ALM Intelligence has named Boston Consulting Group (BCG) the number one firm in organization strategy consulting worldwide. The latest edition of The ALM Vanguard of Organization Strategy Consultants, which ranks the world’s major consultancies in terms of their ability to create client impact, has ranked BCG number one across all three dimensions considered: depth of capabilities, breadth of capabilities, and client impact.
The top-ranked tier of consultancies in the study—the ALM Vanguard leaders—are at the pinnacle of the market in terms of their ability to create client impact through their depth and breadth of expertise and deploy that expertise across a range of engagement models.
BCG earned the best composite performance ranking of the 29 firms featured in the study. It won the highest rating (“very strong”) in four of the nine provider capabilities (external market insight, strategy, management system, and enabling tools) and the next-highest rating (“strong”) in the remaining five categories (needs assessment, internal client insight, operating system, project management, and client capability development).
The firm improved its leading position of the past two years, notes ALM, as a result of “superior utilization of ecosystem capabilities and strategic partnerships that extend [BCG’s] breadth of analytics and implementation capabilities.” In addition, BCG “continued to innovate diverse approaches to organization design.” Adds ALM, “the firm’s research on organization strategy fuels this market-centric innovation capability at the same time as it ensures client services are on the leading edge of trends in the space.”
New Org Design Approaches Bring Strategic Value
These new approaches, under the heading Org Design 3.0, “apply the theoretical foundations of Smart Simplicity to meet clients’ evolving needs for becoming more agile, digital, purpose-driven, and zero-based (i.e., cost effective).”
“Being able to take a fresh, deeper, and more comprehensive approach to organization design creates powerful opportunities to change the trajectory of a business and boost performance,” notes Andrew Toma, a senior partner and global leader of organization design and support functions at BCG. “This new way of looking at organization redesign is especially helpful for executives who are faced with intensifying competition, evolving business models, and complex technologies.”
Smart Simplicity is a set of principles designed to reduce complexity and shape behaviors by making people more autonomous and collaborative problem-solvers. BCG has enhanced its approach to Smart Simplicity through its Org Design 3.0 approach, built on the foundation of Org Design 2.0. This new approach is highly programmable to unique client needs using a comprehensive set of tools for changing structures, roles, and ways of working, as well as building leadership and culture.
Best-in-Class Again for Enabling Tools
BCG was also chosen “best-in-class” in the category “enabling tools” for the second year running. The choice was based on the strength of BCG’s proprietary tools that underpin its organization strategy consulting methodologies. According to ALM, “BCG further stands out for its ability to connect the products, services, and capabilities of the firm’s broader ecosystem in a people- and organization-focused ecosystem that leverages data and emerging technologies to implement large-scale organization strategies.”
As Kevin Kelley, a BCG partner and software and data product leader for the firm’s People & Organization practice, points out, “The scope of reorganization has grown, and developing structure and talent solutions and implementing the associated reorganizations have become more complex. Driving change at scale requires a broader and deeper reorganization than ever before. The right organizational design and data management tools and capabilities are therefore critical for avoiding common pitfalls and ensuring that firms achieve their objectives in these difficult projects.”
Source: https://www.bcg.com/d/press/12december2019-alm-intelligence-ranking-235797