At PA Consulting Group, we transform the performance of organisations.
We put together teams from many disciplines and backgrounds to tackle the most complex problems facing our clients, working with leaders and their staff to turn around organisations in the private and public sectors. Clients call on us when they want:
• an innovative solution: counter-intuitive thinking and groundbreaking solutions
• a highly responsive approach: we listen, and then we act decisively and quickly
• delivery of hard results: we get the job done, often trouble-shooting where previous initiatives have failed.
We are an independent, employee-owned, global firm of 3,000 talented individuals, operating from offices across the world, in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania. We have won numerous awards for delivering complex and highly innovative assignments, run one of the most successful venture programmes in our industry, have technology development capability that few firms can match, deep expertise across key industries and government, and a unique breadth of skills from strategy to IT to HR to applied technology.
• defence
• energy
• financial services
• government and public services
• international development
• life sciences and healthcare
• manufacturing
• postal services
• retail
• telecommunications
• transportation
• strategic management
• innovation and technology
• IT
• operational improvement
• human resources
• complex programme delivery
Achieving agility through market-wide transformationPA Consulting Group (PA) has helped the London Metal Exchange (LME) to replace an ageing matching system with a new in-house solution, LMEsmart.
The new solution will enhance the LME’s market development capability, allowing new products to be introduced in weeks rather than in months. Annually, the move will bring the LME income of £4.5m...
Implementing a new shared services groupFollowing a merger, stakeholders frequently become dissatisfied because the projected benefits are not realised. To pre-empt this danger, one pharmaceutical company brought in PA to help design and implement a new shared service group to meet the newly merged entity’s financial needs. This group was to provide transaction processing as well as...
Helping with supplier selectionA large pharmaceutical company asked PA for help when its supplier was unable to meet its increasingly complex needs or to provide the required service levels at acceptable cost.
PA identified alternative sourcing options and assisted the client through all phases of a Request for Proposals (RFP) lifecycle: RFP creation, bid evaluation, short...
Partnerships for Schools (PfS) is responsible for delivering Building Schools for the Future (BSF), a 15-year programme that will transform education by rebuilding or refurbishing all of England’s 3,500 state secondary schools. As a central government programme delivered through local government, strong performance management is critical to...
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) had an ambitious programme to replace the construction industry tax deduction scheme to reduce the millions in tax lost to fraud and non-compliance. The programme had a background of potentially disruptive change, including the merger of the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise and the transition of the department’s...
Office of Government Commerce buying.solutionsWINNER OF OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE CATEGORY, MCA MANAGEMENT AWARDS 2008
The UK government’s Gershon efficiency review concluded that the public sector could save over £6 billion by transforming its procurement practices. Public sector procurement has historically been paper-based, manual and process heavy. Streamlining this required true...
The Carer’s Allowance Unit (CAU) of the Disability and Carers Service (DCS), an agency of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), had to increase its service capacity and maintain quality to cope with a 25% reduction in staff. It saw the introduction of ‘Lean’ management as a proven route to success. It also aimed to provide an...
The Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) helps the five main criminal justice agencies in England and Wales to meet government targets, especially bringing more offences to justice and increasing public confidence in the Criminal Justice System (CJS). To this end it set up the Performance Action Team (PAT) to work with all the key criminal agencies...
In the past 20 years security and intelligence have changed beyond recognition. The Cold War has given way to global terrorism, where planned atrocities are masked by exponential increases in data volumes and communication methods. The UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) continuously innovates and changes its information systems...
Norwich Union HealthcareFINALIST OF BEST BUISINESS STRATEGY CONSULTANCY, MCA MANAGEMENT AWARDS 2008
Large organisations characteristically have difficulty in embracing rapid change; for insurance companies, this difficulty is often compounded by an aversion to risk. In just seven months, PA has helped Norwich Union Healthcare (NUHC) towards achieving a strategic transformation...
Executive summary When automotive roof specialist Inalfa hit profitability problems, it asked PA to help it plan and implement a fundamental restructuring programme in Europe and the USA, focusing on purchasing, new product engineering and operations. PA turned the company around in just six months. Inalfa simultaneously achieved a rapid return to...
Up to 80% of heart attacks are caused by ‘vulnerable plaques’ (VPs) – lesions in arteries that often produce no symptoms, until they rupture and cause sudden heart attacks. The detection of VP has proved elusive, and the race is on to find a technique that is economic and effective. Thermocore’s solution is thermal imaging....
In the former Soviet republic of Georgia, PA Consulting Group is taking responsibility for transforming a bloated, corruption-ridden central part of the Georgian economy – the state-owned electricity company. It has been turned around in two years, helping to improve Georgia’s economy, providing better access to electricity and raising...
When London Underground merged into Transport for London (TfL) in 2003 to complete the formation of TfL, its legacy HR service was complex and fragmented. TfL decided on a new model of HR operation, based on HR shared-service, to provide a more efficient and cohesive service and release money for reinvestment in public transport. With PA’s...
To meet its goal of becoming the UK’s leading water company, Severn Trent Water (STW) knew that it needed to overhaul its contact systems for its eight million household and business customers. These systems were disparate and unwieldy, and affected customer service. They threatened its competitive position, and this would worsen if, as many...
The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) commissioned PA Consulting Group to lead a Targeted Interventions Project (TIP) to improve the collection of criminal fines. As a result, the payment rate for criminal fines in England and Wales increased from 69% in 2003-04 to 80% in 2004-05, equating to an additional £24 million in fines collected,...
PA Consulting Group has helped to revolutionise roads policing in the UK. Dedicated police teams working with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems have disrupted criminals and improved road safety. Now that counter-terrorist intelligence is a high priority, this initiative has proved that smarter use of existing resources can enhance...
It may seem a strange claim for any employer – a world-class redundancy programme. But with help from PA, UWV (the Dutch social security department) achieved exactly that when it closed down part of its organisation, which employed 2,600 people at the start of the project. Developed in partnership with PA, UWV’s imaginative, innovative...
