The first speaker to address the seminar was Mr Sam Balaji, Partner, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and MD, Deloitte Consulting India. Starting his talk on the topic “Consulting in the Telecom Industry” on a humorous note, he said that the world’s first consultant was probably the Serpent in the Garden of Eden. He mentioned that the […]
The first speaker to address the seminar was Mr Sam Balaji, Partner, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and MD, Deloitte Consulting India. Starting his talk on the topic “Consulting in the Telecom Industry” on a humorous note, he said that the world’s first consultant was probably the Serpent in the Garden of Eden. He mentioned that the business model pioneered by Indian companies, of outsourcing all technical operations while retaining only the marketing function, could become a model that’s followed worldwide. He noted that ethics play a very big role in the consulting industry, which is marked by confidentiality issues and conflicts of interest.
Mr James P Hogan, Managing Consultant and the Chief of Party on the DRUM (Distribution, Reform, Upgrades and Management) Project, PA Consulting Group, then spoke on Development Sector Consulting, He detailed the unique characteristics of development sector and government consulting. Speaking primarily about public sector energy utilities, he noted how energy, especially electricity, was a vital ingredient to economic development. Due to the scale of this sector and the sheer number of stakeholders involved, he said that even partial success can make a huge impact on the lives of millions.
Mr Abhishek Goenka, Partner of BMR & Associates, spoke about consulting in general from his varied consulting experience in the Big 4 firms. Stressing the importance of client loyalty and the large costs of a dissatisfied client, he said that it is necessary to underpromise and overdeliver. He emphasized the crucial need for people skills, since no matter how big your firm is, consulting still boiled down to one person talking to another. “Daily life as a consultant will seem to be a never-ending sprint, but you will still need to retain your long-term perspective and presence of mind to plan out your life as a marathon” said, Mr.Abhisek.
Mr Rajat Sud, Senior Principal Consultant, GRID (Government Reforms and Infrastructure Development) Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers, explained that government sector consulting opportunities have greatly increased in recent times due to several change drivers, like the increased focus on governance, risk management and regulatory compliance issues, the innovative application of IT, the right to information act, and rising decentralisation. He stressed that in the public sector, there were so many large and competing interests that it was necessary to focus on implementable rather than ideal solutions.
Ms. Sabitha Rao, Head, Chennai Office, Cerebrus Consultants, gave a holistic picture of Human Resource consulting. She mentioned that right since she passed out of IIM Calcutta, over two decades ago, B-School students have been averse to choosing HR as a specialization due to the perception of Finance or Marketing as being more glamorous. Ms. Rao stressed upon the fact that personal credibility and professional respect were indispensable for any consultant, especially when dealing with the senior management of a company.
Ms. Kanika Goyal, coordinator of Konsult 2005, said, “I did have a general idea about the consulting field, but this seminar brought many small details into sharp focus. I got a new clarity and insight, especially in the field of government and development sector consulting.”
On this occasion, Mr Balaji, Partner, Deloitte Consulting LLP, launched the new issue of Spandan, the bi-annual student management journal of IIM Kozhikode. Conceptualized, designed and developed by the students of IIMK, Spandan was first published in 2000. An online copy is available at http://intranet.iimk.ac.in/spandan/
There was an evening performance of the ancient martial art of Kerala, Kalari Payattu, performed by CVN Kalari. This is the same team that has performed in movies like Asoka and the recent Jackie Chan-Mallika Sherawat starrer, The Myth. The seminar was sponsored by Deloitte Consulting, and Rediff.com was the media partner.
