Catalant Technologies

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Finance and HR colleagues, are you watching as the management consulting world is being disrupted by the freelance revolution? A number of independent management consulting platforms like Catalant Technologies and its global partners and top talent are creating the future of consulting. In a recent Forbes article, I describe how Catalant Technologies is taking the steps needed to move up to a leadership role in global consulting. https://lnkd.in/efW4PgUb Here's an excerpt: "Traditional consulting firms are having a tougher time these days. Post-Covid revenues for large firms have flattened, graduates of top schools are increasingly looking elsewhere to kick off their careers, and consulting clients want more specialized experience and expertise. Demands for strategy work have dropped in the US and internationally in favor of transformation expertise. In taking full measure of the consulting industry, the Catalant team recognized that traditional consulting firms were unprepared for the new demands that clients and career consultants were making. "Transformation is king, but traditional consulting firms haven’t adapted. According to Kennedy Research, interest in strategic consulting has slowed while implementation exceeds 50% of the consulting industry. As the Economist put it, “As companies become better at figuring their own broad strategies, consulting must get into the nitty gritty to add value.” Corporate clients want to deal with experienced consultants and operators; traditional firms can’t deliver on that expectation with a traditional workforce of 30% recent MBA graduates." #freelancerevolution

Yesterday I was speaking with the head of portfolio support at a large cap PE firm about an interesting trend we've seen on Catalant Technologies that our clients find really valuable. There are many people in our community who worked together before becoming independent consultants that are now working together on large engagements through Catalant. This makes sense but it's happening organically. What we've seen in the past is when someone from a large firm or company wins a project it's often followed by a few people from that same firm/company applying to our community. As we take on larger engagements that would otherwise go to a traditional firm, these same people are choosing to work together because they already know how to do so effectively. Some examples: - We were working with a former BCG Partner in our community on a major integration effort. He told us he'd learned about Catalant from a former BCG Project Manager who was a part of our community and who he'd worked with on similar engagement while at BCG. They were able to very effectively put together the proposal for the integration work and find 3 additional subject matter experts in our network to support it. - We were working with a former VP of Operational Excellence at a Fortune 500 CPG and he mentioned there were two people in our community who were previously part of his team at the company. The 3 of them partnered with a former Associate Partner from McKinsey to first develop an OEE assessment and then deliver several major workstreams to get them to best in class. - My favorite one - a former Partner from Deloitte was working with PE backed company on a major org transformation and she mentioned she'd recommended Catalant to a former client who was an HR leader at a PE backed company, and the two of them worked to drive the transformation program. It's a cool trend and when people who know how to work really well together have the chance to do so - but this time on their own terms and without the overhead of the firm - a lot of value can be created.

Talented Catalant Experts like Alexis are what make our community so special! Check out some of her recent work:

Catalant Expert Michael Barnett explores the two technology trends that are converging to lead to dramatic improvements in the access, usability, transparency, and speed associated with building and embedding data and AI solutions in the supply chain. Now is the time to move to realize tangible improvements in supply chain performance -- read on for more.

Catalant ushered in a new era of consulting with Consulting 2.0, and we continue to drive forward market adoption of this model -- it's flexible, fit-to-purpose, and at the center of it all is our dynamic community of top-tier Catalant Experts. We believe companies are done paying consulting firms for teams of junior consultants with little to no real-world work experience. We also believe much of the world’s best talent wants to work independently and values belonging to a community that supports them along the way. These beliefs underlie the next evolution of Catalant's journey. In response to client needs, we continue to transform the model and offer new ways to engage with the best independent consultants in the world. Take a look at this recent write-up of the 'new Catalant' in Forbes and come along with us on this Consulting 2.0 journey! https://lnkd.in/gNwnb6Jc

We had a fantastic time at PEI Operating Partners Forum NYC! Our top highlights include: ⭐ Patrick Petitti taking the stage alongside Tony Buffum, Rebecca Granne, Sebastien Katch, Peter Andrada, and Andrew S., discussing how critical the first year is to the outcome of a deal and talking through ways to reduce risk in that period. ⭐ Having really great conversations with operating partners across dozens of firms, listening to engaging plenary sessions, and catching up with Catalant clients. ⭐ Hosting an executive dinner with two dozen operating partners 60 stories above the hustle and bustle of the day at Manhatta, featuring an interactive trivia game hosted by legendary emcee, Jeff Meyer. ⭐ Meeting and mingling with 20 local Catalant Experts, trading insights and building community. The future is bright for these incredibly talented independent consultants!