PA’s technological expertise is helping Transport for London (TfL) to implement iBus, one of the most complex projects of its kind in the world. iBus introduces a modern Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and telecommunications platform to support the management of London’s 8,000-plus buses, and accommodate any future expansion of the fleet....
Gas in the UK is piped from the main import terminals through a long-distance bulk gas pipeline system and then through eight regional distribution pipeline networks (DNs) ultimately connected to homes and businesses. In May 2003, National Grid, then sole owner of all the gas networks, announced a proposal to sell four of the eight DNs. The transaction...
PA and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) delivered a successful Outsourced Services Programme (OSP) for second-generation contracts worth well over £1 billion for four major services. The MPS can confidently look forward to reliability, accountability and innovation from its new service providers, while enjoying savings of at least £80...
Jobcentre PlusWINNER OF HUMAN RESOURCES CATEGORY, MCA MANAGEMENT AWARDS 2007
Jobcentre Plus assesses and pays complex social security benefits to UK claimants. It sought to reduce expensive training costs for recruits with a new programme of tailored learning modules, blending classroom-based learning with state-of-the-art e-learning.
It invited tenders for...
The Highways AgencyWINNER OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT CATEGORY, MCA MANAGEMENT AWARDS 2007
PA Consulting Group (PA) has helped England’s Highways Agency (HA) take more responsibility for dealing with accidents, breakdowns and other incidents. It has helped build a new partnership with the police to reduce road congestion and improve road safety.
By 2003, congestion...
PA delivered a programme of sustainable cost reductions across complex, highly regulated activities vital for the UK’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet. Devonport Management Limited (DML) is a private company supporting the Royal Navy’s operations in Plymouth Naval Base. It refits nuclear-powered submarines, a technically demanding job...
Within a single assignment, PA worked with BP to help protect not only their people, operations and reputation, but also critical national infrastructures and the environment. BP, a global leader in the petrochemicals industry, places huge importance on health, safety, security and the environment. It sets itself to tackle risks – like cyber...
National SavingsNational Savings – an Executive Agency of the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer – designs, markets and administers savings and investment products for personal savers and investors.
Serving the needs of customers for savings products and the needs of the Treasury for effective funding of the National Debt, National Savings has to deliver...
The Inland Revenue (IR) is a major Government Department, responsible for the efficient administration of an increasingly diverse range of services. These include, for example, the collection of income tax and National Insurance contributions, the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage, the payment of Tax Credits and from April 2003, Child Benefit....
Imagine an organisation having to manage the weekly allocation of a workforce of some 3,000 staff spread over 20 locations between 100 different streams of work extending forward over 18 months: that’s some 30,000 manpower allocation decisions per week. Then factor in varying imperatives, as some types of work become more important than others,...
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) urgently needed improved productivity, particularly in processing self-assessment tax returns, to meet demanding quality and efficiency targets. Implementation of ‘Lean’ manufacturing techniques in the automotive sector, based on fast, flexible flow of materials along the production line, and elimination of waste...
Some 25 million British adults receive one or more of the state benefits and pensions administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). In the past, the majority (approximately 60%) of claimants have chosen to have their benefit paid through paper-based methods such as an order book, which could be cashed at Post Offices. Although tried and...
The Youth Justice Board (YJB) was established in 1998 with the overall aim of reducing youth crime. To support the delivery of its aim, the Youth Justice Board was charged with reducing delays in the youth justice process. This reflected one of the Government’s five key manifesto pledges – that of halving the average arrest to sentence time...
The Youth Justice Board of England and Wales asked PA Consulting Group to support the implementation of its Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP) – the Board’s new flagship programme for dealing with serious and persistent young offenders. This was a bold and innovative attempt to reduce crime by engaging with some of...
Persistent offenders – responsible for far more than their fair share of crimes – are now getting short shrift from the justice system in England and Wales, thanks in part to a new management information system created for the Home Office and its partner agencies by PA Consulting Group. Designed, developed and implemented in under six months,...
PA Consulting Group helped the Home Office’s Drug Interventions Programme (DIP), to improve care for the UK’s 250,000 problematic drug users. For the first time, DIP can accurately monitor and report on its effectiveness to all levels of Government including the Prime Minister, to whom it is directly accountable. DIP is a world first in...
PA has helped the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) to improve the collection of criminal fines, equating to an additional £13 million of fines collected. Increasing the fine collection rate - to a national target of 75% - was a key government objective for the Criminal Justice System. PA worked closely with the DCA and Magistrates’...
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is responsible for prosecuting people in England and Wales charged with a criminal offence. The CPS is uniquely involved at every stage in the criminal justice system (CJS), from investigation to arrest through to sentencing. This end-to-end participation came about a result of Lord Justice Aulds’ review of...
UKvisas chose PA as independent delivery partner for a global programme that has made the issuing of visas more efficient, more customer-friendly, and, vitally more secure at its 161 overseas diplomatic missions. UKvisas (the body responsible for the issue of visas to enter the UK) chose PA Consulting Group to help update its business processes and...
Scottish Care Information (SCI) is a programme established by NHSScotland to provide integrated information systems across the health service with the aim of improving patient care. NHSScotland reform is at the heart of the Scottish Executive’s agenda and ministers have committed to implementing electronic communications between GPs and hospitals...
PA Consulting Group has participated with the NHS in Scotland to redevelop GPASS – a completely integrated Windows-based system for supporting GP practices. GPASS supports all aspects of the practice, including patient and clinical records, patient consultation facilities and powerful searching and information manipulation facilities. First developed...
In June 2003, there were 66,805 patients who were waiting more than six months for orthopaedic surgery. This was the surgical speciality that faced the biggest challenge in the country with respect to waiting times. Reducing wait times for surgery is fundamental to the creation of a patient centred NHS. Ensuring fast access to treatment is key to the...
