familiar and welcome the<br />
new.<br />
Matisia helps ensure their clients stay<br />
relevant and informed in an everchanging<br />
environment. <strong>The</strong>y always<br />
do what is best for the client and help<br />
organize, plan, motivate and deliver on<br />
their clients’ unique goals and<br />
objectives. Matisia doesn’t believe in a<br />
one-size or one-solution-fits-all<br />
approach. <strong>The</strong>y draw from their<br />
experience and leverage best practices<br />
and, in tandem, customize the<br />
solutions for clients.<br />
Kristina Roth, founded Matisia<br />
<strong>Consultant</strong>s in 2006. She has nearly 20<br />
years of experience in consulting and<br />
previously worked for IBM and PwC,<br />
focusing on improving efficiencies,<br />
increasing profits, and implementing<br />
change through technology and<br />
business process improvements for a<br />
multitude of clients. She has grown the<br />
Matisia business and brand across<br />
multiple office locations, including<br />
Washington, California and<br />
Minnesota.<br />
“Being a client centric firm,” Kristina<br />
explains, “our focus on our clients<br />
begins with strong capabilities and<br />
seasoned leaders from across<br />
industries. We provide innovative,<br />
customized consulting solutions to<br />
greatly improve our clients’<br />
performance and profitability. We help<br />
our clients stay informed and relevant<br />
in an ever-changing environment.”<br />
While talking about Matisia, Kristina<br />
says, “Our biggest assets have always<br />
been and continue to be our<br />
passionate, driven and deeply<br />
experienced consultants. <strong>The</strong> most<br />
important core values that have helped<br />
us overcome growth challenges are:<br />
Always putting our people first,<br />
continuously improving, and never<br />
compromising our unique culture.”<br />
Matisia understands the importance of<br />
investing in the community. Kristina<br />
adds, “We engage our employees,<br />
bringing together our collective<br />
resources to improve our world. We do<br />
this through investing in organizations<br />
like Communities Schools of<br />
Washington, Cure 4 Type 1, Jubilee<br />
Women’s Center, <strong>The</strong> Seattle<br />
Children’s Hospital Uncompensated<br />
Care Fund and many more.”<br />
Throwing light on its future Kristina<br />
says, “With constant change comes<br />
opportunity… this is what excites us<br />
most about the future and what we<br />
do.”<br />
39 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Metcalf:<br />
Innovating Leadership Capacity<br />
Maureen Metcalf<br />
CEO<br />
Dedicated to helping leaders,<br />
their management teams, and<br />
their organizations implement<br />
the innovative leadership and business<br />
practices needed to create market<br />
differentiation, Metcalf & Associates,<br />
Inc. is an executive advisory, executive<br />
development and management<br />
consulting firm.<br />
Metcalf’s approach is based on<br />
prominent research in the field, made<br />
practical for busy leaders. <strong>The</strong>y offer<br />
executive advisory and leadership<br />
development services, team<br />
effectiveness coaching, and<br />
organizational transformation<br />
consulting.<br />
Maureen Metcalf, CEO of Metcalf &<br />
Associates, is a renowned executive<br />
advisor, author, speaker, consultant<br />
and coach who brings 30 years of<br />
business experience to provide highimpact,<br />
practical solutions that support<br />
her clients’ leadership development<br />
and organizational transformations.<br />
Recognized as an innovative,<br />
principled thought leader, Maureen<br />
combines intellectual rigor and<br />
discipline with an ability to translate<br />
theory into practice in all of her work.<br />
Her operational skills are coupled with<br />
a strategic ability to analyze, develop<br />
and implement successful strategies<br />
for profitability, growth and<br />
sustainability.<br />
In addition to working as an executive<br />
advisor, Maureen designs and teaches<br />
MBA classes in Leadership and<br />
Organizational Transformation. She is<br />
also the host of an international radio<br />
show focused on Innovative<br />
Leadership for VoiceAmerica, and the<br />
author of an award-winning book<br />
series on Innovative Leadership,<br />
including the Innovative Leaders<br />
Guide to Transforming Organizations,<br />
winner of the 2014 International Book<br />
Award for Best Business Reference<br />
Book.<br />
Maureen is a valued board member of<br />
several organizations, and served on<br />
the board of trustees for Urbana<br />
University. Before founding Metcalf &<br />
Associates, she worked for<br />
PricewaterhouseCoopers and<br />
Accenture across a broad range of<br />
industries, building strong business<br />
acumen and consulting skills. She has<br />
worked with a number of Fortune 100<br />
clients, delivering a wide range of<br />
significant business results, including<br />
increased profitability, cycle time<br />
reduction, increased employee<br />
engagement and effectiveness, and<br />
improved quality.<br />
Metcalf, Offering a Holistic<br />
Approach to Creating Leadership<br />
Metcalf helps leaders at all levels<br />
evolve their capacity to innovate,<br />
inspire and achieve thriving<br />
organizations. <strong>The</strong>y follow certain<br />
tenets:<br />
Evolve Leadership - Metcalf offers<br />
comprehensive programs that enable<br />
executives and their teams to advance<br />
their leadership capability over time,<br />
from emerging leaders, through the<br />
leader and executive leader ranks.<br />
<strong>The</strong>ir approach is based on prominent<br />
research in the field, made practical for<br />
busy leaders. Programs include<br />
executive advisory services,<br />
assessments, workshops, on-line<br />
development programs, and leadership<br />
and management coaching.<br />
Build Vibrant Teams - With the everincreasing<br />
complexity of<br />
organizations, leaders must rely on<br />
others inside and outside the company<br />
to deliver results. Team vibrancy is<br />
critical to organizational success.<br />
Metcalf & Associates assesses and<br />
advises teams to achieve or improve<br />
this essential element using an<br />
approach that is based on research by<br />
noted adjunct Harvard University<br />
researcher, Jim Ritchie-Dunham.<br />
“<br />
“<br />
We help leaders at<br />
all levels evolve<br />
their capacity to<br />
innovate, inspire<br />
and achieve<br />
thriving<br />
organizations.<br />
Create Thriving Organizations -<br />
Metcalf advises leaders and their<br />
organizations as they implement<br />
complex, enterprise-wide change.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y offer a structured approach to<br />
organizational transformation<br />
involving executive advisory services,<br />
consulting, assessments, innovative<br />
approaches, and structured processes.<br />
While reflecting on Metcalf’s future,<br />
Maureen says, “In this time of such<br />
dramatic change, we have a greater<br />
opportunity to make a global impact<br />
than any other time in history.”<br />
40 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Scott Rosenberg<br />
Co-founder & CEO<br />
Since 2000, Miro Consulting has<br />
leveraged its experience and<br />
expertise in the software license<br />
management space, to help its clients<br />
save money, ensure compliance, and<br />
create a baseline that can be used for<br />
future planning and budgeting. In<br />
order to understand the particular<br />
challenges that a client faces, Miro<br />
Consulting is focused on enabling<br />
them to make the best decisions for<br />
their organization's needs.<br />
Miro Consulting is always looking to<br />
develop long-term relationships with<br />
their clients, instead of just doing short<br />
term engagements. Miro Consulting’s<br />
strategies are positioned to address the<br />
client's needs while ensuring they<br />
understand any challenges in their<br />
plans for the future. <strong>The</strong>y are focused<br />
on helping clients gain a solid<br />
understanding of their options, to<br />
maintain the most cost effective<br />
licensing footprint that is defendable<br />
from vendor audits, and to best<br />
position their organization for future<br />
changes and needs.<br />
Master of License Management<br />
Miro Consulting specializes in Oracle,<br />
Microsoft, IBM and Adobe software<br />
license audit defense, contract<br />
Miro Consulting:<br />
A Software License<br />
Management Expert<br />
negotiation, license optimization and<br />
license management. Since 2000, Miro<br />
has helped hundreds of clients<br />
worldwide to optimize their total cost<br />
of ownership and has overseen over<br />
$1.5 billion in licensing transactions.<br />
Software audits are on the rise. Being<br />
prepared for an audit is essential to an<br />
organization’s success. By quickly<br />
controlling the audit conditions, Miro<br />
can help mitigate risks and obtain a<br />
mutually acceptable outcome.<br />
Miro Consulting’s software license<br />
audit defense is comprised of analysts<br />
with decades’ worth of software<br />
vendor audit experience. <strong>The</strong>ir<br />
analysts work with clients as trusted<br />
advisors throughout the audit defense<br />
process and, in many cases, sit beside<br />
them during the vendor audit and<br />
contract negotiation period.<br />
Miro Consulting provides on-call<br />
Subject Matter Licensing Experts<br />
(SME) who can devise an overall<br />
game plan that leverages their deep<br />
knowledge of the Oracle / Microsoft /<br />
IBM licensing process, engages in best<br />
practices for flexibility, and integrates<br />
the client’s specific current and future<br />
initiatives/directions.<br />
Scott Rosenberg, Co-founder &<br />
CEO of Miro Consulting, earned an<br />
Industrial Engineering degree from the<br />
University of Pittsburgh. Mr.<br />
Rosenberg is responsible for creating<br />
and driving the vision of the company,<br />
which he founded in August 2000.<br />
With more than 25 years of<br />
engineering and operations experience,<br />
Mr. Rosenberg’s leadership has<br />
fostered significant company growth.<br />
Today, Miro Consulting has over <strong>50</strong>0+<br />
clients across North America and has<br />
overseen more than $1.5 billion in<br />
Oracle and Microsoft transactions.<br />
Prior to Miro Consulting, Mr.<br />
Rosenberg was a founding principal<br />
and driving force behind Cintra, a<br />
highly successful Oracle consulting<br />
company with over $20 million in<br />
revenues.<br />
Frequently quoted by media outlets<br />
such as Computerworld, CIO and<br />
InformationWeek, Mr. Rosenberg is<br />
considered an expert in Oracle<br />
licensing and software asset<br />
management, as well as Microsoft<br />
“<br />
“<br />
One of our key<br />
values is to ‘do<br />
right by our<br />
clients’ and to<br />
‘knock our clients’<br />
socks off’ with the<br />
value and support<br />
we strove to deliver<br />
licensing. Mr. Rosenberg is also an<br />
active member of IAITAM and is a<br />
Certified Software Asset Manager<br />
(CSAM).<br />
While talking about the future of Miro<br />
Consulting, Mr. Rosenberg says, “<strong>The</strong><br />
IT industry has long been an exciting<br />
