More on Project Teams

The majority of BCG projects involve working very closely with clients. BCG’s philosophy is that you need to get a broad cross-section of the client organisation to agree with the rationale for a change in order for it to be successful. To do this you need to have a clear understanding of how the organisation works and how clients view their own business. I was working pretty autonomously with clients from day one, responsible both for the analysis and getting the client’s 'buy-in' to the output. On one case in my first year I worked as part of the client’s team on a large commercial deal, taking part in all the negotiations. Now that I’m managing projects, the importance of being able to work closely with clients increases—strong senior level relationships are often the key in high-pressure situations

Helping one of UK's leading media companies develop growth strategies and identify efficiency opportunities was one of the most interesting cases I have done. The client had many diverse businesses across the UK and internationally. We worked with senior management to develop a profitable growth plan for each of their businesses. What was fascinating about this case was the diversity of the topics we had to work on. One day we would talk to fashion designers about the information needs in the fashion industry, the next day we would be working with printers to understand how we could print more efficiently and the following day, we would talk to show organisers to understand how we could market exhibitions more effectively. Sometimes, we would do all three and many other topics in the same day! Every day was exciting and different. It required us to think creatively about business issues in a fast paced and fun environment.

For me, the development of a Mobility Strategy for a global telecoms company is one of the more rewarding and challenging cases that I have worked on. This area of their business included a diverse set of products and services, but these were owned by different parts of the organisation. We performed market and competitor analysis, customer research, and developed an economic model for the propositions covering mobile communication, technology and services. The outcome was of great significance for the client: a new mobility area was created pulling all propositions together and a clear strategy focusing on high growth areas where client had strong competitive positioning.

My experience is that BCG tends to work on projects with our clients as supposed to doing the projects for them. Because of this collaborative culture, I have had constant client exposure from day one. Being a part of a BCG team, you own your own module which means that you interact with the client on a daily basis in order to discuss your work and to get input or data. I find this one of the most exciting parts of my job as you get to see first hand how your work is impacting their organisation.