The Student Loans Company Ltd
The English higher education sector comprises over 130 independent and self-governing universities and colleges. They receive more than £7 billion of public funding each year under a complex range of arrangements and for varied policy purposes. The diversity of the sector and its funding arrangements presents challenges for effective accountability...
The UK's DfES Strategy Unit needed to respond to a number of critical challenges including a desire to empower children, parents and learners. There was also growing demand that the centre act as a smaller strategic central department and drive improvements in outcomes through ‘joined-up’ service delivery. PA worked closely with the DfES...
With help from PA Consulting Group, Westminster City Council (WCC) is leading the way in showing how Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can enable public sector organisations to transform themselves around the needs of their customers. Just months after implementation, the project is delivering dramatic performance and cost improvements. At Westminster,...
Southampton is the largest city on the UK's south coast with a population of 228,60. It is one of the UK's most historic ports and as such regularly welcomes visitors from all over the world. The authority maintains a position of being 'three star' and improving well but, like many authorities, faces the challenge of meeting the growing needs of its...
The environment within which the Department is working is set to change considerably over the next five to ten years. Issues include reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, market changes within the agri-food sector, changes to rural society and farming, on-going protection against emergencies in animal health and public sector reform. To help position...
Supporting the ukonline.gov.uk Life Events The UK online programme aims to deliver on the Prime Minister’s commitment that all UK Government services will be available on-line by 2005. ukonline.gov.uk, the Web portal, was one of the first and most visible outputs of this programme. Within the portal, the Life Events provide citizen-centric, event-specific,...
Thames Water Utilities Ltd is part of the RWE group, a leading multi-utility group providing electricity, gas and water services worldwide. Thames Water provides water and wastewater services to over 13 million customers in the UK and 64 million across 46 countries worldwide. Under regulatory obligation to meet customer performance targets, and no...
The London Metal Exchange (LME), established in 1877 and a cornerstone of commodity derivatives trading, is one of the most complex of its kind. The global reference for pricing of non-ferrous metals, the LME trades about 7,000 types of futures and options contracts. Until now, trading has been possible only via open outcry in the 'ring' or via a...
UtiliCorp United, Inc. (UCU ) is responsible for approximately 30 former manufactured gas plant sites that they acquired through acquisitions and mergers with other utilities. UCU holds the legal responsibility for clean up of any residual contamination left over from when these sites functioned as manufactured gas plant sites. UCU wanted to recover...
The Office of Electricity Regulation (OFFER) was charged by the Government with overseeing the establishment of a competitive market for domestic electricity supply in Great Britain by 1998. The scale of the undertaking was massive and unprecedented, effectively requiring an industry to be re-engineered. A new legal framework had to be established...
For electric and gas utility call center that serves over 200,000 customers, PA created and implemented performance improvement strategies to increase customer focus while substantially reducing operational costs and personnel issues. The client was experiencing problems that included: Service associated availability less than 40% Abandoned call...
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for payment of social security benefits and pensions throughout the UK. Until recently, around 13 million customers received these payments via order books and girocheques, cashable at the Post Office®, with the remaining 10 million being paid electronically via their bank or building society...
Reuters is a leading global news and financial information company that provides indispensable information for professionals in the financial services, media and corporate markets. Although probably best known as the world’s largest international multimedia news agency, Reuters derives more than 90 percent of its revenue from its financial services...
VirginmoneyVirginmoney is an on-line infomediary specialising in financial products for the consumer market. It is a joint venture between Virgin Group and AMP, the Australian life insurance company.
From launch, Virginmoney's effort was focused mainly on attracting customers to the Web site and on providing a superior on-line customer experience.
Once the...
The experience of global financial organizations in preparing for the euro conversion weekend has important lessons for companies preparing for any major transition event, particularly the logistics of command and control centers. UBS is among the dominant players in the global financial services industry, with its private banking division ranked largest...
Standard Chartered Bank (SCB)
The post-deal management of an acquired company is clearly a critical factor in a successful acquisition strategy. Yet, in many cases, the resource and planning devoted to such management proves to be insufficient. This is the main reason why some 70 percent of acquisitions are deemed to have failed over time. Société Générale...
Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland operates four Cash Centres based in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Manchester. Although perceived favourably by external customers, many internal customers in other sections within the bank did not feel positive about the service.
PA was asked to help generate increased efficiency, improved and consistent service and...
Prudential Retail is the marketing and distribution division of Prudential plc, one of the UK’s largest life insurance and pension companies. For organisations in the dynamic, fiercely competitive and highly regulated retail financial services sector, old certainties are being swept away by new technology and competition. Across the industry,...
Nationwide had an existing framework for the allocation of capital for credit, market, operational, business and insurance risk. However, the allocation of capital for operational risk was calculated as a multiple of revenue in each business, much like the Basic and Standardized approaches in the new Basel Accord. The Society felt that this approach...
National Savings is a UK government agency that designs, markets and administers savings and investment products for personal savers and investors. PA used a sophisticated quantitative analytical model to understand fully the value-adding (and value-destroying) features of an important new savings product. This Customer Preference Modeling technique...
The UK’s second-largest provider of savings products sought to grow into new market segments. National Savings & Investments (NS&I) asked PA to assess the viability of a new investment vehicle, the Guaranteed Equity Bond. PA formulated a strong case for its introduction by quantifying the product’s prospective market demand and predicted...
The London Metal Exchange (LME) is the premier non-ferrous base metals futures market and carries a worldwide reputation. The key function of the LME is the publication of its market prices which are used the world over, and provide unique official prices for the global metals markets. PA Consulting Group worked with the LME as an independent delivery...
This bank decided to replace its existing legacy credit card systems to prepare for the anticipated move to Chip & PIN on payment cards during 2005 following their introduction in the UK, to improve the technology platform and reduce costs. This was to be achieved by outsourcing its account processing to a global provider of such services. Recognizing...