place to be a part of. With the Cloud<br />
very much in the transcendent, our<br />
clients continue to turn to us for<br />
answers to the complex problems they<br />
face, and so it’s exciting that they want<br />
us around for that journey.”<br />
41 | August 2016 |
Moshe Zchut<br />
Founder & CEO<br />
Today, the change has morphed<br />
into complexity. Every<br />
business entity wants to<br />
establish their brand into market.<br />
Everybody wants to grow, capture<br />
maximum market share, maximum<br />
reach into the market. But without<br />
strong marketing arms, it cannot be<br />
done. Proper market researchdevelopment<br />
into brand, brand audit,<br />
competitors’ area, marketing that all<br />
required in form of agency, a smarter<br />
growth engine for you.<br />
Digital Marketing has been evolved as<br />
the best strategy to reach to the<br />
audience as the presence of internet<br />
has pierced all the limitations. But<br />
presence of your company with the<br />
competitors' space on web also leads<br />
to another type of competition. NetLZ<br />
Consulting is a dynamic company<br />
specializing in web development and<br />
digital marketing which claims to keep<br />
you before your competitor on the<br />
web.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Missing Piece in Your<br />
Marketing Campaign<br />
NetLZ combines many years of<br />
experience in digital technology,<br />
search engines and web industry with<br />
young and modern vision. It's current<br />
list of clients includes businesses from<br />
different markets and industries.<br />
Before they start they do research the<br />
industry of clients for competition,<br />
market size, keywords and more. As<br />
the web site is the first impression a<br />
potential customer gets about any<br />
business! NetLZ makes sure to build<br />
the best one for you.<br />
NetLZ offers a full digital campaign<br />
which includes web design,<br />
optimization, blogs, articles, press<br />
releases, social media and much more.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y tailor a Web Marketing<br />
Campaign to each customer to<br />
maximize web presence and benefits.<br />
Hands behind the Foundation<br />
Moshe Zchut, Founder and CEO of<br />
NetLZ Consulting, has college degrees<br />
in engineering, math and computer<br />
science. For over 20 years he has been<br />
working in the R&D of high-tech<br />
companies in Design, Programming<br />
and Engineering of high-tech systems.<br />
Since the inception of the web, Moshe<br />
has been working on web development<br />
and more recently on digital<br />
marketing. <strong>The</strong> experience and<br />
intellect of Moshe are the base reasons<br />
behind the success of NetLZ.<br />
Full Spectrum of Web Services<br />
NetLZ offers all the aspects of digital<br />
marketing with technical experience<br />
under one roof. Most digital marketing<br />
companies/agencies do not offer such<br />
wide area of expertise and<br />
understanding.<br />
Services provided by NetLZ includes,<br />
Web Designing- Designing a website<br />
with collection of pages of text,<br />
images, audios, and videos that make<br />
up a company or organization's online<br />
presence, Conversion Optimization,<br />
Social Media Marketing- To reach out<br />
more people and to interact with the<br />
audience in real time,<br />
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
NetLZ Consulting:<br />
Spreading <strong>The</strong> Word,<br />
Through Viral Marketing<br />
Web Development, Search<br />
Optimization-A process of improving<br />
the quality volume and quality of<br />
traffic to a website, Video Marketingwhich<br />
has recently became an<br />
undeniable force in online marketing.<br />
With compelling content and a<br />
professional looking video NetLZ can<br />
use video to bring different ideas<br />
together in an innovative way, Mobile<br />
Development- <strong>The</strong> widespread<br />
deployment of Web-enabled mobile<br />
devices to make them a target of<br />
“<br />
“<br />
Our Clients are<br />
our Biggest<br />
Sales Force!<br />
Many of our<br />
new clients are<br />
referred to us<br />
by our existing<br />
clients<br />
choice for content creators, Pay Per<br />
Click and Email marketing.<br />
Molding with the Technology<br />
Experience and understanding of<br />
clients’ needs, implementation of<br />
customized solutions and full support<br />
in every step (including constant<br />
communication and progress reports)<br />
are the key-values that have helped<br />
NetLZ to overcome all the roadblocks<br />
and hurdles.<br />
Moshe believes that with the arrival of<br />
new technology there will be increase<br />
in demand of new services which will<br />
guide the company in the future.<br />
42 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
NextNet Partners:<br />
In the Business of Making Clients<br />
More <strong>Success</strong>ful in the Digital Age.<br />
Phil Calzadilla<br />
Founder & CEO<br />
NextNet Partners is in the<br />
business of making clients<br />
more successful by bringing<br />
them the best technology and brightest<br />
people in the industry. NextNet<br />
Partners was founded in 2011 and<br />
headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. An<br />
IT Consulting Company, NextNet<br />
Partners diffentiates through an<br />
innovative approach while focusing on<br />
providing business outcomes for their<br />
clients using next generation network<br />
technologies partnered with the best<br />
people in the industry.<br />
‘<strong>The</strong> Next Generation of IT<br />
Consulting’<br />
NextNet offers “Next Generation<br />
Services” in four main practice areas:<br />
Collaboration, Customer<br />
Collaboration, Converged<br />
Infrastructure/Cloud and Core<br />
Networking. NextNet Partners has<br />
developed multiple frameworks that<br />
are business focused to deliver<br />
business outcomes to clients. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
offer services in the areas of:<br />
Consulting, NextNet Partners has<br />
developed a transformational<br />
consulting methodology that delivers<br />
the business results their clients need.<br />
Transofrmational, in that they take<br />
clients current non digital processes<br />
and transform them into the digital<br />
age. Consutling is NextNet’s heart and<br />
soul of the business.<br />
Managed Services, NextNet<br />
Partners help clients increase their<br />
uptime and operationalize their<br />
standards, while executing proactively<br />
to make sure the client’s<br />
business is always available. With<br />
services custom built for clients needs<br />
and resources that can be local or<br />
remote.<br />
Cloud/Hybrid Consulting,<br />
NextNet Partners’ transformational<br />
consulting methodology gets cloud,<br />
mobile and other next generation<br />
technologies under control.<br />
Architecture<br />
Core Networking, Networking is their<br />
“core” business, NextNet Partners has<br />
an extensive background and<br />
experience connecting people to<br />
interactions using a secure, scalable<br />
and stable network foundation.<br />
Collaboration, NextNet Partners<br />
can project manage or create strategies<br />
for a variety of large-scale<br />
collaboration projects such as video<br />
conferencing, Telepresence, instantmessaging,<br />
call center and general<br />
unified communications.<br />
Converged Infrastructure,<br />
NextNet Partners develop platforms<br />
for their client’s most crucial<br />
applications, networks and storage.<br />
While serving the best to the clients<br />
from the beginning, NextNet Partners’<br />
core values have been ‘a rock in the<br />
storm of growth’. Some of the key core<br />
values that helped them to overcome<br />
the roadblocks/challenges the<br />
company faced were: People First,<br />
Candor, Empowerment, Frugality,<br />
Teamwork, Giving Back, Fearlessness,<br />
and Growth/Results Driven.<br />
Phil Calzadilla, Founder and CEO<br />
of NextNet Partners, recently named<br />
‘One of the Most Admired CEO’s of<br />
2015’, is committed to client<br />
satisfaction and building an<br />
empowered and diverse culture of<br />
customer-focused teams at NextNet<br />
Partners.<br />
Phil is an industry veteran with a<br />
strong background in leadership and<br />
growth. Since the company’s founding<br />
in October 2011, Phil has passionately<br />
led NextNet Partners through multiple<br />
stages of growth. Under his leadership<br />
the company has developed a very<br />
strong team culture, while seeking to<br />
create ‘raving fan’ clients and doubling<br />
sales revenue year after year.<br />
Prior to starting NextNet Partners,<br />
Phil worked for Cisco Systems for 14<br />
years, progressing to regional<br />
leadership positions over enterprise,<br />
retail, healthcare and state, local, and<br />
education (SLED) teams in the<br />
Southwest. In his last three years at<br />
Cisco, Phil was an Operations Director<br />
leading the services team for Cisco's<br />
SLED team in the South and West<br />
areas of North America.<br />
Prior to Cisco, Phil was<br />
consistently a technology sales leader<br />
with roles at Microtest, Automatic<br />
Data Processing, and MicroAge. He is<br />
a member of various boards and<br />
councils, including Cisco Partner<br />
Advisory Board, Comstor Partner<br />
Advisory Board, Tech Data Direction<br />
of Industry Council, PEN-Phoenix<br />
(Parents Education Network of<br />
Phoenix), ASU Center for advancing<br />
business through IT (CABIT), AZ<br />
Eagles, and the AZ chapter of ACT!<br />
(Autism Care and Treatment).<br />
Talking about the future of NextNet<br />
Partners, Phil revealed, “<strong>The</strong>re are<br />
endless opportunities in the<br />
information technology business due<br />
to the lack of resources and<br />
importance of technology for<br />
businesses’ today. Solving business<br />
problems for our clients, using the best<br />
technology coupled with the best<br />
people in the business is very<br />
exciting.”<br />
43 | August 2016 |
CXO Standpoint<br />
Emerging Technologies from<br />
Microsoft: Remove the Limits<br />
on Your Business<br />
Remaining on top of<br />
technology trends is a critical<br />
concern for entrepreneurs<br />
and professionals. Skill sets come and<br />
work at a breakneck tempo, and it’s<br />
important to remain in front of the<br />
curve in an effort to predict the next<br />
hot spots of technology to keep<br />
ourselves relevant in our alwaysshifting<br />
universe.<br />
IoT is about devices that are connected<br />
to the internet to perform the processes<br />
and services that support our basic<br />
needs, economics, health and<br />
environment. Cloud computing acts as<br />
a front end to access IoTs. Cloud<br />
computing has now been a more<br />
popular service that arrives with more<br />
characteristics and advantages. In<br />
reality, cloud computing is based on<br />
users who perform the computer tasks<br />
using services delivered entirely<br />
through the Internet.<br />
Microsoft’s mission is to empower<br />
every person and organization to<br />
achieve more. For businesses today, It<br />
is believed that the Internet of Things<br />
(IoT) represents not only the next<br />
major wave of computing, but also the<br />
next competitive advantage.<br />
Harnessing signals and untapped data<br />
