Consulting Industry in India

At the end of the Cold War, American and other Western corporations employed
consultants from Asian nations, including India, before venturing to explore these new
markets.
In India, after the liberalisation of the economy, consultants were hired by Indian
companies that wanted to expand their operations abroad. Now, Indian consultants,
particularly those in the IT world, are most sought after, not only in India but also by
world powers, for developing their global businesses.
Today, TCS, Infosys, Wipro have offices all over the world, and they give US and
European consultancies a run for their money. Among other major IT consulting and
outsourcing companies in India are Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Genpact,
Mphasis, and Mindtree.
The Indian consulting story began in the 1990s when C. K. Birla requested McKinsey
to devise a turnaround project for Hindustan Motors. Soon, McKinsey opened an
office in Delhi, employing about 100 consultants.
According to an estimate, there are now over 10,000 big and small consulting firms in
India, 6,000 of them in the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata.
According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Indian
consulting industry is expected to record revenues of Rs. 27,000 crore by 2020. One
estimate says that between 500 and 600 high-value consulting contracts, worth $250
million to $300 million, are awarded every year by Indian companies, including 30 or
40 projects worth over $2 million each.
As in many other sectors, low cost was the first major initial advantage of Indian
consulting companies and consultants. But their major clients and their partners
abroad have found that Indian consultants have other advantages, such as
professionalism, industriousness, willingness to learn, and adaptability to technology.
Their competitors have started to view them as worthy equals.

However, they suffer from shortcomings, too. Among them are poor brand equity,
experience in foreign markets, ability to maintain quality, and low level of R&D. But
they can overcome these difficulties and emerge more powerful in the global scenario
if they adopt the best practices in the industry and improve their knowledge resources
and data warehousing.

Future of Consulting Industry

in India
The consulting space is massive. Even if it were to shrink by 50%, there would still be
money for the people who know how to do it. That remark, though not particularly
insightful, will always be correct and evergreen. India has been globally recognised
for its speedy development, leading to an extensive expansion in the consulting sector.
The future of consulting is all about resilience and start up. The future of consultancies
in India based on the current and future prospects of the various sectors; will have
critical success factors.
Increased demand for consulting services by domestic and foreign firms sector in
India is consistently growing. Today, nearly all industries are undergoing massive
change. Rising opportunities due to booming economy and growing demand for
consultancy services are key factor for growth. The total market growth might slow
down a bit, but there will be considerable shifts amongst the market segments.
Traditional management consulting will stagnate and nearly merge with IT consulting.
In general, there will be a shift from traditional advice to implementation. This implies
that clients will express the wish that their consultants share more risks of the projects.
In a world of growing complexities, it is critical to ensure sufficient distribution of the
existing knowledge throughout the company. Large consultants will face structural
problems. This would limit their ability to raise capital and slow down decisions and
changes. Some might even consider going public due to enormous management
incapacities. This would be an opportunity for other players to enter some poorly
serviced fields. Also, small firms are consistently thriving by becoming exquisitely
specialized. They could network to fulfil complex needs which would enable them to
become medium sized consultancy on project basis.

Other changes will occur through new entrants. Attracted by the impressive market
growth, many non-consultancies will establish consultancy-divisions. An entry of sole
practitioners and small consultancies is expected. This wave of new entries will have
dual effects. An increase in the competition would be evident, leading to mergers and
acquisitions or breakdowns. And, since there are no legal regulations as to who can
call himself a consultant; there will be quality problems in some cases which could
damage the reputation of the whole industry.

Predictions and threats of the

consulting sector
Consultants are continuously analysing and forecasting trends for an array of
industries, but what does the consulting industry forecast for itself? Many of the
trends affecting other industries are now starting to permeate through the consultancy
field. For 2016, various publications and professional consultants have weighed in on
their predictions of the key drivers, technologies and disruptors that may affect the
industry.
The Uberization of Consulting
The Uberization mega trend may finally be affecting the consulting industry for 2016
and coming years. The ways this trend are affecting consulting are varied. More use of
freelance and transactional style consulting services may become the norm. Even in
early 2015, North Highland's CEO, Dan Reardon, had stated during an interview with
Forbes that lingering effects from the cost-cutting mentality of the 2008 recession can
still be felt today. Companies that hire consultants still seem to focus on the cost of
hiring a consultant rather than the value that this professional can bring to the
company. Reardon predicted that in the coming years, consulting services may be seen
as a more commoditized, transactional type of interaction rather than as a professional
long-term service partnership.
Potential Disruptors to the Consulting Industry

Low-cost and crowd sourced disruptors may also continue to enter the field of
consulting services within the coming years. Such start-ups as the crowd sourced
Wikistrat are gaining traction by having the media publicize some of their consulting
successes. In fact, the company was touted as beating out even the CIA in predicting
the rise of a separatist movement in Crimea which sought a Russian annexation.
Additionally, Marketplace.org recently published an article describing Hourly Nerd as
the start-ups that is disrupting the consulting industry. This crowd sourced
marketplace brings together freelance consultants and businesses together in order to
help provide substantive analysis and solutions to problems. In addition to the ease of
clients and consultants finding each other, there is also some strong influence for
consultants to consider the freelance/crowd sourced route for their employment. With
upstart outlets like Wikistrat and Hourly Nerd, there is less need for arduous travel by
consultants. They can also have their choice over which projects to take, unlike at
many traditional consulting firms which assign projects to their consultants.
Impact of Technology for Consultants
Ever changing and increasingly sophisticated technology -- perhaps performing some
tasks that human beings used to provide is yet another trend that will continue through
2016. Whether consultants should be concerned regarding the possibility of roboconsultants taking over jobs, that sentiment may be a bit premature according to a
recent LinkedIn Pulse article on the future of consulting. Although cutting edge
machine learning and predictive analytics solutions are increasingly providing the
business world with unparalleled insights, the largest consulting firms are using these
resources in concert with their best human consulting expertise. For instance, the
standard practice of McKinsey Solutions is to, in addition to human expert insights,
provide software and technology-based tools to help clients. Deloittes foray into their
launch of the Deloitte Digital offering and their use of Uberminds mobile technology
are likewise examples of embracing technology in order to provide continuously
innovative solutions to clients. These technologies are additive and complement the
skills of the consulting firms professionals.
Overall, being knowledgeable about clients changing needs and desires is integral for
being successful in 2016. Indeed, with the varying changes and challenges that may
affect the consulting field this year, industry professionals may find ways to work with
the trends rather than to see them as being adversarial.