The Deutsche Bank Group, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, is the world’s largest financial services group with total assets exceeding € 800bn. The Group is represented in 68 countries and employs more than 90,000 people. In late 1994 Deutsche Bank announced its intention to integrate its London branch with Morgan Grenfell, which it...
Following a recent merger, one of the world's largest insurers, employing around 59,000 people, identified the exploitation of potential synergies across the group as a key priority for all executives. Building on the operational improvements already achieved through the company's existing HR effectiveness review, and drawing on PA expertise in designing...
As a result of its transition into diverse, fee-based business, this global financial services provider had increased its operational risk profile. The client asked PA to develop a strategy to improve its ability to manage operational risk.
The bank's people strategy will create a proactive HR function that can advise the business on the people implications of maintaining a competitive edge - leading to improvements in shareholder value.
PA assisted this universal bank to establish its global shared service centers in India and Malaysia. The aim was to centralize processes across borders and business units into a single operating model that maximized the benefits of lower cost locations, and exploited economies of scale and synergies available from converging business processes. This...
A global investment bank required a confidential, independent assessment of an IT outsourcing proposition that had been submitted by a major global IT consultancy and service provider. Within an environment of escalating IT costs and a poor track record of IT change, the bank was keen to bring in an external party to take on the global management of...
This global financial services organization has grown rapidly through acquisition. The organization knew it could realize large cost savings by exploiting synergies in procurement and sourcing, but needed help in achieving these goals. PA was commissioned to implement a management information system for procurement spend, with the initial phase consolidated...
Following the client bank’s acquisition of a competitor, Total Systems (TSYS) was selected as the future credit card transaction processor for the combined cards business of the group. PA was asked to manage a substantial and complex change program to integrate card processing for both banks’ consumer and commercial cards portfolios onto...
British Gas Services is one of the new business units resulting from the structural reorganization of British Gas, responsible for central heating installation and maintenance across the UK. In order to develop its vision for the 21st century, the client undertook a review of its cost base, organizational structure and prevailing market conditions....
PA helped BP create a data warehouse system for optimising worldwide procurement. Oyster allows BP to pursue its commitment to devoted decision-making, yet at the same time sharing knowledge and information to obtain the benefits of aggregating purchases across the organisation. With improved co-ordination on purchasing, new and beneficial supplier...
In 2002, the Commission for Energy Regulation in Ireland undertook a review of the interim electricity wholesale trading arrangements. PA drew upon our global experience in electricity industry and market reform to assist CER in this review. We then helped CER assess and select options for a new electricity market. The Commission for Energy Regulation...
BP Amoco, the result of the merger between BP and Amoco in 1999, is one of the largest companies in the world. It is an integrated oil, gas and petrochemical company with a growing interest in renewable energy sources. In 1993 BP underwent a dramatic organizational change into a flat, federal structure of discrete businesses in the belief that smaller,...
Westland Helicopters Ltd, an AgustaWestland company, designs, builds and supports civil and military helicopters. PA undertook an independent industry benchmarking study to determine whether Westland had the level of capability required and how competitive the company was when compared to the best prime contractors in the industry. The study highlighted...
PA supported the in-house option (IHOT) bid team who were tasked with assessing the in-house opportunity to restructure, streamline and rationalise the Defence Supply Chain, to reduce costs of ownership while maintaining or improving service levels and enhancing operation capability.
Over a four-month period, PA assisted the Director Logistics Munitions to develop an issues-based long-term strategy for the in-service support to a £9Bn inventory of munitions (from small arms ammunition to complex weapons) across Defence. The strategy outlines improvements that will deliver significant effectiveness improvements over the next...
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) programme involves the delivery of centrally-managed IT infrastructure services for 300,000 users in order to underpin business processes and improve Command and Battlespace management. To support the programme, PA worked with MOD staff to develop a ‘should-cost’ model,...
Devonport Management Ltd (DML) recognised that a major step change in procurement practice was required in order to maintain its customer commitment to reduce the cost and timescale of maintenance and refit activity, and so avoid contractual penalties. Over five years, DML has established a commercial procurement function with senior professional...
The Defence Evaluation Research Agency (DERA) was part of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) providing R&D and consultancy advice to both the MOD and the defence industry in the UK as well as other friendly nations. When established, as one of the largest ‘Next Steps’ agencies, they embarked on an ambitious change programme, which PA helped...
To maintain a competitive edge in the crowded UK mobile phone market, Orange needed to deliver new infrastructure and customer products as rapidly as possible, while maintaining high reliability and quality standards. Realising that resource bottlenecks - perceived shortages of people and sometimes equipment - had been delaying projects, Orange asked...
Westinghouse Rail Systems Limited (WRSL) is one of the world’s leading providers of railway signalling and control systems. It earns most of its revenue through contracts to design, build and maintain these systems. Most of these systems are safety-critical – so WRSL cannot compromise on engineering design and installation. Anticipating...
The Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) was established in 1995 to coordinate the multiple agencies that are involved in transportation in the Greater Dublin Area and agree an integrated transport strategy for the Greater Dublin Area. The DTO makes a continuous input to transportation planning and associated land use policy through a team of engineers,...
Cathay Pacific Airways is an international airline based in Hong Kong offering scheduled passenger and cargo services to 49 destinations around the world. The airline differentiates itself through the delivery of excellent customer service. Information technology is core to supporting its differentiation and all related CRM and e-Business initiatives....
British Airways (BA) is the worlds largest international airline, with inventory, reservations and departure control systems that have supported the business for 30 years and underpinned numerous daily business processes. However, these systems were becoming increasingly expensive and difficult to maintain and enhance, and new channels of supply were...
This leading global transportation company has become increasingly dependent on electronic channels for doing business. More than 65% of bookings are received and processed electronically. While streamlining this process has been hugely beneficial, the dependency on electronic channels has also made them vulnerable to any event that would cut off customers...
In October 2006, Vodafone launched its first Vodafone-only branded handset, the VF 710. This UMTS mobile marks the mobile operator’s entry into the handset market with a product bearing its own brand and is designed to maximise use of UMTS multimedia services. Produced exclusively for Vodafone by the Chinese company Huawei Technologies, the VF...
