Businesses are Moving Toward Being Technology Companies

Our Managing Partner, Mark Weber, kick-started last week with a conference call with the CEO of one of our clients.  The conversation focused on the topic of talent development (the #1 concern of mid-market CEOs who attended last month’s sixth annual mid-market CEO convention at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania).  During the call, the CEO stated that in today’s world, ALL companies are tech companies.  Many organizations don’t understand this concept and continue to see technology as a separate entity from the rest of their businesses.  Greg Williams, the Deputy Editor of WIRED Magazine, recently published a blog post on the 5 reasons why businesses are moving toward being technology companies.  Read it here.


Spotlight on Disruption

Coworking office spaces represent a fundamental shift in the way people work, and the coworking industry is disrupting the commercial real estate industry in a very BIG way.  The future of work is a huge topic of discussion every week at Croixstone, and the shift in how people work is what incentivized us to relocate our offices from our business loft in South End to Industrious in Uptown Charlotte nearly one year ago. Learn why companies like Spotify, Lyft, Hyatt and Chipotle have joined Croixstone in calling Industrious home across the United States.  Click here.


A Disruptive Force…Smart Technology

Smart technology is a disruptive force in the business world and promises to impact every industry – including knowledge-based industries like management consulting.  MIT Sloan Management Review published a great article last month that highlighted 5 rules that consulting companies should follow to remain relevant in the age of AI and other smart technologies.  Read it here.


A Compelling Argument

Many (if not most!) companies view “change” as an extraordinary event that must be dealt with using change management techniques and special skills.  A leading management consulting author (Robert Schaffer) offers a compelling argument that this common view of “change” is outdated.  He argues that rather than view change as a subspecialty of management, companies should consider the fact that “all management is the management of change.”

Read this article to learn more.


The Booming US Healthcare Consulting Market

Valued at $45 billion last year, the US management consulting market relating to healthcare is booming.  How so?  Well, the healthcare consulting sector is expected to break the $60 billion mark by the end of next year.

The main drivers of growth in the US healthcare management consulting market include:

  • Healthcare IT
  • Adoption of cloud technology
  • Digitalization
  • Value-based care
  • Compliance
  • Big data and analytics

Top 10 Most Sought-After Consulting Skills

According to Spend Matters, the procurement and supply chain blog, the top 10 most sought-after consulting skills across all industry sectors are:
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1.  Project management

2.  Market analysis

3.  Growth strategy

4.  Strategic planning

5.  Corporate and business unit strategy

6.  Program Management Office (PMO) support

7.  Product development and launches

8.  Supply chain

9.  Customer experience and insights

10. Innovation strategy


How Data Analytics Are Changing the Consulting Industry

Like other industries, the consulting industry is being disrupted in many ways.  With the rise of artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and advanced analytics, consultants may find themselves working closely with artificially intelligent systems that can analyze huge volumes of data that are incomprehensible to the human mind.  Learn more about how data analytics are changing the consulting industry – and what is perhaps the most important consulting skill going into the 2020s.


Consulting Industry Platforms

A great resource for consultants is the “Consultancy.org” network.  This global network of consulting industry platforms (including North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America and Australia) provides the latest in consulting news, market information, and more.  Consultancy.org launched its US platform earlier this year.  View it here.


Charlotte Region By the Numbers

In June, the Charlotte Regional Partnership announced that it was launching a new quarterly economic activity report to capture an overarching look at capital investment, job growth and other important business data across the 16-county Charlotte region.  We read the published report and learned that the vast majority of companies that located or expanded in the region are manufacturers.  The report also reinforced that financial services is not the largest employer among the region’s industry sectors (it is healthcare by a large margin).  Read the new report here.