BAH comes visiting & more learnings...

This week saw campus visits by a few more companies, again primarily to recruit P4s. Still these presentations provide an invaluable opportunity (to P1s such as myself) to learn about the respective companies first-hand. One of them held particular interest for me: Booz Allen Hamilton.

Yes, this is a consulting firm as well and I know I expressed some apprehensions about consulting firms being a fit for me in one of my earlier posts. Yet, there were several reasons why BAH looked good to me, not the least of which was a strong technology focus and emphasis on telecom. So, I walked into the presentation with a sense of keen anticipation. For a change, I had researched the company well in advance and had a fair idea about what to expect and where to probe.

The presentation was conducted by a Senior-VP (China Operations) & Partner, a very proper Englishman who had spent his entire professional life in the Energy sector. I found his presentation exceptinally good. Crisp, clear and very informative. A model consultant! He pointed out the pros and cons of the organization and made an objective, precise comparison between BAH and other leading strategy consulting firms. One of the pros caught my (and incidently, everyone else's...) immediate attention.

A significant drawback of working as a consultant is that while you get to strategize and plan plently, you rarely get the satisfaction of seeing out the implementation of your plans. Quite often, a consultant is not even aware of the full outcome of his suggestions. This can be pretty frustrating, particularly if you have been in the "implementing" business all your life (as I have) and relish the thrill of execution.

This appeared to be a differentiator for BAH. BAH consultants apparently, work regularly with industry management on the implementation of their initial assignments: and nowhere else does this hold true than in telecom. Several such instances were quoted, including the strategic reasoning behind the recent merger of two major wireless vendors. Now, consultants aren't supposed to reveal the identity of their clients, and our visitor stuck religiously to this decree...but I'm guessing Lucent-Alcatel. Impressive...

Well, more food for thought and I am on an information-accumulation phase right now. Speaking to the P4s, I get the feeling one of these information pieces is going to be vital in the not-so-distant future.