This infrastructure supports voice communications, bus position determination, traffic light priority for buses, and information collation for contract management. TfL originally introduced much of this technology in the 1980s, and functionality has subsequently been added to the legacy systems. Since its introduction, much of the core technology used...
The Digital Network (TDN) is a grouping of the UK's digital terrestrial broadcasters: ONdigital, BBC, Digital 3 & 4 (who provide ITV and Channel 4) and SDN (who provide Channel 5 and S4C). Together these broadcasters are responsible for launching a new Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) network. The existing analogue television network has taken...
Telenor Mobil is the mobile phone division of Norway’s leading telecommunications operator. The mobile phone market in Norway is becoming increasingly competitive and bargaining power has shifted from the telecoms companies to the customer – with customers frequently switching operators for better offers. Telenor Mobil recognises the need...
A large Network Operator that offers a wide range of communications services to homes and business customers across the UK evaluated their approach to managing physical network records. The results of this evaluation demonstrated that their network records and supporting information systems were out-dated and impacting business effectiveness. Recognizing...
As part of the overall product Quintel asked PA Consulting Group (PA) to help with the design and development of the innovative RF Receive PCB design. PA engineers worked from Quintel’s original specification to design a PCB which could be prototyped, tested and deployed in field trials in less than six months.
Type II interconnection (mandatory local loop unbundling) arrangements have been in place in the Hong Kong telecom industry for a number of years. OFTA, the regulator, indicated that Type II was a key enabler for investment in the local telecom infrastructure and was critical in ensuring sufficient consumer choice. PCCW, however, believed that OFTA...
Ntl offers a wide range of communications services to homes and business customers throughout the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Nearly 12 million homes are located within ntl's franchise areas, and ntl now serves residential customers with over 5 million cable TV, telephony and Internet services. Ntl’s ability to provide the highest quality...
Nokia is the world’s leading mobile phone supplier and one of the fastest-growing telecommunications companies in the world. Its success in this highly competitive market has seen huge growth and the company now employs over 47,000 people. Nokia’s business strategy is to expand Nokia faced with such rapid growth, the company decided to...
Mena Telecom acquired a national WiMAX licence in December 2006 - but how could it deliver one of the world’s first national WiMAX networks? Recognising that it needed expert assistance to select a partner that could build and operate the entire supporting infrastructure, Mena Telecom turned to PA Consulting Group.
In an environment of increased threats, heightened security and more complex operating environments, effective disaster recovery (DR) programs are a key business requirement. Companies that have not yet developed integrated DR plans are exposed to increased customer impact, financial loss and operational risk. A major US wireless operator with over...
The competitive battleground in the US wireless market has been dominated by network quality. All of the major operators have injected significant amounts of capital in their networks to service a growing customer base using both voice and data services. With significant competition for capital needed to develop new broadband services, operators need...
A major Western European GSM operator needed a cost assessment of UMTS FDD terminals and base stations (Node B) to support their UMTS business plan. PA developed a cost model for 3G terminals and Node B equipment, including the Bill of Materials, development costs, shipment volume forecast, production costs, IPR, profit margin etc. The assessment included...
Integrated Telecommunications Company (ITC) is a fixed data telecommunications operator headquartered in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. At the point PA Consulting Group started working with ITC on this project, the company was still in its start-up phase, after having purchased the data telecommunications licence in Saudi Arabia for $80 million and...
Digital terrestrial television (DTT) is an emerging technology that will eventually replace the current analogue broadcast transmission. PA conducted a Frequency Planning Study for the government regulator responsible for spectrum management in Hong Kong in order to inform policy options for introducing DTT. This included development of a coverage...
Davnet is an Internet protocol (IP) based broadband local access network operator based in Australia and providing a wide range of innovative services including broadband Internet access, Web hosting, IP based virtual private networks and video conferencing. The Government of Singapore, in a surprise announcement on 21 January 2000, brought forward...
In response to the Danish Regulator's request a forum of competing fixed and mobile telecom operators was formed, for the purpose of creating Long Run Average Incremental Cost (LRAIC) models of the incumbent operator's (TDC) network services. The Danish Regulator (Telestrelsen) required TDC to deliver one LRAIC model of the network services based on...
PA helped to streamline CWC's customer service operation by designing and implementing a new on-line system, enabling most callers to have their account queries answered immediately. The new billing query system was designed using PA's Integration Through Middleware (ITM) approach, which integrates data from various databases (residing in complex legacy...
BT is one of the world’s leading providers of telecommunications services and one of the largest private sector companies in Europe. Within BT’s UK fixed network retail business, the Major Business Division (MB) provides account managed and packaged solutions to BT’s corporate and government clients. MB brought in PA Consulting Group...
The British Broadcasting Corporation is the world’s leading public service broadcaster, offering a variety of television, radio and online services as part of the viewer’s annual licence fee. During the past decade new technology has provided the opportunity for new broadcast services and an expansion in capacity. There has been an explosion...
Belgacom, the national post and telephone carrier in Belgium, recognised the need for a Belgian calling card. This was to compete with the several international carriers who were offering such a service on the Belgian market and Belgacom had realised that customers wanted the convenience of a telephone charge card. With PA’s assistance Belgacom...
Austar is the leading provider of pay television, Internet and mobile services to regional Australia. In December 1999 it committed itself to becoming the first in Australia to offer comprehensive interactive television services to its subscribers, including T-mail (e-mail on TV), on-line shopping, interactive advertising and games. Commercial pressures...
AT&T Broadband is a leading US provider of broadband services. As a business unit within parent company AT&T, it provides cable television entertainment and information programming services to more than 15 million customers across the USA. AT&T Broadband has always been an innovation leader in the US cable market. An aggressive development program...