from existing and new devices unlocks<br />
powerful insights.<br />
Explore <strong>The</strong> Possibilities of<br />
Microsoft Cloud Platform<br />
IT today is under more pressure than<br />
ever before to deliver resources faster,<br />
support new business initiatives, and<br />
maintain pace with the challenger. To<br />
handle these demands, commercial<br />
enterprises need a pliant and resilient<br />
infrastructure that is easy to handle and<br />
easy to scale.<br />
With Windows Server, Microsoft<br />
System Center, and Microsoft Azure,<br />
you can transform the datacenter. You<br />
can get advantage of innovation across<br />
the datacenter and the cloud to simplify<br />
your infrastructure and rapid delivery<br />
of services to the business. Enterpriseclass<br />
virtualization and unified<br />
management give you a foundation in<br />
your data center, while hybrid options<br />
provide you admission to the<br />
boundless capacity of the swarm. Hold<br />
open your business competitive with<br />
the Microsoft cloud platform.<br />
Microsoft Data Warehousing and<br />
Big Data<br />
<strong>The</strong> traditional data warehouse is under<br />
pressure from the growing weight of<br />
increasing volumes of data, the<br />
expansive variety of data types, and the<br />
real-time processing velocity of how<br />
information is being used to develop<br />
and operate the line. Data warehousing<br />
has made the most important tipping<br />
point since its origin. <strong>The</strong> biggest,<br />
possibly most elaborate information<br />
management system in IT is shifting.<br />
<strong>The</strong> traditional data warehouse was<br />
designed specifically to be a central<br />
repository for all data in a troupe.<br />
Disparate data from transactional<br />
systems, ERP, CRM, and LOB<br />
applications could be cleansed-that is,<br />
extracted, transformed, and loaded<br />
(ETL) -into the warehouse inside an<br />
overall relational schema. <strong>The</strong><br />
predictable data structure and quality<br />
optimized processing and reporting.<br />
Nevertheless, preparing queries was<br />
largely IT-supported and based on<br />
schedule batch processing.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Microsoft data warehouse is built<br />
on symmetric multi-processing (SMP)<br />
technology. With SMP, adding more<br />
capacity involved more powerful<br />
hardware and then fork lifting the prior<br />
data warehouse into it. This was<br />
necessary because as the warehouse<br />
approached capacity, its architecture<br />
experienced performance issues along<br />
with a scale where there was no room<br />
to add incremental processor power or<br />
enable synchronization of the cache<br />
between processors.<br />
Nevertheless, data volume is<br />
expanding tenfold every five years. A<br />
lot of this new information is driven by<br />
devices from the more than 1.2 billion<br />
people who are linked to the Internet<br />
worldwide, with an average of 4.3<br />
44 | August 2016 |
CXO Standpoint<br />
connected devices per person. Devices<br />
including smart phone also offer<br />
documentation for remote monitoring<br />
sensors, RFID, location-based data,<br />
transactions and more.<br />
Microsoft Upgrades a New Standard<br />
for Wearables<br />
Only lately, Microsoft filed a patent for<br />
a wearable smart bracelet, but it’s<br />
unlikely the patent was lodged for this<br />
updated device. In the patent, the<br />
company explains the device is<br />
comprised of “interactive smart beads”<br />
attached to a connecting element, and<br />
spreads out the possibility for<br />
interaction with toys-to-life franchises.<br />
Microsoft Band offers an impressive<br />
set of characteristics, including built-in<br />
GPS, call-screening, the ability to scan<br />
incoming e-mails and texts, a fullysynced<br />
calendar, a heart rate monitor,<br />
and more. But the key to getting the<br />
most of Microsoft Band is Microsoft,<br />
Health, an ambitious and superbly<br />
organized wellness app, which<br />
provides a full selection of wellness<br />
and fitness tools.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Microsoft Band has been designed<br />
to function with all smart phones.<br />
Whether you’re a disciple of the<br />
Windows Phone or not, the Band will<br />
sync with Android and IOS devices as<br />
well, then no need to worry if you’re<br />
not a Microsoft dedicated. Tracking<br />
your heart rate, your steps taken, your<br />
calories burned and sleep patterns, the<br />
Microsoft Band tracks your daily<br />
physical activity and allows you to go<br />
over your stats with a bare glimpse at<br />
your wrist.<br />
With a GPS Run Mapping system, you<br />
can map all of the paths that you've<br />
run, cycled or hiked and save your<br />
most challenging or your preferred<br />
roads. Including email previews,<br />
calendar alerts, incoming call<br />
notifications and text messages, the<br />
tracker carry a 48 hour battery.<br />
Kris Nanda<br />
President<br />
V.L.S Systems Inc.<br />
Microsoft: 2016 Will Be the Year Of<br />
AI<br />
Microsoft is applying artificial<br />
intelligence to create detailed maps<br />
illustrating population density and the<br />
access to the internet across the world.<br />
This should help Microsoft bring<br />
internet to parts of the globe that are<br />
without access. Microsoft has analyzed<br />
20 countries and 21.6 million square<br />
kilometers amounting to 3<strong>50</strong>TB of<br />
data.<br />
Microsoft is also reported to be<br />
creating deep learning AI which aims<br />
to recover out what matters to<br />
Microsoft users. Microsoft is definitely<br />
not new to the AI game. In 2010, it<br />
introduced facial recognition<br />
technology that could distinguish<br />
people in photos, and in 2013,<br />
Microsoft dedicated a lab to AI<br />
research and also recruited deep<br />
learning experts to set up the AI<br />
headquarters. Microsoft says its design<br />
for AI is to personalize what matters to<br />
each user, populating timelines with<br />
things they genuinely care about rather<br />
than people and places they’d opt not<br />
to look.<br />
Microsoft has determined to leverage<br />
Artificial Intelligence in order to<br />
enable better offline translation for the<br />
Translator app to be changing the way<br />
we communicate with the machines<br />
and also the way machines learn from<br />
our slipway. Cortana has been a fine<br />
piece of example when it comes to<br />
artificial intelligence, making things<br />
more comfortable for us and now<br />
Microsoft has leveraged the technology<br />
to bring about some worthwhile<br />
improvements in the Translator App.<br />
<strong>The</strong> best piece of the new AI inclusion<br />
is the very fact that it will bring in a<br />
much more potent and reliable offline<br />
45 | August 2016 |
CXO Standpoint<br />
translation, the caliber of which can be<br />
compared with the online translation.<br />
<strong>The</strong> new AI feature will be the world’s<br />
first Deep Neural Network powered<br />
offline engine for Android. All you<br />
need to do is download language packs<br />
and get near online quality of<br />
interpretation.<br />
A Microsoft Perspective: To Be<br />
<strong>Success</strong>ful, Organizations Must Be<br />
Strategically Aware<br />
Today’s organizations have to deal<br />
with dynamic and uncertain<br />
environments. To be successful,<br />
organizations must be strategically<br />
aware. <strong>The</strong>y must see how alterations<br />
in their competitive environments are<br />
opening. <strong>The</strong>y should actively look for<br />
chances to exploit their strategic<br />
abilities, adapt and seek improvements<br />
in every area of the business, building<br />
on awareness and understanding of<br />
current strategies and successes.<br />
Directors who made long-range plans<br />
generally assumed that better times put<br />
down in front. Future plans were<br />
simply extensions of where the<br />
organization had been in the<br />
yesteryear. But a bit of environmental<br />
shocks undermined this approach to<br />
strategic planning: rapid technological<br />
developments, the maturing or<br />
stagnation of certain grocery stores,<br />
increased international competition.<br />
By now, you will see that Microsoft<br />
was making a rather unique resource.<br />
Its approach to software<br />
“componentization” allowed the firm<br />
to leverage intellectual property across<br />
multiple product lines. And it likewise<br />
made it attractive for third-party firms<br />
to leverage Microsoft’s platform,<br />
equally opposed to others.<br />
But how did this allow the firm to<br />
react effectively to technical change?<br />
Foremost, it received an established<br />
foundation of knowledge that could be<br />
brought to bear on new emerging<br />
opportunities. Second, it possessed a<br />
well-defined process through which<br />
new intellectual property could be<br />
codified and integrated into this<br />
knowledge base in a manner that<br />
ensured compatibility with its living<br />
elements. And third, its established<br />
processes evolve this knowledge home<br />
to ensure it reflected changes in the<br />
broader technological context.<br />
All in all, Microsoft believes that the<br />
pursuit of an effective entrepreneurial<br />
strategy is mainly through information.<br />
Keying out the competitive advantages<br />
has to be represented through the<br />
aggregation and analysis of data from<br />
existing experiences.<br />
46 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Larry Olson<br />
Chairman, CEO and President<br />
Recognized globally, across<br />
various industries, for<br />
delivering sustainable<br />
solutions that optimize both an<br />
organization’s assets and processes to<br />
yield a ROI of 10:1 or greater, Nexus<br />
Global Business Solutions (Nexus<br />
Global) is recognized as a worldwide<br />
leader in asset performance<br />
management and maintenance<br />
consulting, coaching, training and<br />
software.<br />
In one instance, Nexus Global<br />
partnered with a client in an effort to<br />
improve their work management<br />
process with the focus on process<br />
adherence which incorporated design,<br />
development, and implementation. <strong>The</strong><br />
assignment also included aligning the<br />
use of their computerized maintenance<br />
management system (CMMS) and inhouse<br />
training which was developed<br />
by Nexus Global. As a result, the client<br />
achieved 90 percent maintenance<br />
schedule compliance, and 98 percent<br />
preventive maintenance compliance,<br />
this up over 20% higher than<br />
previously achieved. Additionally,<br />
maintenance workforce productivity<br />
improved from 30 percent to over 75<br />
percent and resulted in increased<br />
production output of 18 percent.<br />
Nexus’ long-term success of client<br />
partnerships is based on its<br />
responsiveness in the market and<br />
delivery consistent results.<br />
Nexus Global Business Solutions:<br />
“Connecting Knowledge<br />
and Excellence”<br />
A Unique Brand of Comprehensive<br />
Business Solutions<br />
Headquartered in Wake Forest, North<br />
Carolina, USA, Nexus Global takes<br />
pride in offering a unique brand of<br />
comprehensive Asset Performance<br />
