Today's Management Consulting Pulse
FTI Consulting steers Trinseo through Chapter 11 with $2B debt cut and $183M financing
FTI Consulting has been engaged to manage Trinseo's Chapter 11 restructuring, aiming to reduce debt by $2 billion and secure a $183 million financing package to sustain operations. In Q1, Trinseo reported $725 million in revenue while narrowing its net loss to $116 million.
Why Warehouse Consultations Matter for Efficient Operations
Warehouse consultations are emerging as a strategic tool for companies seeking to future‑proof their distribution centers. By conducting thorough facility walkthroughs, workflow analyses, and data‑driven assessments, consultants pinpoint inefficiencies and recommend scalable storage and automation solutions. The process not only addresses immediate pain points such as space constraints and tighter delivery windows, but also creates flexible plans that accommodate growth, technology upgrades, and seasonal demand spikes. Ultimately, these consultations aim to enhance resilience, reduce long‑term costs, and deliver measurable ROI.
Prioritize End‑to‑End Process Redesign Over Quick Automation
Rushing S/4HANA implementation? Automating old processes speeds things up now but costs more long-term. Focus on end-to-end process improvement for real benefits, not just faster old ways. #S4HANA #SAP #DigitalTransformation https://t.co/ivIup3tf3s
Separate AI Training and Inference Budgets for Competitive Edge
Most teams have one AI budget line. Two different economies inside it: Training = capital expense, paid once. Inference = operational cost, paid forever, per query. The ones who separate these are building an edge others won't see until it's too late. https://t.co/WoGSNcCnG5
Ascend Analytics on Combining AI Trading with Human Insight to Maximise US Energy Storage Values
Ascend Analytics’ SmartBidder platform blends AI‑driven market forecasts with human trader oversight to boost battery energy‑storage profitability. The algorithm wins roughly 95 % of trading days, while skilled human calibration adds an estimated 5‑10 % revenue lift, exemplified by correcting ERCOT early‑morning...
Retro-Innovation: How Smart Companies Profit From the Past
MIT Sloan Management Review highlights the rise of “retro‑innovation,” where companies revive outdated technologies to capture new demand. The article notes that products like analog phones, vinyl records, and classic video‑game consoles are resonating especially with Generation Z. It outlines three...
I'd Planned to Move to Dubai in the Next Few Months -- Now We're Back to Square One
Marsh announced Nick Studer will lead Marsh Risk from April 1, succeeding Martin South, who moves to a new chief client officer role. At the same time, art‑gallery owner Dan Marsh says his plan to open a Dubai branch has been...
Cadmus Launches AI‑Driven Consulting Platform Logic.AI to Accelerate Client Outcomes
On March 17, 2026, Cadmus Group announced the launch of Cadmus Logic.AI, a unified AI strategy that blends the firm’s consulting expertise with generative, agentic and predictive AI technologies. The rollout, led by CTO Praveen Nedungottil and CEO Ian Kline,...
OpenAI Courts Private‑Equity Partners for New Enterprise AI Venture, Sparking Consulting Shake‑up
On March 18, 2026, OpenAI announced it is actively seeking private‑equity partners to co‑invest in a forthcoming enterprise‑focused artificial‑intelligence venture, according to a report by The Hindu. The outreach targets leading PE firms worldwide, aiming to combine OpenAI’s technology stack...
Oracle to Cut Up to 30,000 Jobs for AI Data Centres, 2026's Largest Layoff
Oracle announced plans to eliminate 20,000‑30,000 positions – roughly 12%‑18% of its 162,000‑strong global workforce – to fund AI‑focused data centre expansion. The cuts could begin this month, according to a TD Cowen note, and would generate $8‑$10 billion in cash flow....
Accenture Finalizes $1B Purchase of UK AI Unicorn Faculty, Names Co‑Founder CTO
On March 17, 2026 Accenture completed its acquisition of London‑based AI specialist Faculty for over $1 billion, making the firm the first tech unicorn of 2026. The deal brings more than 400 AI‑native professionals into Accenture and sees Faculty co‑founder Dr Marc...
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Strategic Planning Process: Complete Guide (2026) | ClearPoint Strategy Blog
ClearPoint Strategy’s October 2023 guide distills insights from more than 30,000 real strategic plans into a step‑by‑step framework for organizations of any size. It outlines a 90‑day planning cycle, recommends assembling a 12‑15‑person cross‑functional team, and emphasizes data‑driven decision‑making through...
Tech Firms Are Harvesting Real Work to Power AI Agents
Something very important for most people to understand is now happening inside parts of the tech industry right now. Companies aren’t just automating work. They’re systematically extracting it. Across firms like Atlassian, Amazon, and Block, a new pattern is emerging: Knowledge extraction...
Salesforce Partners Double Down on ROI as ‘Agentic Enterprise’ Push Accelerates
Salesforce’s Australian‑New Zealand partner network is pivoting toward quantifiable return‑on‑investment as AI‑driven "agentic enterprise" initiatives gain momentum. Executives from OSF Digital and Xenai Digital highlighted enterprise demand for clear business outcomes, while Salesforce reports that 70% of Agentforce AI deployments...
