India Inc sets up transformation offices to guide complex projects

Mumbai: Companies are increasingly setting up dedicated in-house transformation offices to effectively manage large-scale transformation projects involving multiple consulting firms, given the growing complexity and multifaceted nature of consulting assignments, said industry executives.

In 2023, they said, there have been more than two dozen cases of multiple consulting firms working in different functions or areas of a company and being coordinated by a transformation office comprising senior consultants and company executives.

Consultants said due to the increasing complexity of business environments and rapidly evolving technologies, company-wide transformations need a combination of strategic planning and effective execution across various functions. That has led to the trend of multiple consultants working on different problems within a company, they said.

For example, they said, BPCL worked with Deloitte, Accenture, Microsoft and KPMG, whereas Sony worked with Deloitte, AWS, Accenture and IBM. Grasim and Indigo also reportedly worked with multiple consultants.

"For a large-scale transformation exercise, it's not just a technology question. There is an organisation question, there is an operations question and there is a business model question. A central office is needed to make sure all these aspects are coordinated and aligned and that the transformation is accelerated," said Parijat Ghosh, managing partner at Bain & Company's India offices.

A central hub for oversight, coordination, resource allocation and risk management thus becomes invaluable for successfully handling multiple piecemeal projects.

"Most large transformation mandates require both strategy and operations elements, much like orchestrating a symphony of solutions," said Romal Shetty, CEO of Deloitte South Asia. "Consultants and various departments have to collaborate to achieve this synergy. Bringing together multiple consultants and department personnel helps in fostering collaboration to generate the best ideas and facilitates integration, management and effective execution."

EY has worked on the largest number of multi-consultant transformation exercises given its wide array of consulting services and diverse client base. "We are supporting several clients in executing their transformation goals. Transformation has been big on clients' agendas for the last two-three years," said Rohan Sachdev, consulting leader at EY India, who leads India's largest consulting services team.