Management (APM) business<br />
solutions throughout their Global<br />
Network. Nexus Global’s offerings<br />
include Consulting, Coaching,<br />
Training, Software and Manpower.<br />
With operating locations in North<br />
America, West Africa, Middle East,<br />
Asia Pacific, Europe and South<br />
America, we can assist clients with<br />
their everyday business management<br />
needs as well as major project support.<br />
Nexus Global’s various locations, in<br />
addition to their diversified subject<br />
matter expertise, have enabled them to<br />
support many industries, including Oil<br />
and Gas, Petrochemical, Utilities,<br />
Mining, Manufacturing, Food and<br />
Beverage, Pulp and Paper,<br />
Pharmaceutical, and Education.<br />
<strong>Companies</strong> everywhere turn to<br />
Nexus Global because of their<br />
extensive history of hands-on<br />
maintenance experience and proven<br />
track record of working from the<br />
boardroom to the shop floor. A wealth<br />
of technical knowledge and a highlytrained<br />
staff with the ability to relate<br />
with real life issues at the point of<br />
execution has helped Nexus Global<br />
stand out from their competitors in the<br />
field of Asset Performance<br />
Management.<br />
Larry Olson, Chairman,<br />
President & CEO of Nexus Global<br />
Business Solutions, for the past 30<br />
years he always had an<br />
obsession/passion with creating and<br />
owning various types of businesses.<br />
Larry says, through his past experience<br />
as business owner and being an<br />
entrepreneur the wheels never stop<br />
turning. <strong>The</strong>refore, when he entered<br />
the consulting profession in 2004 there<br />
was an aspiration shortly thereafter to<br />
be an owner or partner in a consulting<br />
firm.<br />
<strong>The</strong> opportunity presented itself in<br />
late 2010 to foster the idea into a<br />
reality, hence leading to the formation<br />
of Nexus Global Business Solutions,<br />
Inc. Through his vision and passion<br />
along with the creativity of the people<br />
Larry surround himself, they are and<br />
will continue to be the “Best” APM<br />
solutions provider in the market.<br />
“<br />
“<br />
We have creative and<br />
innovative software<br />
and solutions<br />
providing bottom line<br />
value to our clients<br />
While talking about the divergent<br />
strategies followed by Nexus Global,<br />
Larry says “Be personal, be consistent,<br />
act with integrity, and most of all<br />
provide rapid results! This is my<br />
philosophy for creating a vibrant<br />
company and gaining the trust with<br />
our clients. Executives in which Nexus<br />
Global work with will need to<br />
understand how to develop a<br />
structured, disciplined approach that<br />
includes context and content with<br />
proven sustainability and this is what<br />
Nexus Global takes pride in<br />
delivering.”<br />
Reflecting on its future panorama,<br />
Larry asserts, “Nexus Global continues<br />
to be on a progressive growth curve<br />
which has allowed us to diversify our<br />
APM solutions across multiple<br />
industries.”<br />
48 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Patrick Quinn<br />
President & CEO<br />
Pioneers of emerging media<br />
research, PQ Media is the<br />
leading provider of global<br />
media econometrics. PQ Media’s<br />
industry-leading predictive<br />
econometrics system serves executives<br />
charged with advancing strategic<br />
initiatives in the rapidly changing<br />
media, entertainment and<br />
communications industries.<br />
Quickly understanding client’s<br />
needs, PQ Media develops products<br />
and services to meet the client’s<br />
objectives. <strong>The</strong>y also make customer<br />
service a high priority, including a<br />
detailed needs assessment when first<br />
approached for a project, being nimble<br />
to accommodate client requests,<br />
particularly relating to deadlines, and<br />
offering options to clients in<br />
determining a deliverable that matches<br />
the project’s scope and within defined<br />
budget range.<br />
Portfolio of Custom Consulting<br />
Services<br />
Due to global marketplace demand,<br />
PQ Media has broadened and<br />
deepened their analysis of emerging<br />
media through the lens of its PQ<br />
Medianomics methodology. As a<br />
result, they have developed a broader<br />
portfolio of custom consulting services<br />
to meet the growing needs of their<br />
clients. In addition, they continue to<br />
expand their library of primary<br />
PQ Media:<br />
Proven and Best-In-Class<br />
Econometric System<br />
research reports on emerging media,<br />
which have received global<br />
recognition, particularly the annual<br />
Global Media Intellicast Series, a<br />
three-report bundle that examines the<br />
entire media ecosystem, including<br />
advertising & marketing operator<br />
revenues, consumer spending on<br />
media and consumer media usage &<br />
exposure.<br />
While working with clients to<br />
develop and deliver custom consulting<br />
services, PQ Media starts with their<br />
proprietary econometrics system of<br />
databases, opinion leader panels,<br />
algorithms and methodologies. <strong>The</strong>ir<br />
system gathers, analyzes and<br />
synthesizes data on key industry<br />
drivers - demographic, psychographic,<br />
economic and technological, among<br />
others. <strong>The</strong> result has been consistently<br />
accurate forecasts regarding industry<br />
revenue, spending, growth and<br />
consumption patterns worldwide in an<br />
era of great reset in the media<br />
economy, accelerating transformation<br />
and massive restructuring of the<br />
traditional advertising and marketing<br />
ecosystem.<br />
PQ Media’s Core Consulting<br />
Competencies lies in Emerging Media<br />
& Markets (size, structure, history,<br />
forecast), Forecasts (spending &<br />
consumption), Due Diligence<br />
(company profiles/competitive<br />
landscape), Scenario Development<br />
(proactive “what if” planning), Growth<br />
Sector Identification (investment and<br />
expansion opportunities), Market<br />
Share Analysis (growth/expansion<br />
recommendations), Research<br />
Protocols (planning, measurement,<br />
development & execution), End-user<br />
Perception Research<br />
(qualitative/quantitative), and<br />
Project Management (all types related<br />
to media, entertainment &<br />
communications).<br />
Patrick Quinn, President & CEO<br />
of PQ Media, founded the firm in<br />
January 2003 following a<br />
distinguished career as a media<br />
consultant, market analyst, and awardwinning<br />
journalist. Mr. Quinn has<br />
launched, edited, and managed<br />
numerous print and digital<br />
publications covering the media<br />
industry, and is a respected source of<br />
information for leading news outlets<br />
such as Advertising Age, CNN,<br />
Hollywood Reporter, <strong>The</strong> New York<br />
Times, Times of London, USA Today,<br />
and <strong>The</strong> Wall Street Journal. Mr.<br />
Quinn also served as Editorial Director<br />
of the Veronis Suhler & Stevenson<br />
Communications Industry Forecast.<br />
Reflecting on the future Mr. Quinn<br />
says, “PQ Media is helping clients<br />
navigate the changing media landscape<br />
through a plethora of options by<br />
providing actionable strategic<br />
intelligence on the entire media<br />
ecosystem, including our Global<br />
Media Intelligence Series, is what<br />
excites us most.”<br />
In addition to the Global Media<br />
Intelligence Series, PQ Media recently<br />
released the first ever report on Brand<br />
Activation Marketing, which was<br />
funded and in partnership with the<br />
Association of National Advertisers. It<br />
analysed all six brand activation<br />
marketing platforms, including<br />
relationship marketing, influencer<br />
marketing, promotional marketing,<br />
content marketing, experiential<br />
marketing and retailer marketing, as<br />
well as 32 brand activation channels,<br />
such as customer service & telesales,<br />
word-of-mouth marketing,<br />
promotional products, incentives &<br />
premiums, product placement,<br />
consumer events, and in-store mobile<br />
marketing.<br />
49 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
RAS & Associates:<br />
Consulting Reimagined<br />
Rob Swanson<br />
CEO<br />
Information Technology can be a<br />
significant driver of value for<br />
almost any organization.<br />
However, many organizations view IT<br />
as more of a necessary evil than a<br />
critical business function. RAS &<br />
Associates guides IT organizations by<br />
providing strategic direction,<br />
technology roadmaps, tactical<br />
implementation plans and process<br />
improvement techniques which enable<br />
its clients to reduce costs, streamline<br />
operations, and increase resource<br />
productivity.<br />
RAS is transforming their clients,<br />
people and community by constantly<br />
looking for ways to grow and improve<br />
both internally and externally. Client<br />
successes result from the<br />
implementation of proven models and<br />
processes which elevate their teams<br />
and ultimately their entire business.<br />
Honesty, integrity, and respect are core<br />
values at RAS, and these are<br />
demonstrated at personal and<br />
professional levels across the firm.<br />
A Unique and Personalized<br />
Approach to Consulting<br />
RAS & Associates is a strategy and<br />
management consulting firm<br />
headquartered in Denver. <strong>The</strong>ir<br />
talented team comprises seasoned<br />
professionals with diverse industry<br />
experience. <strong>The</strong>y all share the same<br />
commitment: a deep investment and<br />
creative engagement in the long term<br />
success of their clients. This<br />
fundamental value enables RAS to<br />
deliver “Consulting Reimagined.”<br />
RAS’s experience in IT includes<br />
Operational Strategy Development,<br />
Application Rationalization and<br />
Consolidation, CRM Management<br />
Strategy, Demand Management,<br />
Capacity Planning and Resource<br />
Optimization. RAS knows that without<br />
understanding the “how,”<br />
organizations cannot fully benefit from<br />
investments made in their growth and<br />
success. To that end, a project is not<br />
considered complete unless the client<br />
is equipped with the knowledge and<br />
capability it needs to grow the<br />
business, contain costs and remain<br />
competitive.<br />
In the IT consulting segment, RAS<br />
focuses on the alignment of IT and<br />
operational strategy. Often,<br />
infrastructure and operational<br />
strategies diverge, resulting in excess<br />
IT spending, unfulfilled business<br />
requirements, and inefficient, manual<br />
processes. Developing these strategies<br />
hand-in-hand will help ensure business<br />
goals and objectives are realized as<br />
quickly and efficiently as possible.<br />
Optimizing the universal<br />
interrelationships between people,<br />
process and technology enables RAS<br />
to differentiate itself from other IT<br />
management consulting firms.<br />
Founding Partner and CEO Rob<br />
Swanson earned his MBA from the<br />
Georgetown McDonough School of<br />
Business and a Bachelor of Science in<br />
Business Administration in Finance<br />
and Real Estate from Colorado State<br />
University.<br />