Organizational Capabilities Uniqueness
The article outlines how organizations can turn integrated capabilities into strategic differentiators that sustain long‑term value. It defines "unique business capabilities" as hard‑to‑replicate blends of skills, systems, culture and assets, and lists ten categories such as customer intimacy, platform orchestration,...
Optimum Selected as ERP Training Partner for Asahi’s Multi-Country SAP S/4HANA Transformation
Optimum has been chosen by Asahi Europe & International to lead user training for its multi‑year SAP S/4HANA migration, dubbed Project Odyssey. The initiative will replace SAP ECC with a standardized S/4HANA template across ten European markets, rolling out through...
Use Advisors as a Skill‑Based Pool, Not Vibe Checks
The corporate advisory boards that I have been a part of have almost exclusively been “vibe checks”, where presentations are made about work the company is doing, and the advisory panel chats about things for a while. This seems like a...
Deliver Bad News with Three Ready Solutions
Bad news for a client or hit a snag with a project? Here's how to navigate: Review things. Make notes. Bring three solutions. Pick up the phone. Start with a quick connection point, then walk through the situation and the options. Why this...
On the Move: Global Strategy Group Ups Padilla
Global Strategy Group promoted Marissa Padilla to partner in its Washington, D.C. office, where she will oversee client work, thought leadership, and new‑business initiatives across healthcare, tech, and advocacy. Ballard Partners added Rich Haslewood as a partner, tapping his deep...
Effective Strategy Balances Data with Judgment
Strategy often fails at the boundary between numbers and judgment. Lean too heavily on qualitative views and you drift into narratives that feel right but prove little. Lean too heavily on data and you risk mistaking measurement for understanding. The...
One Core Metric Drives Alignment as Companies Scale
As companies scale, they add more metrics. Then metrics for the metrics. Eventually, people forget what matters. Great companies focus on ONE number that aligns everyone. Fewer metrics. More meaning. #Strategy #Leadership #Metrics #BusinessStrategy #growthhacking https://t.co/Nq2uoUOUnl
Synechron Consolidates Australian Acquisitions, Led by Scott Grigg
Synechron has merged its Australian acquisitions—Chamonix IT, Exposé and iGreenData—under the Synechron brand, appointing Scott Grigg as Australia Country Managing Director. The unified unit will target secure, end‑to‑end digital transformation for financial services, government, defence, utilities, education and healthcare. Synechron plans to...
Fast Vs. Slow Companies: Gap Explodes, 5‑Year Plans Fail
#TimTalk - The gap between 'fast' & 'slow' companies is widening by 3.5x every 6 months, why the 5-year roadmap is now officially a liability with Anuj Pandey https://t.co/HPDnt6CVLX @DLAIgnite #SocialSelling #DigitalSelling #Leadership #ArtificialIntelligence #AgenticAI #AI #FutureOfWork #Strategy
OpenAI Pivots to Renting AI Servers, Restructures Stargate Team
OpenAI is reportedly restructuring its Stargate computing team, coming alongside a shift in strategy to renting more AI servers rather than building its own data centers https://t.co/GcaUtwhISO #ArtificialIntelligence #Innovation #Technology #Tech #TechNews https://t.co/lt4ueogRAC
How to Help Tech Cross the Valley of Death
Leslie Beavers, former Deputy CIO of the Department of Defense, now leads LB Insights to guide firms through the “valley of death” that separates tech innovation from operational deployment. At the Pentagon she helped launch digital modernization programs such as...
Balancing Rapid Tech Change with Infrastructure Stability
The Velocity of Innovation vs. The Stability of Infrastructure. How do you build a resilient operational strategy when the tools you are using today may be obsolete before the concrete on your new substation has even cured? https://t.co/zmD7jlWWhW
Keep ERP Control In-House to Avoid Failure
Outsourcing control of ERP and digital transformation projects to third parties is a common cause of failure. Relying solely on vendors or system integrators means external experts decide your business's future. #ERP #DigitalTransformation #ProjectManagement https://t.co/7xAT4Ngc07
Teneo and Thoughtworks Launch New AI-Focused Joint Venture
Teneo and Thoughtworks have launched an AI‑focused joint venture to help CEOs and boards accelerate business transformation in the "AI and agentic" age. The partnership combines Teneo’s 1,800‑plus C‑suite advisors and global network with Thoughtworks’ 10,000 engineers and proprietary agentic...
AI Success Hinges on Organizational Redesign, Not Engineers
I am not sure "Forward Deployed AI Engineers" are going to deliver on what a lot of companies are hoping for. They are useful, yes, but AI applications are far less of a technical issue, and much more about rethinking...
How to Deliver on ESG Initiatives in Emerging Market
Multinational corporations face mounting ESG pressure as institutional investors target nearly $34 trillion and 90 % of large U.S. firms now publish ESG reports. In East African frontier markets, glossy impact statements often fail to earn local trust, leading to protests and...
