Project Detail
IDC: Best Practices Benchmarking
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“A lot of consultants are smart. Lots of them are good at what they do. But the winning combination is one who has all of that as well as a true enjoyment of the work being done. That’s how I would describe Ed.” —Janet Waxman Vice President, Hardware Channels Research |
Background
IDC is one of the premier global providers of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology and communications industries. With over 775 analysts in 50 countries, IDC has provided strategic insights to help its clients achieve their business objectives for more than 40 years.
Business Problem
In early 2007, IDC conducted a study to determine benchmarks, best practices, and pricing among leading providers of engineering/R&D services. This goal was to characterize overall approaches to engineering services, addressing questions such as: are they a profit center in their own right or a loss leader for other parts of the business, to what degree are they productized or customized, and what sort of strategies do providers pursue to meet engineering services profitability goals?
IDC needed a senior-level interviewer who brought several critical skills to the table. Not only did the interviewer need to speak intelligently to senior executives at the service providers to be interviewed, but also comprehend the study objectives and conduct a loosely structured interview, with the ability to probe or adjust the questions appropriately during the interview. Finally, the interviewer needed to be able to synthesize the findings and provide a business-strategy-level analysis.
Solution
In collaboration with the IDC analysts driving the research, Callan Consulting created an interview guide, then contacted and conducted in-depth interviews with executives with responsibility for engineering services at about a dozen leading IT service delivery firms. Each interview was captured in a detailed write-up that was shared back with IDC, and in addition, Callan Consulting analyzed the interviews and created the first draft write-up of the final study results.
Results
IDC was very pleased with Callan Consulting's performance and the study findings. The interviews unearthed a number of interesting findings, such as the fact that there is a wide divergence in business models for engineering services. The study found that about half of the firms consider engineering services to be a profit center, with pricing and profitability targets to match, while the other half price them at cost or even as a loss-leader as a strategic component to win larger deals that bring business in other, more profitable categories.
© 2008 Ed Callan. All rights reserved. Client quotes used by permission.