Rob’s focus is and always has been on<br />
optimization before revolution. He<br />
believes that within most businesses,<br />
pragmatic and strategic adjustments to<br />
existing operations provide more<br />
immediate benefit than do radical<br />
changes or complete overhauls. By<br />
addressing this typically unmet need,<br />
RAS has grown quickly and<br />
assertively since being formed in<br />
2008.<br />
Rob’s philosophy on culture, growth,<br />
leadership and innovation are wellregarded,<br />
and he is regularly invited as<br />
a speaker and author to a wide range<br />
of audiences. Additionally, Rob is<br />
actively involved with a number of<br />
Denver area non-profit agencies.<br />
“<br />
“<br />
A unique and<br />
personalized<br />
approach is<br />
fundamental<br />
to enable<br />
our clients<br />
for long-term success<br />
Elaborating on the future of RAS in<br />
the IT industry, Rob says “It is<br />
certainly an exciting time for the tech<br />
industry in Colorado, as the state<br />
continues to rank high in the<br />
concentration of tech workers.<br />
Industries such as telecom, green tech,<br />
and life sciences are behind this<br />
growth, and it is our goal to stay at the<br />
forefront of this evolution.”<br />
<strong>50</strong> | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Shamrock Consulting Group:<br />
Advising Clients in a<br />
Changing Environment<br />
Paul Cooney<br />
Founder & CEO<br />
Finding an IT consulting firm<br />
who guarantees to provide the<br />
best mix of price, reliability<br />
and service is a challenge to any<br />
business. Fortunately, Shamrock<br />
Consulting Group can bridge the gap<br />
between communications carriers and<br />
customers. Shamrock is a full service<br />
telecommunications and IT consulting<br />
firm with access to over 1<strong>50</strong> carriers in<br />
the telecom, data center, fiber, cloud,<br />
phone system/PBX and WAN<br />
industries. Formed to provide clients<br />
with a neutral and ongoing evaluation<br />
and sourcing of all communications<br />
requirements, Shamrock’s “free<br />
extension of your team” approach has<br />
saved client’s countless hours of<br />
wasted time and over $2<strong>50</strong> million in<br />
billing. Established in 2008, Shamrock<br />
manages $80 million in revenue, has<br />
20 employees and is headquartered in<br />
El Segundo, California.<br />
Core Consulting<br />
Shamrock has core consulting in<br />
telecom, data center, phone system,<br />
cloud & fiber companies. Shamrock<br />
does everything from writing and<br />
running complex RFP’s for larger<br />
opportunities, to simple shopping for<br />
smaller clients. <strong>The</strong>y analyze billing to<br />
come up with an accurate ROI for the<br />
project with total cost of ownership<br />
taken into account, get the best pricing<br />
and contract language possible, make<br />
sure that everything is installed in a<br />
timely manner, and project manage the<br />
deal until the client is 100% satisfied.<br />
Building a Company that Focuses on<br />
Clients<br />
Paul Cooney, Founder and CEO of<br />
Shamrock Consulting Group, ran the<br />
Los Angeles sales team at AT&T<br />
before starting Shamrock. “Shamrock<br />
was started out of a basic market<br />
need,” says Paul. “I found that clients<br />
didn't like endless meetings with sales<br />
reps from different carriers and they<br />
were frustrated with the high turnover<br />
rate of their representatives. <strong>The</strong>re was<br />
clearly a market gap for a ‘one stop<br />
shop’. I wanted a company who was<br />
there to do the best thing for the client<br />
- to provide multiple options, designs,<br />
and pricing scenarios with multiple<br />
providers so they can make the most<br />
informed decision and to have the<br />
same representation throughout. With<br />
Shamrock’s approach, the client gets<br />
the best design and pricing with the<br />
least amount of time and effort.”<br />
Right People with the Right<br />
Qualities<br />
By hiring the right people with the<br />
right qualities, Shamrock was able to<br />
grow in a tight-knit environment<br />
where everyone’s work and input is<br />
valuable. “I have always focused on<br />
knowing as much about technology as<br />
possible so I can do the right thing for<br />
our clients,” say Ben Ferguson,<br />
Shamrock’s senior network architect.<br />
“It’s not only about having choices, it’s<br />
about how to look at a client’s needs<br />
from a fresh perspective and<br />
recommending a solution that impacts<br />
how they run their business.” From<br />
providing technical guidance to client<br />
support, Shamrock has the right people<br />
in place.<br />
Adaptation<br />
Communications is changing, and<br />
Shamrock is in the right place at the<br />
right time. <strong>The</strong>se constant changes<br />
allow Shamrock to grow by shifting its<br />
design and provider focus. 15 years<br />
ago customers were just moving away<br />
from ATM and Frame relay to MPLS<br />
for their Wide Area Network. Now<br />
those same customers are looking at<br />
SD WAN (Software Defined Wide<br />
“<br />
“<br />
Shamrock can be<br />
your single<br />
point of<br />
contact for<br />
all carriers<br />
Area Network) to mix and match<br />
internet carriers for “best of breed” at<br />
each site. A year ago, nobody was<br />
talking about SD WAN and now it<br />
comes up in just about every meeting.<br />
“It’s great to run a company that will<br />
never be a dinosaur - as things change,<br />
we can adapt immediately and<br />
endlessly,” says Paul.<br />
51 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
St. Charles Consulting Group:<br />
Innovative, Customized and Integrated<br />
Solutions for Forward Thinking <strong>Companies</strong><br />
Phil Davis<br />
Founder & Managing Partner<br />
St. Charles Consulting Group (St.<br />
Charles) is a one of a kind<br />
consulting firm that delivers its<br />
solutions through a “network model”<br />
which engages highly experienced and<br />
uniquely skilled professionals to meet<br />
the customized needs of their clients.<br />
St. Charles is fully committed to their<br />
clients and measures its own success<br />
based on the impact that its solutions<br />
have on these companies.<br />
Seasoned Consulting Expertise<br />
St. Charles is known as a leader in the<br />
learning and performance arena and<br />
specifically for delivering solutions<br />
that are innovative and customized to<br />
integrate with their clients’ business<br />
strategies. This integration allows St.<br />
Charles to be effective in enabling<br />
their clients to meet their business<br />
objectives and desired results.<br />
St. Charles anchors their work in the<br />
client’s strategic foundation and<br />
overall talent framework. St. Charles<br />
applies seasoned consulting expertise<br />
to targeted areas within learning and<br />
performance that include all aspects of:<br />
Learning Strategy, Curriculum<br />
Development, Instructional Design,<br />
and Program Delivery. Additionally,<br />
they are deeply skilled in<br />
organizational development,<br />
knowledge services, change<br />
management, and workforce planning.<br />
In all of these areas, St. Charles<br />
leverages state-of-the-art technology to<br />
bring the best systems thinking to bear,<br />
and applies senior-level consulting<br />
expertise that is second to none.<br />
Phil Davis is the Managing Partner of<br />
St. Charles and one of the two original<br />
founders. He brings over 40 years of<br />
executive-level expertise in training<br />
and human resources to service his<br />
clients, most of which are large<br />
companies/firms with significant<br />
global presence. In addition to<br />
overseeing all of the firm’s business<br />
functions, Phil delivers high level<br />
client service in the areas of training<br />
strategy, design and development,<br />
integration of people and processes,<br />
and team effectiveness.<br />
Prior to founding St. Charles in 2002,<br />
Phil served as partner-in-charge of<br />
global operations for Arthur<br />
Andersen’s worldwide training<br />
organization. In the mid-1990s, Phil<br />
left Andersen for six years to take an<br />
executive position with Freeport-<br />
McMoRan, a large international<br />
mining company, where he served as<br />
Chief Administrative Officer. Phil<br />
remains a non-practicing Certified<br />
Public Accountant.<br />
Phil says, “Certain values, particularly<br />
trust, integrity, & commitment to<br />
excellent client service define who we<br />
are. <strong>The</strong>se qualities are at the heart of<br />
everything we do and contribute to our<br />
positive, progressive outlook, to our<br />
interest in partnering actively with our<br />
clients, and to our nimbleness and<br />
effectiveness in delivery of highquality<br />
services.”<br />
Since its inception, St. Charles has<br />
grown to employ more than 1<strong>50</strong><br />
professionals and has successfully<br />
served more than 130 unique clients.<br />
<strong>The</strong>ir base of domestic and<br />
international clients span a broad<br />
spectrum of industries, including<br />
retail, professional services,<br />
technology, healthcare,<br />
pharmaceutical, manufacturing,<br />
banking and financial services, energy<br />
and mining, hospitality, consumer and<br />
industrial products, higher education,<br />
and public sectors.<br />
“<br />
“(St. Charles) delivers<br />
its solutions<br />
through<br />
a “network model”<br />
which engages …<br />
professionals<br />
to meet the<br />
customized needs of<br />
their clients<br />
Phil adds, “<strong>The</strong> convergence of<br />
technology with talent processes and<br />
tools has created an environment<br />
where great strides can be made in<br />
competency-based learning,<br />
individualized development, and<br />
enhanced leadership across an<br />
enterprise. St. Charles is excited to<br />
partner with other forward-thinking<br />
organizations in co-creating new<br />
learning and performance solutions for<br />
their people.”<br />
52 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Strativity Group:<br />
Expert Analysts, Insightful Strategists,<br />
and Action-Oriented <strong>Consultant</strong>s<br />
Lior Arussy<br />
President<br />
Helping clients incorporate<br />
their customer experience<br />
into the strategy of the<br />
organization, Strativity Group is<br />
assessing clients about what is the<br />
brand? What is the business strategy of<br />
the organization and how does the<br />
customer experience incorporate into<br />
that?<br />
Strativity conducts journey mapping,<br />
validation through 360 degree<br />
quantitative and qualitative drilldowns<br />
to understand the perceptions of<br />
all stakeholders. From what customers<br />
experience and want to why<br />
employees are behaving the way they<br />
are through the experience, what the<br />
processes are, etc. This assessment<br />
enables Strativity to see the gaps and<br />
opportunities in the experience, which<br />
helps them design the ideal experience<br />
against the brand promise, look at<br />
different styles of customers/personas,<br />
what services they want, etc. and then<br />
design a specified approach to the<br />
ideal experience.<br />
Subsequently, Strativity conducts an<br />