I'm not sure what this says about me, but all weekend I've been looking forward to the panel I'm co-hosting with Tony Buffum at PEI on Tuesday. The topic is taking the risk out of transformation and if our prep conversations are any indication it's going to be a really fun discussion! We've taken a unique approach to the conversation by including operating partners from PE firms, a leader from a portfolio company, and an experienced consultant from the Catalant Technologies community. Our panel includes two operating partners in Sebastien Katch from Verlinvest and Rebecca Granne from Advent International - both with a lot of experience to draw from, including as leaders at companies including PepsiCo and RealTruck, Inc.. I'm incredibly excited to have Andrew S. join us, as well. Andrew is a deeply experienced consultant who leads a firm called Arcos Group. He built expertise in leading transformation programs during his time at McKinsey & Company in the RTS practice and we've had the pleasure of seeing him deliver outstanding results to our clients since leaving to start his own practice. And Peter Andrada is joining, too! He leads IT at Jumio Corporation, a portfolio company of Centana Growth Partners and Great Hill Partners. He's been traversing the globe the past week as we've prepared for the panel :) Swing by at 3:30 to catch the session!

You're less than a week away from the one panel you won't want to miss at PEI's Operating Partners Forum New York event! Patrick Petitti and Tony Buffum will take the stage Tuesday, Oct 22 with an all-star group, including Sebastien Katch, Peter Andrada, and Andrew S., to talk about accelerating value creation with Catalant and Upwork. See you there!

Over the past year we’ve made major changes to how we operate, and I’m excited to start sharing what we’ve been calling the "new" Catalant. I apologize for an atypically long post, and I’ll be sharing more over the coming weeks :) In short, at the center of everything we do is our community of Experts. They are the best at what they do, and when we work with them in close partnership we can support our clients in far more ways and much more effectively. It was covered in depth in Forbes by Jon Younger PhD and I've included the article below. We believe companies are done paying consulting firms for teams of junior consultants with little to no real-world work experience, and our clients are reinforcing that belief every day - there's been a marked change in the topics they're asking for us to support and their need to find alternatives to traditional firms. We also believe much of the world’s best talent wants to work independently. We’ve seen more and more people who are the best at what they do join our community, whether that be former partners from top firms, operating leaders, or otherwise. We’re working hard to provide a strong community and partnership to Experts on our platform, which allows us to partner with our clients in new ways. This includes several new products we’re now moving from beta and launching: Catalant Teams: As our clients look for alternatives to traditional firms we’re helping them bring on teams that are fit to purpose with least 10 years experience in both consulting and an operating role. It's more experienced people and still far more cost effective than a traditional firm, even though the teams are often made up of several senior people from the same firm they’d otherwise consider. Catalant Advisory: More and more of the people joining our community are former MBB partners, Directors from the Big 4, or C- / SVP-level from the F500. Our clients have found them exceptionally valuable as advisors as they think through complex problems and scope out larger bodies of work. Benches: Our Benches product provides real-time visibility into pre-vetted, curated benches of Experts organized by the types of work our clients do most often or are anticipating. Beyond that, we’re investing significantly in how we partner with our Expert community. We’ve piloted a bunch of things over the past year to great success and we now have a team dedicated to investing in our Expert Community on everything from services to help our Experts deliver their work and grow their practices, to connecting them to clients in real-time and outside our marketplace model, and providing them with all the aspects of a team they want so they can be a part of a community that helps them thrive over time. Check it out in Forbes! https://lnkd.in/e7QP8rGT and if you have questions or feedback about what we’re up to, reach out any time!