High-profile PwC hirings gel with new client needs

NEW DELHI: Mercer India head R Sankar quit to join PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as executive director-people and change practice. iGATE consulting chief Hari Rajagopalachari recently joined PwC as executive director-global outsourcing advisory services.

Announcements such as these are not just about big-ticket appointments; they signal some of the challenges and changes that consultancy firms like PwC are effecting to keep pace with shifting corporate needs.

PwC sees global outsourcing and people & change practice, both relatively new practices, as the biggest growth areas, going forward. That’s where the two fit in. “We are now developing a structure around 7-8 client issues to drive our new business agenda in the country,” says PwC leader-performance improvement practice Ambarish Dasgupta.

Sankar and Hari will help PwC clients deal with some of their transformational needs in India. PwC has identified people change and global outsourcing as primary drivers of its consulting practices. Sankar will lead people and change practices within PwC’s consulting arm to help clients manage the impact of transformational assignments, on the people. While the firm has an HR practice with 20 people, Sankar has been brought in to give it a “bigger focus and scientific approach”.

Sankar, who led Mercer India since March 2002, helped shape the company’s brand and HR consulting practice in India. During his tenure the company quadrupled its revenues, expanded staff base from around 25 to 130 now and launched new practice areas of pension & and retirement benefits and healthcare consulting. “More than anything I would consider building a strong stable leadership as one of my achievements,” says Sankar.

Similarly, Hari is expected to play a critical role in another identified focus area for PwC, global outsourcing, and will lead that practice. “Our focus is to the play role of trusted advisor to all cross territory inbound investments to India in the search of an effective partnering model for outsourcing their critical operations like finance, IT, knowledge processes, other critical backend processes,” he says.

Hari has had a four-year stint as the the head of iGATE’s consulting arm and brings in a wealth of experience in global sourcing. The development with PwC is in line with the trend of most advisory firms increasing their focus on specialised areas such as HR, outsourcing and supply chain to deliver a better value to their clients.