This international operator was making losses and so needed to move the business into profit. A strategic review was carried out to set a new direction. The management recognized that prices needed to be set sensibly and product managers had to be made responsible for value creation, not simply for selling volumes. Proper business intelligence data...
PA developed a UMTS business plan for a UMTS licence bidder in the UK. The overall financial model consists of revenue, cost and financial elements all linked together to provide a complete view of the expected outcome. The elements making up this model refer to a UMTS service portfolio which also drives revenues and network costs. Network costs are...
PA developed a simulation model in COSSAP for a major telecommunications manufacturer to model different traffic channels for a satellite system. The model tested the performance of both the coding schemes and equaliser under defined impairment conditions of Doppler shifts, timing jitter and propagation channels. The models were verified by measuring...
A leading telecommunications provider recognised that it needed to implement a comprehensive IT service improvement programme. The overhaul was instigated in response to growing business demand for a massive improvement in the quality of service provided by the in-house IT department. With the full backing of the client’s board, PA was asked...
WH Smith (High Street) is the well-known stores division of the WH Smith Group in the UK. Its branches are visited by 7.5 million customers every week. Competition and constant pressure on margins means that highquality business information is vital to retail business. It is an imperative that day-to-day sales information is exploited quickly if WH...
A large Network Operator that offers a wide range of communications services to homes and business customers across the UK evaluated their approach to managing physical network records. The results of this evaluation demonstrated that their network records and supporting information systems were out-dated and impacting business effectiveness. Recognizing...
PA helped Sabre change strategic direction with a value-driven outsourcing partnership. PA provided the insight and skills needed to plan and execute the fundamental changes involved in outsourcing Sabre’s IT services to a new partner and worked with that partner to realise opportunities in the travel and transportation sector.
Masons is an international law firm and one of the leading providers of legal services to the Information & Technology, Construction & Engineering, Infrastructure and Energy industries. As with any professional services firm, the ability to gather and exploit the knowledge of its staff for the benefit of its clients is fundamental to business success....
London Underground operates one of the largest and oldest metropolitan transport systems in the world. They had decided to relocate the Engineering department to Canary Wharf. PA worked with the company from the initial feasibility study to the completion of the relocation; delivering the project with no disruption to work, within challenging budget...
CMG Asia, based in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, offers life insurance, provident funds and investment services to retail clients and companies. Rapid business growth, an increasing agency sales force and a shrinking property market prompted CMG Asia to undertake a relocation to a prestigious, new office development. The entire exercise...
Clifford Chance is the world’s largest law firm with 29 offices in 19 countries. The firm aims to provide seamless global services to the world's leading financial institutions and multinational businesses. With the trend towards globalization within many large organizations, there is a need to collaborate across geographic and time barriers....
BDO Stoy Hayward is the sixth largest accounting firm in the UK. Specialising in providing expert advice to businesses which aspire to grow, its corporate clients range from start ups to multinational businesses. BDO Stoy Hayward’s services include audit and accounting, corporate finance, corporate recovery and insolvency, management consultancy...
This international law firm has several thousand staff in numerous locations world-wide. The IT department provides the firm with the full spectrum of IT services, from global infrastructure and a helpdesk, to the applications required by the business to ensure it operates as a modern, digitally enabled law firm. Following the appointment of a new...
The world of professional services is undergoing unprecedented change. This major international accounting firm recognised that its clients were increasingly demanding more global and higher quality advice and services. To ensure the firm could keep pace with its clients’ demands, it moved to operate as one global organisation, bringing all national...
Facing mounting pressure from Wall Street, competitors, and clients to improve service delivery quality while reducing costs, the financial services institution made a strategic decision to migrate a large portion of its North American call center and back office work to Asia. Although the firm’s operations unit had initiated the process of migrating...
Our client, a global telecommunications provider, had major problems while rolling out a new management approach in their business account services team. The senior management team had planned to use this initiative to deliver performance improvement and cost reduction but, in the face of strong resistance to change, was considering canceling the initiative...
Members of PA’s postal network design team used our Postal Network Planner tool to help the client develop its future national mail logistics and automation strategy.
WMS is a purchasing and distribution organisation jointly owned by Shropshire County Council, The Borough of Telford and Wrekin, Herefordshire Council and Worcester County Council. The organisation was established in 1987, based on the staff and assets of the Shropshire County Council supplies organisation, as a general procurement service, utilities...
This start-up manufacturer, supplying products to a major OEM, was experiencing problems in ramping-up to full volumes in terms of both product quality and delivery performance. PA helped launch the product into volume manufacture, by: Making design changes to improve manufacturability Improving process documentation Transfering production...
Under pressure to reduce manufacturing costs, our client believed that their design of certain parts in the fuel system could be improved, but did not have the necessary resources. Using our proven benchmarking process we evaluated five competitive systems for function and cost. Using this data we worked with our client's staff to identify and...
IDV (Grand Metropolitan), now UDV Diageo, the global drinks company, had conceived and tested a radically new two-part product in the international drinks market – Sheridan’s Perfect Pour. Whilst the brand had stimulated market interest worldwide, and gained international recognition as the most innovative drinks packaging for many years,...
Pepsi Bottling Group, a dominant global player in the multi-billion dollar beverage industry, approached PA Consulting Group for assistance in solving a key business issue. The client’s operating costs, in the region of $1 billion per annum, were increasing each year and executives were keen to reverse the trend. Pepsi also felt they were not...
Evian, part of the Danone group of companies, is the brand leader in natural mineral water, both in terms of volume sales and market dominance. With a presence in over 120 countries worldwide, the brand accounts for over 800 million litres of bottled water sold annually. As part of Evian’s strategic development of the brand it needed to stimulate...
Courage, formerly owned by the worldwide Fosters Brewing Group and now part of Scottish Courage, was facing declining market share of its leading canned beer brands in the highly competitive UK take-home sector. The market for traditional dark beers had been under pressure for some time, and Courage’s major competitors, Guinness and Whitbread,...
