Atos split early to get a headstart

Atos Consulting’s decision to separate from KPMG and rebrand in late 2004 was taken six months ahead of schedule to allow the firm a headstart on its former accountancy partner if it decided to re-enter consultancy work in two years’ time, according to Atos’s head of consulting Bernard Brown.

Link: Atos announces new consulting practice

In an interview with Management Consultancy Brown revealed that although the firm didn’t want to lose some of the KPMG culture it had established, it was felt that an early change was key to breaking out on its own.

‘It [the rebranding] has helped, but the view was rather than use the brand until this August, we changed things around earlier than we needed to in September 2004.

‘This gave us the space to create our own brand before KPMG could potentially get back into the marketplace with its own consulting team.

‘The longer we kept the KPMG consulting brand, the longer it perpetuated the notion that KPMG were still in the consulting marketplace. So we dropped the brand. What’s actually happened is that it’s clarified the work we do, and as a result the Atos Consulting brand has become stronger.’

In September Brown told Management Consultancy that while the split between the two firms was definite, accounting and auditing firms would eventually controversially re-enter the consulting arena.