Being a part of the Wisconsin technology-consulting marketplace for the last eight years is like riding one really long roller coaster at Six Flags Great America – multiple thrilling highs followed by stomach turning drops, gravity defying loops careen into unexpected twists and turns threatening to throw you right out of your seat.
Since the bursting of the high tech bubble at the start of this decade, uncertainty and significant transition have characterized the Wisconsin consulting marketplace. Several consulting companies with large Wisconsin footprints have downsized, been bought out by larger national firms or gone out of business completely. Greenbrier and Russel, Born, Nortel, and Berbee are just a few brands who have changed hands or disappeared altogether. Wisconsin businesses that in the past spent money on technology consulting services like drunken sailors on a 24 hour pass now demand value and tangible proof of results before signing up for anything but a short-term consulting gig. And then there is the offshore consulting factor growing larger every year.
So, what is the current state of the Wisconsin technology-consulting marketplace? According to the unanimous opinion of three long-time technology-consulting veterans, that I spoke with recently, the market is very good indeed.
“Healthy” is the way Kurt Halhbeck, a partner at Wipfli’s Spider Logic division categorizes the marketplace. “There is strong demand for both software and technology management services in the state,” says Halhbeck. Mike O’Neill, office executive for Stratagem in Appleton concurs. “The Wisconsin marketplace is robust, with demand far exceeding supply for the foreseeable future.” Marc Blazich, VP of Milwaukee’s Tushaus Computing Services agrees with Halhbeck and O’Neill and adds that the Wisconsin market for consulting services is “excellent with the challenge being to find enough quality talent to fill the demand.” Blazich goes on to say that the Wisconsin consulting companies that prosper in the coming years are those that find a “niche” in a certain technology or skill set and form various flexible partnerships with local, national or international companies. The day when a Wisconsin based company can “go it alone” are over, according to Blazich.
Halhbeck credits a large part of the current consulting growth and positive business outlook to an enterprise resource planning tool he calls ERP, version 2.0. “Many Wisconsin businesses installed CRM (customer relationship management) or ERP solutions as part of their Y2K efforts in the late 1990s. Those initial installations are reaching end of life and need to be replaced or expanded.”
In fact, all three executives credit new versions of ERP solutions from Oracle and Microsoft as a major factor driving their business growth. ERP platform consolidation is underway, notes Stratagem’s O’Neill. “With Oracle’s purchase of JD Edwards, Seibel, and PeopleSoft a number of Wisconsin firms are using consulting companies who can help them combine and consolidate these older ERP platforms over to Oracle new offerings.”
Other factors influencing Blazich, Halhbeck, and O’Neill’s positive marketplace outlook include the rise of collaboration applications, the proliferation of J2E and .Net development tools, the increased acceptance of service-oriented architectures, the continued growth and evolution of business intelligence, and the overall integration of technology into every aspect of a firm’s day-to-day business processes.
When I asked each executive if he saw any dark clouds in this otherwise sunny picture each man said the same thing – not enough quality Wisconsin consulting talent to meet demand. “There is an acute shortage of resources statewide in all fields – both technical and project management,” said Tushaus’ Blazich. “There are many less college grads with IT degrees coming out of the universities and two-year technical colleges then ever before. This shortage impacts both consulting and in-house IT departments.”
Attracting consultants to work in Wisconsin is a constant challenge, exacerbated by the reluctance of many senior consultants to work in Wisconsin’s relatively small towns where travel is often a must do. Demand for senior talent, said all three executives, has forced them to pull consultants from all over the United States often by luring them with higher salaries, thus drives down margins. All three companies have formed partnerships with offshore firms, with Wipfli’s “Right-shoring” being one robust example of this model.
What is the next “big thing” in the Wisconsin consulting marketplace? “Whatever the customer thinks it is,” said Marc Blazich.
