A New Thing: BearingPoint ‘At the Heart of Innovation’

“I came in with absolute clarity about what my challenge was, and now I don’t know.” After two days of large-group discussions on the fundamentals of innovation and small-group challenges putting those fundamentals to the test, one participant at a recent BearingPoint innovation event seemingly lamented having gone backward and away from solutions. However, the participant quickly followed up that “I don’t know” comment by explaining how examining her company’s and her own individual challenges revealed an incredible complexity — but the presence and guidance of an established consultancy provided reassurance that complexity could be managed and innovation started, if not guaranteed to bring success. Every consulting client should be so thoroughly uncertain about their problems while comforted knowing they’ve got help at the ready.

TBR perspective: Diversity, subtlety and the art of consulting

The entire event accentuated uncertainty, but with a sense that innovation challenges can be solved, creating an ideal hunting ground for consulting opportunities. BearingPoint strengthened advocates for innovation while consistently and subtly reminding those advocates that they would need help. By building toward a workable solution to a real-world innovation challenge, BearingPoint used a velvet hammer to reinforce that “you can change, you must change, and change requires consulting.”

TBR includes coverage of BearingPoint in our Management Consulting Benchmark, and the most recent profile, published in April, noted that “as a business and technology consulting firm [positioned] for predominantly EMEA clients, BearingPoint will continue to attract clients with holistic consult-build-run solutions across its three business pillars — Consulting, Solutions and Ventures — to enable clients’ business transformations through advanced technologies. BearingPoint’s agile offerings in its three primary business units and local market expertise will resonate well in the EMEA market and support the company’s growth over the next two years.” This innovation event reinforced TBR’s assessment of BearingPoint’s ability to see its approach and offerings resonate well with existing clients and very likely continue to lure new clients away from traditional European and global consulting competitors. BearingPoint has not built its own innovation/collaboration/experience center and the firm’s overall approach at the innovation event remained subtle throughout the two and a half days — but BearingPoint’s effort was effective and highly replicable, and the lasting impact will likely be measurable by the firm’s 2019 growth.