The company's existing supply chain approach was failing to achieve the required standards of customer service. Supply chain costs were too high and there was growing concern over the company's ability to sustain growth. PA developed manufacturing and supply chain strategies, operating models and network designs to meet customer requirements. These...
All major components and outsourced parts for this UK company's aircraft conversion program were sourced from the US, with ordering responsibility lying with a US design house. It was recognized that there was an opportunity for cost saving by transferring ordering responsibility in-house and using European based suppliers. PA identified and...
Jardine Engineering Corporation (JEC), a subsidiary of the Hong-Kong-based conglomerate Jardine Matheson, provides comprehensive engineering services, contracting, and supplies building products and E&M equipment to the construction and property sector in Hong Kong. The 2001-2003 slump in property values hit JEC’s market hard, with fewer projects...
A food processor which can knead bread dough, weigh and mix the ingredients for a delicate sauce, cook the sauce and boil a litre of water rapidly, sounds like something out of science fiction. But it is not: such a machine was developed by PA Consulting Group for Vorwerk, a leading German manufacturer of consumer appliances, and is now exceeding predicted...
Professional and DIY tool manufacturer Bosch wanted to expand its product range into electronic measurement tools, but lacked the resources to implement a digital metal detector within the required timescale. PA assisted with design and development, achieving a one year time scale from engineering model to start of production.
Sales significantly below budget, combined with substantial over-capacity and over-manning throughout the business, had resulted in a forecast multimillion-dollar loss for the year for this client. Internal cost reduction plans were felt to be inadequate to turn this situation around. PA carried out a benchmark comparison of every function...
This start-up manufacturer, supplying products to a major OEM, was experiencing problems in ramping-up to full volumes in terms of both product quality and delivery performance. PA helped launch the product into volume manufacture, by: Making design changes to improve manufacturability Improving process documentation Transfering production...
Following a series of acquisitions this client had over 100 warehouse sites supporting 11 related businesses across Europe. The capital required to update these facilities to meet the latest safety and environmental standards was not readily available and operating costs were rising. PA involved all 11 businesses in developing and agreeing...
As competitors changed their distribution and contracting practices, this household-name company needed to obtain better value for money from its road transport contractors. PA surveyed distribution best practice - both in the petroleum industry and in other sectors. From this survey, PA developed, tested and implemented a policy incorporating...
Medium Voltage is the Transition & Distribution division of Siemens Power, supplying mid-voltage components and switchgear to the Asian market. In order to ensure a competitive price and delivery capability, Siemens decided to establish additional capacity by relocating several production lines from its Frankfurt and Berlin factories to Wuxi in China....
Perkins was to introduce the first of a new range of high performance electronically controlled diesel engines, with full production volumes early in 2002. The company faced various challenges with the new engine, such as the installation of new capital equipment and many new processes. As part of Perkins' structured new-product introduction program,...
PA Consulting Group (PA) had been asked to work with Fiat Auto – the largest company in the huge Fiat Group empire – to support an aggressive cost-reduction programme for annual purchasing of more than €1 billion.
This client had successfully entered the in-car telematics market with a high performance navigation system. However its attempts to repeat this success with additional products in the high volume marketplace were failing. The client wanted to understand why this was happening and to devise a development and commercialization strategy that would...
PA's client had over-capacity in their North American operations that made mature product families with limited product life, resulting in a high manufacturing cost base. To counter this, the company had identified opportunities to move production to lower cost regions. Using PA's proven project management techniques we successfully managed the...
A new venture company, with no existing production facility or automotive industry experience, had been set up to develop a low volume, niche-market car. The vehicle design involved several unconventional and unproven production processes. Our challenge was to design and build an efficient production facility capable of producing 5,000 vehicles per...
PA worked in close partnership with this leading international automotive supplier of electronics, electrical systems and mechatronics on several high-profile relocations of production facilities to lower-cost economies, as a result of pressure from the client's customers to cut product costs. Each relocation presented similar complex challenges and...
PA Consulting Group has helped the Medicines Control Agency to set up a highly innovative, strategic outsourcing contract, within only two years from the time the project was first conceived. The arrangement has already started to deliver a 20% reduction in operating costs. The benefits of improved procedures for approving medicines and monitoring...
Junior doctors in the UK and Ireland have historically worked very long hours – often more than 70 hours per week. This has serious implications for standards of patient care and safety, as well as staff morale. However, this situation is changing. The EC Working Time Directive places a legal requirement on member states to reduce the working...
Scottish Care Information (SCI) is a programme established by NHSScotland to provide integrated information systems across the health service with the aim of improving patient care. NHSScotland reform is at the heart of the Scottish Executive’s agenda and ministers have committed to implementing electronic communications between GPs and hospitals...
PA Consulting Group has participated with the National Health Service in Scotland to redevelop GPASS - a completely integrated Windows-based system for supporting general practitioners (GPs). GPASS (General Practioner Administration System) supports all aspects of the practice, including patient and clinical records, patient consultation facilities...
Choice is central to the UK Government’s vision for the National Health Service (NHS), which is about developing a service that remains open to all, but personalised around the needs of individual patients. For the first time NHS patients will not only be allowed to choose where they have their treatment, but also be free to choose the time and...
The separation of the DHSS into the Department of Social Security and the Department of Health left the Department of Health with a fragmented infrastructure. Bespoke IT systems provided support to local business areas, but there was little opportunity for achieving wider benefits. In addition, the purchase of equipment had historically been driven...
In March 2000, PA formed a collaboration with SkyePharma plc to develop jointly a range of non-CFC-propelled metered dose asthma products - a compelling combination of SkyePharma's drug delivery know-how and PA's device design expertise. The collaboration has now been further enhanced by the formation of Meridica, PA's drug delivery company launched...
As part of a post-launch surveillance programme, Glaxo Wellcome commissioned the construction of a substantial number of inhalers with built in computer data logging. These use microelectronics technology built inside metered dose and multidose dry powder inhalers which keep electronic records of inhaler use. PA's role for Glaxo Wellcome during the...