analysis of economics of customer<br />
experience to be able to model what<br />
touch points and ideas have the most<br />
financial impact on the organization.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n they create an action plan for the<br />
organization, as well as a governance<br />
model and then roll it out in the<br />
organization. This includes Leadership<br />
Training, Employee Training and a<br />
Sustainability Model.<br />
Customer Centric Strategy<br />
Development and Execution<br />
Strativity helps the clients first<br />
understand the customer journey,<br />
design a customer experience strategy<br />
and then help them deploy it. <strong>The</strong>re are<br />
different elements in the strategy like<br />
voice of customer, cultural<br />
transformation, experience innovation,<br />
measurement program and employee<br />
training.<br />
Most of the players in the industry<br />
start and end with technology. Being<br />
different, Strativity starts with people<br />
and strategy and ends with execution.<br />
<strong>The</strong> technology is a tool. <strong>The</strong>re are<br />
players in the analytics space, in the<br />
customer space, they produce<br />
numbers, contrary to them Strativity<br />
produce results. Strativity understands<br />
that just because an organization<br />
knows the customer satisfaction score<br />
doesn’t mean they are going to do<br />
something about it. Strativity helps<br />
organizations develop the experience,<br />
set the strategy and engage employees<br />
to deliver. Strativity takes<br />
responsibility for the complete<br />
process, the operational strategy - not<br />
just for the numbers.<br />
Lior Arussy, President of Strativity<br />
Group completed his undergraduate<br />
degree at Case Western Reserve<br />
University and received his MBA from<br />
Weatherhead School of Management.<br />
Prior to establishing Strativity Group,<br />
Mr. Arussy held executive positions at<br />
Hewlett-Packard among other<br />
companies.<br />
Mr. Arussy elaborates his experience<br />
saying, “My background is in<br />
technology. I was an executive at HP<br />
and Nice, among other technology<br />
companies. My clients always told me<br />
the tool doesn’t solve the problem. A<br />
tool is just a tool. <strong>The</strong>y were lacking<br />
an operational and strategic context to<br />
be successful using customer<br />
experience management tools and that<br />
was the reason Strativity was born.<br />
Clients were buying tools without<br />
knowing how to properly utilize them.<br />
Customer experience management is<br />
“<br />
“<br />
We always focus<br />
on the view of<br />
the customers<br />
and the view of<br />
the employees<br />
together all<br />
the time<br />
not a tool; it’s a strategy in the<br />
organization. We developed a<br />
proprietary methodology that guides<br />
our clients to get to deploy successful<br />
customer experience programs and<br />
that's the essence of the organization.<br />
We are providing them with a whole<br />
set of capabilities and guidance to<br />
fulfill the promise of customer<br />
experience management.”<br />
Mr. Arussy is also the author of six<br />
books including the recently released<br />
book Exceptionalize it! and Customer<br />
Experience Strategy. In addition, he<br />
has published over 2<strong>50</strong> articles in<br />
publications around the world<br />
including the Harvard Business<br />
Review.<br />
53 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Aman Sachdeva<br />
President & CEO<br />
Synergy Consulting believes in<br />
investing in its team talent rather<br />
than focusing on “brandbuilding”<br />
via media and PR. With<br />
offices in the USA, India, and Dubai<br />
and opening soon in Africa and<br />
London, Synergy is internationally<br />
reputed and recognized for providing a<br />
comprehensive range of financial<br />
advisory services for infrastructure<br />
projects. Synergy has successfully<br />
achieved financial close of projects<br />
worth more than US$ 18 billion.<br />
Personalized and customized services<br />
to meet the clients’ needs through<br />
constant engagement are Synergy’s<br />
distinguishing features. Synergy team<br />
members ceaselessly endeavor to<br />
exceed clients’ expectations, resulting<br />
in long-term relationships with the<br />
clients. <strong>The</strong>y believe in ‘reverse<br />
evaluation’ for the clients to ensure<br />
that their current strategy will meet<br />
their future aspirations. Synergy<br />
Consulting has a dedicated and<br />
focused team of talented team<br />
members of superior caliber, capable<br />
of adding significant value for its<br />
clients, being a noteworthy<br />
differentiating factor of the company.<br />
Synergy is winner of several<br />
accolades, which include, in Global<br />
Water Summit 2016 they are<br />
Nominated for Deal of the Year Water<br />
(KKIA PW), in GFC (Global Financial<br />
Conference) they Rank# 2- Project<br />
Synergy Consulting:<br />
Promoting Talent in an<br />
Environment of Excellence<br />
Finance Deal of the Year (Jazan<br />
ASU), in WEX (Water and Energy<br />
Exchange), they got the WEX Global<br />
Award for innovation in finance /<br />
partnership, in <strong>The</strong> American Lawyer,<br />
they won- 2016 Global Legal Awards<br />
(Jazan ASU).<br />
Infrastructure & Financial Advisory<br />
Services, Synergy’s vision statement<br />
says it all: “To be a partner of choice<br />
by consistently adding value to our<br />
stakeholders in infrastructure<br />
development and financial advisory by<br />
promoting talent in an environment of<br />
excellence.”<br />
Synergy Consulting, an independent<br />
international financial advisory<br />
services company with experience in<br />
projects across many countries<br />
spanning six continents, provides<br />
services in the areas of Investment<br />
Advisory, Project Finance, Financial<br />
Analysis, Financial Modeling, Mergers<br />
& Acquisitions, Commercial and<br />
Financial Due Diligence, Project<br />
Restructuring and Policy Reform for<br />
the Infrastructure Sector with focus on<br />
Energy, Water and Transport.<br />
By delivering services at competitive<br />
and effective costs that are superior to<br />
many other available in the market,<br />
Synergy provides high value for<br />
money to its clients.<br />
Aman Sachdeva, President and<br />
CEO of Synergy Consulting, has more<br />
than 27 years of experience in the<br />
infrastructure industry, specializing in<br />
the energy sector ranging from project<br />
finance, management consulting,<br />
regulatory affairs, mergers and<br />
acquisitions, power system planning,<br />
energy conservation and marketing.<br />
Aman’s earlier experience (1996-<br />
2000) includes CMS Energy (USA) as<br />
Director Financial Analysis and<br />
Corporate Planning and Regional<br />
Head, Finance, CMS Energy Asia,<br />
(Singapore) where he successfully<br />
achieved financial close for Goldfields<br />
Gas Pipeline, Western Australia and<br />
2<strong>50</strong> MW Neyveli Lignite IPP, India.<br />
This was followed by Enron<br />
Corporation (2000-2001) as Director<br />
Finance and Senior Financial Lead,<br />
Dabhol Power Company Restructuring<br />
Team, and the financing of 190 KM<br />
natural gas pipeline from Dabhol to<br />
Panvel, Maharashtra, India.<br />
“<br />
“<br />
We acquire a thorough<br />
understanding of the<br />
A unique and<br />
client’s objectives,<br />
while personalized striving to<br />
facilitate a successful<br />
approach is<br />
execution of the<br />
fundamental<br />
engagement;<br />
through efficient,<br />
to enable<br />
effective and<br />
cost competitive support<br />
our clients<br />
for long-term success<br />
Bird’s-eye View of the Future In our<br />
world today laden with rapid political,<br />
economic and social challenges,<br />
Synergy is able to stand tall and<br />
deliver quality services despite often<br />
encountering unfavorable conditions.<br />
Synergy is eager to prove its potential<br />
by creating a “Method in Madness” in<br />
the ever changing world by yielding<br />
results despite directionless and<br />
unstructured environments and chaotic<br />
circumstances that are ailing many<br />
countries across the world.<br />
Aman elaborates, “Synergy believes in<br />
persevering and is confident of<br />
performing better than its competitors<br />
under demanding conditions and is<br />
eager to showcase its talent of<br />
successfully delivering results in an<br />
uncertain and turbulent world.”<br />
54 | August 2016 |
CXO Standpoint<br />
56 | August 2016 |
57 | August 2016 |<br />
CXO Standpoint
Industry Outlook<br />
Stumbling Blocks<br />
Before Management<br />
Consulting Firms<br />
For the past few years, the performance of the IT<br />
Consulting Industry in the challenging economic<br />
climate is excellent. <strong>The</strong> performance of IT<br />
consulting industry in the major markets, for example,<br />
Financial Services and Insurance Providers, is the reason of<br />
its expansion. <strong>The</strong> consultants industry is expected to grow<br />
in the coming days with the changing economy and<br />
improving business sentiment. Also, the demand of IT<br />
consultants in various industries is expected to grow in the<br />
coming days.<br />
Though there are various high-profile global corporations,<br />
still no single consultants can rule the market. In reality, the<br />
consultants industry include, network infrastructure<br />
companies, like, IT outsourcing companies, traditional large<br />
consulting firms, global computer equipment companies, and<br />
a wide range of other companies that do not necessarily<br />
compete directly with one another, but offering one or the<br />
other service related to information technology.<br />
<strong>The</strong> management consulting industry has a very good<br />
knowledge of the challenges they have to face today and<br />
even the days before. <strong>The</strong> management consulting industry is<br />
witnessing the changes coming with the time being. <strong>The</strong>re<br />
are three main features transforming the marketplace;<br />
disruptive technology, the rise of new business models, and<br />
the growing pressures of intense global competition.<br />
Here are some of the market trends the management<br />
consulting industry is witnessing, which is the result of the<br />
challenges faced by the IT consulting firms with the planning<br />
to address the difficulties, identifying marketing techniques<br />
and implementation strategies.<br />
All this clears the picture of the whole management<br />
consulting industry. Here are the business challenges<br />
management consulting firms have to face, which will give a<br />
clear view to the priorities management consulting firms<br />
have to observe.<br />
Cardinal Business Challenges Before Management<br />
Consulting Firms<br />
Here are the Cardinal Business Challenges the Management<br />
Consulting Firms have to face which clears the industry<br />
scenario.<br />
Roping in New Clients<br />
This concern is on the top most position of the list at 81%,<br />
which is a key point. Because, while new business is the<br />
overriding priority of every industry, it tops the list by a<br />
significantly higher percentage for management consulting<br />
firms. Just to make a comparison, 72% of all professional<br />
