ALM Intelligence Pacesetter Research: Digital Transformation & Digital Services

New analysis from ALM Intelligence Pacesetter Research found that the number of digital transformation-related projects has continued to climb since the beginning of the pandemic. The emphasis in these projects has shifted away from the capabilities of specific digital technologies to how to use them most effectively toward specific client business outcomes. This shift indicates that the service emphasis among innovators in professional services has moved toward helping clients create successful digitally-enabled processes and cultures to support organizational goals.

This research assessed dozens of providers to arrive at sixteen Innovators recognized for their ability to deliver tangible client impact in today’s crowded digital transformation market. Additionally, the research and analysis provide insights into the competitive dynamics and service delivery trends driving convergence across legal, management consulting, multi-service, and technology providers.

Research Highlights

The pandemic revealed (through involuntarily remote workforces) the power of digital technologies, and while pandemic restrictions are fading, clients and employees have proven reluctant to lose the momentum of change
The emphasis has shifted (in service delivery) from the technologies themselves to implementing them, ensuring clients get the enhanced outcomes they need
Because of this, digital transformation has gone from being the domain of IT and data specialists to now involving mostly operational, financial, human capital, tax, legal, product development, sales & marketing, etc. specialists

While more cautious organizations prefer the incremental approach to digital, there is a growing awareness that amazing digital investments in one part of a firm can be undermined by less digitally-aligned processes elsewhere, especially in the back and middle offices, damaging the customer experience and eroding project ROI
A growing number of digital solutions today involve not one but multiple technologies requiring both in-house expertise and discreet digital management capabilities

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What Makes An ALM Intelligence Digital Transformation & Digital Services Pacesetter & Innovator?

As detailed in the report, innovative professional services providers are less likely to go to market with a discreet digital practice, instead integrating digital services with other domain and industry sector practices. The emphasis is on finding the optimal combination of humans, processes, and technology to get clients the desired results.

The 2022 Digital Transformation & Digital Services Innovators & Pacesetters

Accenture
Bain & Company
Baker McKenzie
Boston Consulting Group
Capgemini
Deloitte
EY
Horváth & Partners

Kearney
Kennedys
KPMG
North Highland
Norton Rose Fulbright
Oliver Wyman
PwC
Third Stage Consulting

the methodology

The goal of ALM Pacesetter Research is to help buyers of professional services navigate an increasingly complex landscape with confidence. We use a multidisciplinary perspective to identify best-in-class providers of legal, consulting, financial, insurance, employee benefits, and other professional services and analyze how they are evolving as an ecosystem of interdisciplinary service providers. Our research is grounded in over 50 years of accumulated market insights and qualitative research models that combine knowledge of management science with case studies and other sources of knowledge to understand patterns of market supply, demand, behavior, and ways of doing business. Our research also includes voices/perspectives from both the sellside and buyside, as well as knowledgeable people working in industry associations, academia, etc.

The ALM Pacesetter Advisory Council (PAC) convenes in advance of the research project kick-off; members include ALM journalists and editors, and external experts such as consultants, general counsel, and industry thought leaders
The PAC selects the set of Innovators that will be covered in the research topic from a larger group of providers that members have identified in the normal course of their work
PAC members also provide expert knowledge and insights to the ALM Pacesetter team throughout the research and analysis process

The ALM Pacesetter Team within ALM Intelligence conducts primary and secondary research
Primary research includes in-depth interviews with practice leaders at the provider firms covered in the research; satisfaction interviews with clients referred by those providers; and in-depth interviews with thought leaders, recruiting professionals, and other sources
Secondary research includes data gathered from annual reports and earnings calls, management presentations, public filings, case studies, press releases, journals and publications, online information databases and other publicly available resources

Innovators that achieve a Pacesetter Impact Score equal to or over 85 are designated as ALM Pacesetters
Pacesetter analysts map markets and stakeholders and write market trends
Market segment overviews are peer reviewed by the appropriate PAC member

Service providers are evaluated and scored based on five core criteria

Business Model

Provider’s ability to reposition core competencies around new products, services, and business models to adapt to shifting patterns of market supply, demand, behavior, and ways of doing business.

Value Proposition

Provider’s ability to deliver on its value proposition, i.e., the positioning statement that communicates the benefits and economic value a prospect will receive by purchasing the provider’s products and services over a competitor’s.

Service Delivery

Provider’s ability to mobilize resources and configure assets to serve clients.

Client Impact

Provider’s ability to help clients affect continuous, sustainable change, mitigate risk, improve performance, and achieve growth.

Brand Eminence

Provider’s ability to leverage brand and marketing strategies to differentiate in its marketplace as an expert practitioner and thought leader.

Tomek’s focus is on finance management consulting, which includes finance operations, balance sheet strategy & investor relations, portfolio & capital strategy, and transaction advisory services.

Before joining ALM Intelligence, Tomek led the European asset-backed securities (ABS) and global collateralized debt obligation (CDO) report sourcing and research efforts for the asset-backed securities market intelligence firm Lewtan Technologies. Before that he spent five years with Capital Access International, a fixed-income market intelligence firm responsible for bringing the widely known fixed-income investment professional and securities profile tool eMAXX™ to the investment world. He was Director of North American data research when that firm was acquired by Lipper (a Reuters company) in 2002.

Tomek earned a B.A. in History magna cum laude, with a minor in Cultural Anthropology, from SUNY at Buffalo (New York). In 2017 Tomek earned his Masters of Science degree in Applied Economics from Southern New Hampshire University. He also spent several years living and studying in Poland, Hungary, and other regions of Eastern Europe and has authored a successful book (published in late 2013) on Eastern Europe, which is going into its second edition in 2018.