The Taifun is a high performance, attractive and easy to use metered dose powder inhaler which is available for licensing from Leiras Oy. PA’s role for Leiras included: a full industrial design programme; design and manufacture of engineering models for performance testing and development; design and development of prototype units for clinical...
A British manufacturer of medical instruments asked PA to develop an innovative new product to expand its business. This resulted in the development of the world’s first handheld, non-contact tonometer, to measure internal eye pressure in the diagnosis of glaucoma. Initially PA carried out a feasibility study to determine the measurement technique....
PA developed a novel colonoscope for Ethicon Endo-Surgery from initial concept to clinical trial units in twelve months. The device was smaller, lighter and more flexible than existing 'scopes and used a guidewire to facilitate navigation through the colon. Risk to the program was minimized through early prototype testing and regular design reviews....
Nexan Telemed is a medical service provider based in Cambridge, UK. It has been trading since 1997, developing a service to provide ‘near real-time’ monitoring of physiological data of home-based patients. The data may be forwarded to a GP, hospital or drug trialling company, or to a data monitoring company representing any of those parties...
A sophisticated product that is easy to use Start Diagnostics saw a need in the marketplace for a clinical chemistry analyser that would offer the functionality of larger, more expensive instruments but would be both low cost and easy to use. A cost-effective instrument with an intuitive user interface would be suitable for use in point-ofcare settings....
In early 2001 PA was approached by Metris Therapeutics, a specialist pharmaceutical company focusing on women’s healthcare, to assist it with establishing a manufacturing process for products to be used in the treatment of benign gynaecological conditions such as menorrhagia/dysmenorrhea, using a novel vaginal drug delivery system. A patent covering...
Delivering low product cost and high product performance Critikon is a leading provider of patient monitors that perform non-invasive monitoring of vital physiological parameters primarily used in hospitals. As part of its continual improvement policy, Critikon wished to review the design of the DINAMAP® Compact Monitor. PA was asked to redesign...
A top-tier pharmaceutical company was developing life-cycle options to extend its franchise in a key therapeutic area. PA was asked to perform a technical review of the platform under consideration, develop and manage feasibility studies to validate the technology’s key claims, and manage the product and clinical development phases transferring...
A multidisciplinary team from PA Consulting Group worked with the European Pricing Group to realise its vision of a drug pricing and reimbursement database. In accordance with PA's 'insight to implementation' philosophy, our pharma and information systems experts saw the project right through from feasibility study to delivery of the solution and roll-out....
PA was tasked to assist a global pharmaceutical company in the development of an e-strategy for R&D. The business analysis confirmed the value of several high-priority opportunities, and became the basis for the strategic approach. The strongest of these opportunities have market values in excess of $1 billion and will save months on the development...
PA’s client had recently made a series of major acquisitions and expanded its sales force significantly. It now needed to develop its technology strategy to support the emerging needs of its US sales force. As a result of this assignment the major benefits for the client included: a documented process that aligns their technology's strategic...
BASF AG is one of the leading companies in the chemical industry, with sales in excess of DM 54 billion ($32.3 billion). Its products include chemical products, natural gas, oil, crop protection products and pharmaceuticals. BASF operates worldwide, maintaining business ties with customers in more than 170 countries and operating facilities in 39 of...
PA’s client needed to double the number of new chemical entities found per year. As part of a cross functional team, PA: developed an IT and automation strategy to allow the Discovery department to achieve its 2000 and 2005 goals. identified process bottlenecks and key issues, and simulated key automation to ensure that all recommendations...
PA was engaged by a major pharmaceutical company to test the hypothesis that the application of pharmacogenetics (PGx) in drug development promised faster time to market at lower cost. The team identified how pharmacogenetics could influence today’s drug development and commercialization processes and modelled the differences to quantify the...
A leading global pharmaceutical company needed to increase the speed of its processes, discovery and late-stage development. The company asked PA to help design, implement and manage a major R&D process improvement initiative focused on pre-clinical and early clinical development. Partnering with a global taskforce of senior managers, PA delivered...
A global pharmaceutical development and manufacturing company asked PA to assist with the integration of a major acquisition. PA worked with the client to develop an integration plan focused on operational savings in the manufacturing process, supply renegotiation and asset rationalization. Providing not only analysis and benchmarking but also program...
Norton Healthcare, a subsidiary of the US-based IVAX Corporation, has become the UK’s largest manufacturer and supplier of generic (off-patent) pharmaceuticals. Rapid growth resulted in a huge increase in new product development (NPD) projects. Unfortunately Norton’s data system was failing to provide information to support future NPD selection....
Guilford Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company, established in 1993, that focuses on research into neurological drugs and biopolymer drug delivery systems. It has developed one product to date, GLIADEL®Wafer – a unique, implantable drug used to treat certain types of brain cancer. Guilford’s long-standing strategic objective...
PA supported the listing of Keryx Pharmaceuticals by providing third-party due diligence on its technology and products, explaining the science in a language that investors could understand. PA's independent expert's report is included in the issue document, designed to meet both UK and US requirements. The inclusion of such third-party due diligence...
Cardinal Health Pharmaceutical Technology and Services asked PA to establish a ‘go to market’ plan for its Pharmaceutical Technology and Services Center (PTSC). PA helped design the business model, key processes, organization and market strategy for the PTSC. The key aspects from the assignment included: the analysis of current and future...
PA Consulting Group supported smart gmbh – one of the leading manufacturers of innovative automotive concepts and a 100%-owned subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler AG – in optimising the development cost and process of selected purchased modules for the new roadster. Working with the client’s development and purchasing functions, PA used...
Elopak is one of the worlds leading suppliers of packaging systems for liquid food products. Liquid carton packs have traditionally suffered the reputation that they are difficult to open and are not resealable. Initial plastic closure designs have been very successful and established a strong market demand for easy opening cartons. With time these...
