consulting lines into a streamlined group
RSM McGladrey has formed a new speciality consulting services
group, which the US firm hopes will lead to a broader array of
services for clients and better career paths for its staff. The new
group combines four of the firm’s national consulting services
lines – regulatory insurance consulting practice, transaction
support services, technology risk management services and chief
financial officer advisory services – into one organisation.
Minneapolis-based Jeff Johnson, who has 25 years of business
consulting experience, is executive managing director of the new
group. Johnson has held several leadership positions at RSM
McGladrey. Most recently, he served as managing director of
national consulting services.
Johnson told IAB that the decision to combine the four groups was
made in July. “What we were seeing was the industry niches were
developing services that were overlapping with a lot of our
others,” Johnson said. He added that the consolidation was designed
to ensure “we had the best utilisation of our people, both from an
expertise standpoint as well as the critical mass that was
developing throughout the country”.
Prior to the consolidation, Johnson said, the four groups were very
separate. “That was part of the reason that we combined them,” he
explained. “They were really more located regionally but they
practised nationally. Bringing them together under a common
leadership has helped make sure we understand as a national firm
the services and the methodology and that everybody works together
to service those industries in a more cohesive fashion – going to
market in a more cohesive fashion with all the services that we can
bring the industry sector.”
Johnson said the new venture has already started to provide more
opportunities for clients. “We’ve already seen a lot of overlap in
the services that we can bring to our clients – a much broader
array of services that we are bringing to the table for each of the
industry sectors, so it has really helped us in our growth
already,” he said.
Johnson said the initial growth strategy for the group is
geographical. “I think what we found is our first step in the
growth strategy is really to maximise our geographic coverage,” he
said. The group is also looking at the potential of expanding into
a couple of other industry sectors. “Other than that, [we are] just
at the stage of digesting the consolidation before we more
forward,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he expects the group will face few challenges. “It’s
the normal integration process that occurs when you’re bringing
four fairly sizable groups together. But it’s going well and I
think the main challenge is making sure we remain client-focused
and identify the changes in the marketplace that our clients are
looking for our expertise to help them with their
consulting.”
He said there is a communication challenge due to the fact that the
group’s 250 staff are spread across more than 30 offices
nation-wide. “Plus we have a significant proportion of our work
force that is actually working virtual from their homes,” he added.
“We think it’s about 25 or 30 percent, so it’s a very interesting
model and what we found is making sure we consistently communicate
across our groups, but [the new group] really is a great
opportunity for our people to further their career development and
it allows us to make sure our folks can achieve their career
objectives.”
Carolyn Canham
