10 December 2020
Marianne Egelund Siig
Which tendencies will consulting firms face in 2021? CEO of Mannaz, Marianne Egelund Siig provides her take on five trends that will shape the consulting industry in the coming year.
The year is coming to an end and according to tradition, this is the time to look ahead and try to predict which trends consulting firms will face in the coming year.
CEO of the consulting firm Mannaz, Marianne Egelund Siig, points to five trends.
The #MeToo wave in Denmark has only really started to accelerate this year, but now we are experiencing, how companies have realised that it is an essential focus area, which needs to be dealt with strategically. They now ask for assistance with not only the important prevention and management of abusive behaviour, but also with the strategic effort in creating more gender-balanced, diverse, and inclusive companies.
There is no doubt that in 2021 as well, a lot of our communities and connections with clients and partners will be virtual, and therefore we will continue to see even more facets of digitalisation. Leading virtual teams has its own challenges in terms of culture, trust, communication, and collaboration, so I expect this will continue to be an important task for us to help companies manage. In 2021, it is no longer relevant to talk about the digital transformation as something we are headed towards. We and our clients are in the middle of it, and we live by it although few of us, I believe, actually realise the contours of the digital “revolution”.
In our dialogs with both private and public clients, there are clear signs, that the sustainability agenda has shifted from merely being a focus on the sideline of the company strategi to now being seriously integrated in all strategic and operational decisions. The public sectors green procurement strategi is certainly crucial in terms of pushing in that direction. We are moving from discussions primarily about CO2 emissions, climate, and quotas to focusing on all the world sustainable development goals and to working in a structured manner with the organisational and commercial gains.
It appears as if mergers and acquisitions will increase as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Certain business areas will gradually be phased out and others will gain ground, become merged, and grow. Those business areas that gain ground will also require a conversion of competencies amongst employees and management and support for the strategic, cultural, and operational development.
As an industry, we are experiencing a greater interest in entering strategic partnerships as a part of growth strategies. We need to build rewarding “eco-systems” with our own employees and competencies in collaboration with strategic partners, suppliers, and clients to solve tasks in a shared effort for the benefit of all.
All five trends apply to our clients – but to ourselves in the consulting business as well.
This article was created in collaboration with DI, who asked Marianne Egelund Siig, CEO of Mannaz, to comment on 5 trends in 2021. Read the original article here.
