The Consultant's Handbook: A Practical Guide to Delivering High-value and Differentiated Services in a Competitive Marketplace

CASE STUDY ONEEXPLORING A NEW CONSULTING OPPORTUNITY

CASE SCENARIO

A manufacturing company in the consumer electronics industry is seeking to achieve improved efficiencies and to lower costs by rationalizing the information technology (IT) systems used to support its business and by optimizing related work processes. At the same time it will be important to ensure that sufficient capacity is available to support future expansion plans. The main systems and processes under consideration relate to the management of component inventories, the planning of production schedules and human resources administration.

Meridian Consulting is one of three companies invited to tender for the assignment, based upon its reputation in both the IT and manufacturing industries. An initial meeting has been set up to discuss the potential opportunity with the chief information officer (CIO) of the client organization.

Dean Farrell is a senior consultant at Meridian and has been assigned to handle the new opportunity. Earlier in the week some background information was conveyed to him by the CIO during a short telephone conversation. The dialogue was informative, although somewhat high level. Dean is used to this as many new consulting opportunities begin this way, making the initial meeting with the client particularly important to establish a more tangible basis for moving forward.

MEETING PREPARATION

Meeting objectives

Dean defines the following objectives for the planned meeting with the CIO. ...