Consultancy - The secret of Deloittes' rise

One of the reasons behind Deloitte & Touche’s near 30% growth rate in the UK for the year to 15 April was the success of its mid-market Management Solutions consultancy wing, which the firm claims grew by almost 45%, writes John Stokdyk.

Deloittes has a twin-track strategy for IT implementation work. Deloitte Consulting is a global organisation that tends to the needs of multinational corporates, while Management Solutions, which was set up two years ago, focuses on the mid-market in the UK.

‘You can’t mix them up; different services and skills are required,’ said national manager Nick Griffin, who joined Management Solutions from KPMG last year.

Over the past 12 months, the practice has increased its emphasis shift onto IT implementation. Griffin said: ‘Now we can work from the strategy end of things to the design of solutions and implementation.’

Deloittes has also expanded its product portfolio, becoming a reseller for Great Plains’ Dynamics software and creating practices based on JD Edwards and JBA ERP software.

JBA’s System 21 family, aimed at clothing and food industries, is a new product for Deloittes, while the JD Edwards practice, set up at the beginning of the year, has been the fastest-growing part of the firm.

‘We are now up to 40 consultants and working on eight implementations, with a healthy pipeline,’ said Griffin.