DailyPost 767
FOREIGN CONSULTANCY
Consultancy has come of age and wherever we venture out we find a consultant around. The vendors entered into the arena first, they had to, to deliver, unfortunately the delivery did not transform considerably. To set right the delivery mechanism, both in terms of quality and time, the consultancy companies moved in. This happened more that a decade back and the situation today is way off from being satisfactory. Unfortunately, consultancy has become another fixed item of expenditure, it’s exact correlation with the project is very difficult to make out. The Big Four are all around.
The project happens to be Indian, the location is in India, the issues are Indian and so are the people involved with the project & the actual consultants; the unfortunate part is that process, effort & cost calculation, management models, contract conditions, audit matrix is all foreign. The contextual intelligence is missing. The Indian customisation has not happened and we don’t see anything happening in that direction. Instead of creating our models in different sectors, all models and success stories mentioned belong to foreign countries. Knowing fully well that foreign models cannot be replicated, it is pursued vigorously.
What is fascinating is that the cost of glass & chrome structures of these companies and the hiked human resource cost has to be met by the hapless customer. The smaller ones can’t afford but it is a defence for bigger customers, govt & private, against audit issues and any other hue and cry against the efficacy & execution of the projects undertaken. Nonetheless, none of them can flaunt the exact Indian competencies as they have not it up over the years. What is left then to deliver?
The need of the hour is to get out of this foreign stranglehold and have a India centric consultancy route; competencies, models , skills, human resources created for Indian requirements and operationalised and costing done, suiting our needs & our nature of funds / finances. This model will have the depth & the calibre to confidently manage project execution rather than shying from it, as has been the case with big MNC consultancy companies today.
EFFECTIVE CONSULTANCY HAS TO BE BROADLY ORGANIC & HOME GROWN.
Sanjay Sahay