services firms note generating new business as their number<br />
one challenge.<br />
<strong>The</strong> urgency of a new business in the world of management<br />
consulting is observed by over three times more respondents<br />
than the second-highest challenge. This is a delineate<br />
concern for the firms of all sizes, and this struggle for new<br />
clients is going to shape the future of many upcoming firms.<br />
Hard-won Task of Dealing with the Competitive<br />
Marketplace<br />
<strong>The</strong> traces of competitive pressure are clearly seen in the<br />
second business challenge, and that is the hard-won task of<br />
dealing with the competitive marketplace.<br />
A management consultant is an active, progressive global<br />
marketplace. With multiple international players exacerbate<br />
their efforts, the competition is heating up. <strong>The</strong> current<br />
condition of the economy, which is sluggish is prevailing in<br />
58 | August 2016 |
Industry Outlook<br />
some markets, becoming the reason for many firms to look<br />
forward to the others for opportunity.<br />
Herculean Task of Finding and Keeping Good People<br />
With the massively competitive marketplace comes a<br />
massive competitive talent environment. This makes the<br />
process of finding and retaining the best people difficult,<br />
making it a top agenda for the management consulting firms.<br />
From the angle of setting marketing priorities, this is<br />
peculiarly notable. This can mean prioritizing the<br />
consideration of a specific audience, potential recruits.<br />
Unfortunately, searching for the best talent in the industry is<br />
always a big challenge.<br />
New Inventions<br />
While focusing on induce new business, this is one more<br />
differentiating feature for the management consulting<br />
industry. To face this challenge, management consulting<br />
firms will have to search out new ways to not only spawn<br />
those new ideas but share them adequately with their<br />
audiences, including both prospective clients and industry<br />
influencers.<br />
While competing in this highly competitive marketplace,<br />
firms can’t simply build a reputation on the claim or idea of<br />
innovation. Firms have to exhibit their expertise, thought<br />
processes, and results, and then only they can be come out as<br />
a winner.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Panning Issues<br />
<strong>The</strong> current scenario shows that management consulting<br />
firms have to face lots of diverse challenges. <strong>The</strong> need of<br />
developing new clients, finding and keeping quality people,<br />
and continuously keep on innovating, are some of the<br />
challenges which are the key concern of today’s management<br />
consulting firms.<br />
With the perspective, to compete with these many different<br />
pressures, management consulting firms will have to identify<br />
sophisticated and efficient strategic approaches. Additionally,<br />
these firms will have to keep on finding ways to use time and<br />
resources more adequately as they work to confront new<br />
competitors and find new clients, in the heating competition.<br />
<strong>The</strong> changing time keeps on creating new challenges, which<br />
the management consulting firms have to handle by their<br />
own. To be in the competition, while being on the forefront<br />
of the competition, the management consulting firms have to<br />
instrument variety of latest marketing techniques.<br />
59 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
TechSage Solutions:<br />
Business Driven, Technology Based,<br />
Consulting Solutions<br />
John Hill<br />
President & CEO<br />
TechSage Solutions researches,<br />
explores and vets new<br />
technologies to provide best in<br />
class technical support and customer<br />
service. We help clients accomplish<br />
their business goals better, faster and<br />
more cost effectively than they can on<br />
their own. TechSage helps clients<br />
focus on running their business while<br />
insuring that their technology fully<br />
meets their needs and just works.<br />
TechSage designs solutions that help<br />
grow the client’s business with a stable<br />
technology foundation, rather than<br />
solutions that lock them in to a specific<br />
set of products. Solutions are designed<br />
with security integrated from the<br />
ground up enabling TechSage to<br />
provide their clients with a stable, safe<br />
and secure Information Technology<br />
platform that can grow with them as<br />
they grow.<br />
Business <strong>Consultant</strong>s with a<br />
Technology Focus<br />
TechSage provides technology focused<br />
business consulting. When a TechSage<br />
consultant meets with a client about<br />
their information technology<br />
requirements it’s an analytical and<br />
exploratory meeting. <strong>The</strong>y help clients<br />
define where their pain points are with<br />
their existing information technology,<br />
suggest where their future technology<br />
state must be to support the business<br />
and help them work out the best path<br />
to get there. TechSage runs a<br />
technology assessment through an<br />
electronic network scan as well as<br />
stepping through a detailed<br />
questionnaire to determine client’s<br />
current hardware and software<br />
configuration.<br />
TechSage consults with the clients on<br />
every aspect of their information<br />
technology infrastructure from their<br />
internet service, firewall, switches,<br />
server, desktops, laptops, tablets,<br />
printers, VoIP phone system, operating<br />
systems, backup and disaster recovery<br />
solutions, productivity solutions,<br />
security applications such as<br />
encryption, antivirus, antimalware,<br />
email, etc.<br />
Being largely a vendor agnostic in<br />
their approach, TechSage strongly<br />
leverages best in class technology<br />
partners like Microsoft, HP, Storage<br />
Craft, Web Root, Sophos, IBM<br />
MaaS360, Star2Star VoIP and others to<br />
assist them while developing business<br />
technology solutions for their clients.<br />
John Hill, President and CEO of<br />
TechSage Solutions, received a<br />
Bachelor of Science degree in Biology<br />
from the University of Texas at San<br />
Antonio. He became one of the first<br />
<strong>50</strong>0 Microsoft Certified Systems<br />
Engineers on Windows Server 2000<br />
and continues to maintain expertise<br />
with Microsoft technologies.<br />
TechSage Solutions is an Information<br />
Technology Strategic Services<br />
Provider and Consultancy<br />
headquartered in San Antonio that<br />
John founded in 2000. John leads the<br />
strategic direction of the company<br />
through his extensive experience with<br />
designing, implementing and<br />
managing Information Technology<br />
projects and solutions. He also serves<br />
“<br />
“<br />
We believe in<br />
leveraging<br />
technology to<br />
propel our<br />
clients toward<br />
competitive<br />
success<br />
as a Partner and Managing Member of<br />
SATC Co-Location Services, LP, a<br />
server co-location facility providing<br />
safe, secure hosting of servers for a<br />
wide variety of small to medium sized<br />
businesses.<br />
Referencing the rapid advancement of<br />
Information Technology, John says,<br />
“Developing ways to help our clients<br />
leverage new technologies to grow<br />
their businesses is incredibly exciting<br />
for me. It’s exciting to see how the<br />
new technologies we’ve brought to our<br />
clients have helped them grow. Small<br />
to medium sized businesses must<br />
leverage new technologies to help<br />
them become or stay competitive in<br />
their industries.”<br />
60 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Susanne Rothschild<br />
Founder and CEO<br />
Consultancy is a term given to<br />
the process of advising the<br />
clients to overcome their<br />
complicated difficulties. While<br />
consulting, one must consider all the<br />
factors affecting the output of the<br />
process. And the fact that every single<br />
problem has multiple parameters,<br />
deciding its result demands the<br />
consultant team to be very experienced<br />
and flexible. To be a successful<br />
consultant team outreaching the<br />
different grounds of market is very<br />
important. <strong>The</strong> Rothschild<br />
Corporation is a consultant company<br />
expertized in Strategic Planning,<br />
Change Management, Recruiting,<br />
Project Management, Talent<br />
Management, Training and World<br />
Trade Consulting.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Rothschild Corporation is a<br />
woman- and minority-owned Houstonbased<br />
company that is focused on<br />
improving company and employee<br />
performance with Leadership, Soft<br />
Skills, and Computer Skills Training;<br />
and Project and Change Management<br />
Services. <strong>The</strong> Rothschild Corporation<br />
provides staffing of IT, Project<br />
Management, and Executive<br />
<strong>Consultant</strong>s, as well as Trainers.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Rothschild Corporation:<br />
Practical Strategies for<br />
Complex Problems<br />
Consultancy Covering the Whole<br />
Field<br />
<strong>The</strong> Rothschild Corporation works<br />
with their client’s team and executives<br />
to develop the solutions that meet their<br />
consulting and management training<br />
needs. Rothschild offers Business<br />
Consulting to help their clients achieve<br />
their strategic objectives and goals.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y consult with the company’s<br />
representative and executives to create<br />
and revise strategic plans or find<br />
solutions to maximize their company’s<br />
success. <strong>The</strong> working sessions can<br />
help clarify the root cause and possible<br />
solutions for trends to transform.<br />
Rothschild provides Management<br />
Training & Development, Team<br />
Building consulting and training,<br />
Birkman ® Profile and Selection<br />
Assessments, Recruiting and Human<br />
Resources Consulting, Project and<br />
Change Management, Effective<br />
Communications, Professional<br />
Development online programs to<br />
prepare participants for certifications<br />
in Project Management (PMP), Sales<br />
& Marketing, Six Sigma, and SCRUM.<br />
eLearning for over 100 soft skills,<br />
leadership and project management<br />
courses available as online self-paced<br />
training. Onsite Soft Skills Training in<br />
over 100 topics. Courses can be<br />
customized to meet the client’s specific<br />
needs. Rothschild is also efficient to<br />
provide Training Strategy, Plans and<br />
Implementation, Customized Microsoft<br />
and Technical Training Development<br />
and Delivery, <strong>Success</strong>ion Planning and<br />
Executive/Management Coaching.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Company Shows the Nature of<br />
the Founder<br />
It is very definite to conclude that the<br />
creator of a company which manages<br />
so many different sectors must have a<br />
vast experience in the market.<br />
During the 25+ years in the business<br />
world, Susanne Rothschild,<br />
Founder/CEO of <strong>The</strong> Rothschild<br />
Corporation, has focused on human<br />
potential with Fortune 100 companies<br />
