BPR still alive and kicking in reader work survey

Business strategy, IT strategy and business process reengineering are the main areas of work for Management Consultancy readers, according to a Perspectives in Consultancy, a survey carried out by this magazine in conjunction with software company JD Edwards.

Nearly half of respondents (47 per cent) had worked on business strategy projects in the last year, while 41 per cent had advised on IT strategy.

And, despite the current unfashionability of business process reengineering, 38 per cent had been involved in it. High profile areas such as Year 2000 and Economic and Monetary Union only involved 14 and 2 per cent of respondents respectively. Financial consultancy (20 per cent) and marketing consultancy (22 per cent) were also popular. The survey looked in some detail at the involvement of readers in IT work: 28 per cent said they implemented software, while 26 per cent did software selection for clients.

A surprising 20 per cent were still involved in bespoke systems development.

While two-thirds believed consultants should remain independent, 40 per cent believed vendor relationships of one sort or another were appropriate.

But product functionality was still seen as the most important factor in recommending software.

Charging methods provided a surprise – only 55 per cent adhered to the traditional daily or hourly rate, with fixed fee assignments accounting for another 47 per cent. Only 5 per cent reported working on a contingency fee basis.

When asked about the best career path for consultants, 50 per cent believed that a multinational firm offers the best opportunities, with 27 per cent opting for self-employment.