3 ms·
I spent a long time working in what you might call mid-tier consulting. We did a lot 6-8 figure consulting gigs at large corps mostly for digital and marketing
by tootie 4y ago
I spent a long time working in what you might call mid-tier consulting. We did a lot 6-8 figure consulting gigs at large corps mostly for digital and marketing projects, but also did some business strategy and product development. Sometimes we cross paths with Big 4 consultants who were embedded with the same client. We absolutely lived and died on our reputation and word of mouth for successful projects. The best engagements were the ones where we told clients they were asking for the wrong thing and needed to rethink their strategy. These were probably lower-level decisions than what Big 4 were doing, but still expensive things to get wrong. I've never seen or heard of anyone who has a positive opinion from the inside or out of the Big 4. It's like they are hired explicitly to draw up presentations to provide cover for knowingly wrong decisions that are already made.
- wpietri 4y agoYou certainly won't get any contradiction from me. My one encounter with a big-4 consultancy shocked me. It was a software project with a hard deadline; the client had contractual obligations to a lot of state and local governments. The consultants said it would take them $5m to do it and the client happily signed. The consultant deployed a lot of bright young people with very little experience. As the deadlines were near, nothing worked. At which point, the consultants downed tools and said the money was spent. The client paid them another $5 million to come back and clean up the mess they made. It was the most brazen theft I'd ever seen. I would never be able to do such a thing, and if I had been working for the consultancy I would have quit, stammering apologies to the client as I left.