Nearly half a decade ago Clayton Christensen had shrewdly noted how consulting was on the cusp of disruption. Today, disruption plays an instrumental role in digitally-driven business models where the reigns of software-oriented problems often lie with keyboard consultants. Now, Praveen Karadiguddi, CEO and Co-Founder of Scrumconnect Consulting sheds insight into future road bumps and challenges that confront the consultancy services.
Last year the UK recorded a slump in the growth of the consultancy industry from 7.5 per cent in 2016 to 4 per cent in 2019, according to a study by the Source Global Research. Industry experts estimate that this number is likely to shoot up especially in light of a decisive Brexit mandate this year. Scrumconnect Consulting is swimming against this Brexit tide, as it continues to expand its worldwide family of consultants to over 120 team members. But what is the story behind the inception of this consulting service provider?
“We saw a gap in the market where clients wanted fast-paced and quality outcomes whilst working under high-pressure environments. However, building a high-capacity performing team was a time-consuming process for most organisations.
“So our secret sauce is ready-made hyper-productive teams to help clients deliver projects quickly and with quality. After identifying this niche, we built our organisation’s strategy around hand-picking top-notch individuals specialising in specific projects. This aids in building high-performing teams who can devise a blueprint for a said project, ramp-up timescales and subsequently deliver quality results efficiently and accurately,” explains Praveen.
Working with the government and safer digital borders
Today, Scrumconnect works with businesses across sectors. Their client portfolio is a collation of blue-chip organisations including the Department of Works & Pensions, Department of International Trade, Ministry of Justice and Home Office to name a few. From working on digitising the UK’s criminal justice program to ensuring safer borders for the country through the Digital Services at the Borders program, Praveen and his consultants have been disrupting the digital industry one project at a time.
However, establishing the firm was no easy task for the MBA graduate from Imperial College. Recalling the “chicken and egg situation” in the initial days of business, he speaks about the challenges that the couple faced in securing high-profile clients whilst ensuring a continuous cash flow in the business and hiring the right individuals to work with. But it is all about going back to the basics. For him, it was recalling the lessons learned in management classes especially from the Innovation Entrepreneurship & Design (IED) Programme at Imperial College.
Safer work culture: Higher productivity levels and well-being of colleagues
Applying Jonathan Pinto’s Organisational Behaviour and Negotiation into his business module, he realised that the creation of a safe environment and work culture for his colleagues will help increase productivity levels alongside ensuring their well-being. Today, his 120 consultants hail from diverse nationalities including the UK, Finland, Canada, France, India, China, Turkey, Ukraine with their client support base across the UK. Now, Praveen is exploring the idea of working with clients based in Germany and New York. But he still believes it is early days. On the flip side, the UK’s divorce settlement terms with the EU is not his only concern. He says,
“Currently, we are concerned with several issues from IR35 taxation, Brexit to the uncertain economic climate owing to Coronavirus. This, however, also means that an increasing number of businesses need to have stronger and more sustainable business models to grow and survive during such crises.
“The clients have also become more demanding, with respect to solving user needs of the customers, pushing back against concepts such as big IT, billable hours, requiring fixed fees and with greater transparency on costs. In an increasingly agile environment, intensified by rapid digital innovation, clients now expect more value, rapid concept to cash, design thinking, a higher quality of work, and faster delivery of solutions and services.”
Despite these challenges, Praveen is confident in exploring unchartered territories in the digital industry. In the last two years alone, he has been successful in expanding his team by over 120 team members and accruing a whopping £13mn in revenues. He attributes a bulk of this success to his wife and Co-Chairman Shilpa Kaluti whilst hailing the contribution of women in technology ahead of this year’s UN International Women’s Day. He says,
“We were initially nervous when we started the business as we had just conceived our first child and Shilpa was on maternity leave, the market had also crashed around the same time. I was left with just £600 in my bank account after clearing my university education fees.
“Therefore, I want to encourage young entrepreneurial spirits with minimum cash on their back not to give up on their vision. Back in those days, I had only recently graduated from Imperial MBA with practically bare minimum funds but I was full of energy and I never gave up on my passion to pursue my dreams.”
Scrumconnect Consulting’s mantra is “Co-create good services with our clients that positively improves people’s lives.” reach them on www.scrumconnect.com or [email protected]
