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New York, NY – June 26, 2019 – New research from ALM’s Consulting Intelligence division, formerly known as Kennedy Consulting, reports that increasing customer transparency into client back office operations are driving innovation in consulting to improve customer experience. Increased visibility from customers in addition to rapidly changing customer expectations are causing clients to rethink their operating models, favoring agile frameworks to readily adapt as needed while gathering key data points for performance improvement.

“Front office capabilities in customer service are developing new innovations in customer segmentation, marketing, and communication channels, but back-office service operations divisions are realizing now more than ever that the inputs gleaned through functions that the customer traditionally does not see can be the most impactful,” said Matthew Merker, Senior Analyst, Management Consulting Research at ALM Intelligence. “Service operations form the backbone of customer experience, and without it, customer service capability will undoubtedly fall flat.”

ALM Intelligence explores demand drivers and how consulting firms are modernizing service offerings in response, including:

• Innovation in stakeholder selection and engagement to ensure successful strategy implementation
• Using digital technologies to accelerate change across client enterprises
• Developing strategies that balance cost to serve with customer experience, improving service while remaining cost-effective

Service operations consulting clients are seeking holistic solutions that encompass business, human capital, and technology in cohesive, cost-effective strategies. It is this need that is dividing top performing service operations consulting firms from the rest of the competitive landscape. Leaders of consulting in this area able to effectively balance these three factors to provide transformation capabilities that will have maximum impact. Challengers and Contenders in this space are often focused on one or two of these capability sets. While there is certainly a market for tactical solutions, breadth of consulting capability is hindered through that specialization.

Providers covered in the report include Accenture, Alexander Consulting, A.T. Kearney, Bain & Company, Baker Tilly, BearingPoint, Boston Consulting Group, Capgemini, Deloitte, dhp, EY, Horvath & Partners, IBM, KPMG, L.E.K., McKinsey & Company, Oliver Wyman, PA Consulting, PwC, ScottMadden, The Highland Group, and Trianz.

ALM’s Vanguard research series assesses firms in terms of their relative ability to create impact for their clients. In addition to its overall rating assessments of consulting providers’ depth and breadth of capabilities and best-in-class provider designations, this series includes detailed capability evaluations for each covered provider as well as a qualitative analysis of their consulting organization, approach, and service delivery model. For more information or to obtain the full version of The ALM Vanguard: Service Operations Consulting, visit the ALM Intelligence website: http://ow.ly/poTf30oYzWR

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