and brings expertise in Leadership,<br />
Consulting, Training and<br />
Development, Coaching, Cultural<br />
Awareness, Strategic Planning,<br />
Communications, Change<br />
Management, Project Management,<br />
Valuing Diversity, and Team Building<br />
to promote a positive and effective<br />
team environment.<br />
As an adjunct University of Phoenix<br />
faculty member in Houston, Susanne<br />
has facilitated for the Quality<br />
Management and Productivity course<br />
for professionals in the Medical,<br />
Financial, and Education Sectors with<br />
representatives from the USA, Viet<br />
Nam, France, West Africa, and<br />
Mexico.<br />
Customizing the Strategies<br />
According to the Clients’ Needs<br />
Right from the beginning,<br />
Commitment for their client’s <strong>Success</strong>,<br />
Perseverance, Patience, Dedication,<br />
Continuous Improvement and Self-<br />
Confidence has made Rothschild to<br />
grow into bigger, stronger and better<br />
establishment.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Rothschild Corporation focuses<br />
on listening to their clients to jointly<br />
define the objectives and outcomes of<br />
each of the engagements. Because <strong>The</strong><br />
Rothschild Corporation knows that<br />
every company is unique, they apply<br />
both best and customized practices for<br />
business solutions.<br />
61 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong> Spear Group:<br />
<strong>The</strong> Best In Consulting &<br />
Project Delivery<br />
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Jessica Liu<br />
President<br />
From the major construction<br />
projects to the major ERP<br />
implementations, there is an<br />
inherent conflict of interest with<br />
consultants and contractors. <strong>The</strong><br />
consultants and contractors want their<br />
clients to succeed, yet they succeed as<br />
a company if their projects continue to<br />
expand and run indefinitely. <strong>The</strong> Spear<br />
Group (SPEAR) helps the owner in<br />
managing costs, schedule, and budget,<br />
with the goal to help ensure clients<br />
complete projects efficiently, cost<br />
effectively, on time and on budget.<br />
SPEAR provides “owner’s<br />
representation” resources that<br />
represent the owner/company in<br />
controlling the cost of the project to<br />
ensure the project is brought in ontime,<br />
on budget. <strong>The</strong>y install a system<br />
of checks and balances and<br />
accountability that might typically be<br />
missing. SPEAR has an overwhelming<br />
commitment to develop winning<br />
strategies for their customers. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
weigh each of their clients' successes<br />
as a metric by which they judge their<br />
own success.<br />
Leading the Field in Consulting &<br />
Project Management<br />
SPEAR has been in existence since<br />
1981 focused on providing state-ofthe-art<br />
owner’s representation, project<br />
management, project controls<br />
(planning, estimating, scheduling, cost<br />
engineering), and program<br />
management professional services in<br />
support of delivering their clients’<br />
projects. SPEAR has served over one<br />
hundred Fortune <strong>50</strong>0 clients, enabling<br />
them to effectively plan, manage and<br />
deliver projects on time and on budget.<br />
SPEAR offers services like, Project<br />
Management/Project Control, the<br />
essential elements of effective<br />
management control processes. This<br />
includes scope definition; organization<br />
participation and buy-in; approved<br />
baselines for cost and schedule;<br />
established performance measurement;<br />
and timely and meaningful reporting.<br />
Comprehensive Management<br />
Control Services, which includes,<br />
Process Assessment and Development<br />
services in: Business Planning &<br />
Budgeting; Estimating; Cost Control<br />
and Performance Measurement; Work<br />
Control; Planning & Scheduling; and<br />
Business Data Management.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y also offer, Professional Services<br />
in: Project and Construction<br />
Management, Accounting,<br />
Budgeting/Forecasting, Estimating,<br />
Cost Engineering, Planning &<br />
Scheduling, Long Range Planning /<br />
Business Planning, System<br />
Development and Maintenance<br />
Planning.<br />
Owner’s Representation Services to<br />
oversee the Architect / Engineer and<br />
Construction Manager organizations<br />
engaged by an Owner to engineer,<br />
design, procure, construct and start-up<br />
a facility.<br />
Also, they offer, Managed Services,<br />
in Project Management, Estimating,<br />
Cost Engineering, Planning &<br />
Scheduling and Work Control. <strong>The</strong><br />
specific benefits for these services<br />
include: Access to the services of<br />
qualified and industry recognized<br />
personnel in these areas when and<br />
where these services are required.<br />
Jessica Liu, President of the Spear<br />
Group handles management and<br />
operational accountability and control<br />
over all phases of business. Ms. Liu<br />
holds an MBA from Stanford’s<br />
Graduate School of Business and a<br />
B.S. from Harvard College. She has<br />
over 25 years of experience in<br />
delivering professional services to<br />
Fortune <strong>50</strong>0 clients.<br />
Ms. Liu was a Principal at Booz Allen<br />
& Hamilton and has held key<br />
leadership positions at Adobe Systems,<br />
Siebel Systems, Yahoo! and in PwC’s<br />
Advisory practice. Also, previously<br />
she has worked for Goldman Sachs.<br />
Her area of expertise includes leading<br />
clients through major business<br />
transformational efforts, implementing<br />
state-of-the-art operations, technology,<br />
and program management<br />
improvements.<br />
Road to the Future<br />
As companies move towards cloudbased<br />
technologies, applications, and<br />
systems, the ability for clients to<br />
gather and respond to data real time<br />
enables them to execute more<br />
efficiently and effectively. Ms. Liu<br />
asserts, “<strong>The</strong> Spear Group is poised to<br />
guide our clients through this new<br />
landscape with an unwavering eye<br />
focused on our clients’ success.”<br />
e-mail: jliu@speargroup.com<br />
website: www.speargroup.com<br />
62 | August 2016 |
<strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>50</strong> GROWING<br />
FASTEST<br />
CONSULTANT<br />
COMPANIES<br />
Jodi Cicci<br />
President & CEO<br />
Having a vast experience from<br />
running PS companies and<br />
being able to understand the<br />
needs of professional services<br />
organizations, TOP Step Consulting<br />
can map productivity based on the<br />
business model of each individual<br />
business.<br />
Giving high value to its customers and<br />
partners, TOP Step Consulting offers<br />
services with a mission to enable and<br />
empower Professional Services<br />
organizations to become profitable,<br />
scalable, and efficient through change<br />
management, process enhancement,<br />
technology deployment, and skill set<br />
training with a Customer First<br />
approach. Giving immense value to<br />
their customers and partners, TOP Step<br />
Consulting strives to deliver quality<br />
and professional consulting in all<br />
cases.<br />
Jodi Cicci, President & CEO of TOP<br />
Step Consulting holds a Masters<br />
Degree in Computer Science from<br />
Michigan Technological University.<br />
She has been involved with<br />
Professional Services for over 25 years<br />
in many roles ranging from software<br />
developer to project manager to<br />
operational director. In July 2007, Jodi<br />
began her own consulting company,<br />
TOP Step Consulting, focused on<br />
TOP Step Consulting:<br />
Proficiency in Professional<br />
Services Efficiency<br />
Professional Services consulting<br />
around the NetSuite OpenAir PSA<br />
product, specifically to build an<br />
OpenAir User Community to bring<br />
business consulting, training, and<br />
outsourced administration benefits to<br />
the OpenAir customer base. In 2014,<br />
TOP Step Consulting expanded<br />
operations to include another PSA<br />
solution, FinancialForce; thus,<br />
providing a broader range of<br />
consulting knowledge to customers<br />
weighing the benefits of either<br />
solution.<br />
Prior to her OpenAir involvement,<br />
Jodi held the position of Global<br />
Project Management Director for<br />
Software AG, Inc. with global<br />
responsibility for PS tools and<br />
business process efficiency. She<br />
worked with both commercial and<br />
government customers in her<br />
leadership roles in Software AG, Inc.<br />
as well as her previous experience<br />
with Lockheed Martin.<br />
Top Class PSA Focused Solutions<br />
TOP Step Consulting offers PSA<br />
focused solutions such as Business<br />
Efficiency Assessments, PSA<br />
Deployments, and Virtual<br />
Administration. Business Efficiency<br />
Assessments ensure technology is<br />
aligned to your organization’s business<br />
model and therefore the technology is<br />
working for you instead of changing<br />
how you do business. PSA<br />
Deployments follow a proven<br />
methodology of customer engagement<br />
and business modeling to ensure the<br />
final production solution realizes the<br />
full benefits of having a PSA tool as a<br />
critical tool for the organization.<br />
Virtual Adminstration provides a<br />
value-add help desk option for<br />
customers to complement their internal<br />
administrator needs, or to handle all<br />
end user needs for the organization.<br />
This low-cost solution is a great option<br />
for many customers that cannot afford<br />
to dedicate key resources to<br />
administrative activities. TOP Step<br />
also provides Project Management<br />
Office Consulting to businesses to<br />
help them deliver projects more<br />
successfully and to have more<br />
predictable project execution and<br />
management of their projects.<br />
Future Panorama<br />
TOP Step is continuously looking at<br />
building out specialty practice areas<br />
for other automation tools beyond<br />
NetSuite OpenAir and<br />
FinancialForce based on market<br />
demand. Jodi says, “Supporting these<br />
two current industry leaders in and of<br />
itself is exciting as they continue to<br />
introduce new technology and<br />
opportunities for us to assist the<br />
customer base.”<br />
TOP Step has developed a program<br />
called STEPS, a five-phased approach,<br />
namely Strategize, Tools and Process<br />
Implementation, Educating and<br />
Training, Performance Tracking and<br />
Reporting, and Systems Management<br />
to help organizations effectively utilize<br />
their PSA platform. Jodi explains,<br />
“STEPS is a way through which we<br />
can engage with the customer at any<br />
point in time, partnering with them to<br />
help direct the intricacies of their PSA<br />
product and automate their business<br />
processes. Many of our offerings were<br />
developed in direct response to<br />
customer demand since we are heavily<br />
involved in creating a community of<br />
users to share knowledge and get the<br />
most out of their PSA solution.”<br />
63 | August 2016 |
commercial freedom<br />
WE DESIGN AND BUILD<br />
Beautiful retail technologies<br />
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