4 Capabilities that Drive Operational Improvement
A multi‑year study of four global banks and three top hospitals identified four cumulative capabilities—Discover, Improve, Align, and Transform—that separate operational excellence leaders from laggards. Firms that built these capabilities in sequence consistently outperformed peers on customer satisfaction and financial...
Researchers Asked LLMs for Strategic Advice. They Got “Trendslop” In Return.
Researchers evaluated leading large language models on classic strategic trade‑offs and discovered a systematic bias toward trendy, buzzword‑heavy recommendations—a phenomenon they label “strategy trendslop.” Across thousands of simulations, the models consistently favored differentiation over cost leadership, augmentation over automation, and...
Eric Dickson on Building a Management System That Produced 200,000 Ideas at UMass Memorial
Eric Dickson transformed UMass Memorial Health from a $10 million‑a‑month loss and junk‑bond rating into a high‑performing system by building a Lean‑based management framework. Over 12 years, the system evolved through 18 versions, standardizing ten core processes and empowering 13,000 staff...
Lean Lessons From St. Patrick: A Saintly Guide to Continuous Improvement
The article draws parallels between St. Patrick’s missionary work and modern Lean thinking, highlighting six core lessons. It emphasizes a purpose‑driven "True North," respect for people, teaching through simple visual tools, direct observation on the gemba, persistence against resistance, and influence...
Accenture Named Official Partner of Leading Golf Governing Body, The R&A
Accenture has signed a six‑year agreement to become the Official Business and Technology Consulting Partner of The R&A, the governing body behind golf’s premier championships. The deal also names Accenture an Official Patron of The Open, the AIG Women’s Open...
Accenture's AI Bookings Surge, Fueling Services Upside
$ACN Q2 FY2026 drops Thursday before the bell. Consensus is $2.87 EPS on ~$17.8B revenue. Last quarter, Accenture beat by $0.21 on EPS with $18.74B in revenue, $2.2B in Advanced AI bookings, and $1.1B in Advanced AI revenue. Stock is...
Embrace AI, Verify Results, Pilot with Controlled Roadmaps
AI: good or bad? Practical answer: embrace use cases, verify results and pilot with control. Contact LMA Consulting Group to build an AI roadmap tied to execution. #AI #ChatGPT #SupplyChain https://t.co/aaGnm03Hlt
The Commitment Crucible Framework
The Commitment Crucible Framework identifies a strategic zone where organizations invest resources that cannot be recovered, characterized by high cost and low reversibility but offering exponential upside. Positioned in the upper‑right quadrant of the Strategic Bet Matrix, the crucible demands...
Freight Tech Strategy: Avoiding the Implementation Trap with JBF’s Brad Forester
Brad Forester of JBF Consulting warns that logistics technology projects often fail because companies skip a strategic roadmap, turning implementation into a costly trap. He recommends allocating just 1‑2% of the budget to a thorough assessment, which can mitigate up...
One Retainer Spot Left: Scale Your Business Now
Some days the business runs itself. Other days, the decisions that matter feel bigger than one person can handle. You’ve built this. You know what works. Now let’s make the moves that keep it growing and keep your clients noticing the difference. I have...
A Three-Way Partnership Built Around IT, Security, and Risk Drives AI-Era Success
Enterprises adopting AI and automation face heightened cybersecurity, governance, and model‑risk challenges. ServiceNow and consulting firm Crowe propose a three‑way partnership that aligns IT, security, and risk into an integrated operating model. The approach embeds governance into workflows, automates cross‑functional...
Accenture Appoints New Reinvention Services Leadership
Accenture announced a new Reinvention Services leadership team, effective March 31, 2026, under Chief Strategy and Services Officer Manish Sharma. The model groups client‑facing capabilities into seven Reinvention Partners covering Cybersecurity, Digital Core, Finance, Industry and Enterprise, Song, Supply Chain and Engineering,...
The Map of U.S. Prosperity Is Changing. Here’s Where Companies Should Invest.
The Geography of Prosperity Index, covering 250 U.S. metros, reveals a shifting map of economic resilience driven by five interlinked systems—population renewal, climate resilience, automation readiness, social cohesion, and governance. Unexpected entrants like Ann Arbor and Frederick rank in the...
Navigating the “Where to Play” Paradox: How Firms Decide Where to Grow Next
In this episode of Rattle and Pedal, hosts Jason Malicki and Jeff McKay explore the "Where to Play" paradox—how professional‑services firms decide which new markets or adjacencies to pursue. They identify drivers such as AI disruption, regulatory shifts, partner changes,...
Rethinking ERP Transformation: Daniel Chilton on Adaptive Change and the Human Side of Enterprise Programmes
ERP programmes are traditionally fixed‑scope projects, but business realities shift mid‑stream, causing fatigue and stalled momentum. Embridge Consulting’s Daniel Chilton introduces Elastic Change, a delivery model that blends disciplined governance with adaptable, EQ‑focused leadership. The approach treats ERP as a...
Inside China's 90% Model: How They Capture Global Demand
"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚'𝐬 90% 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥?" For over six decades, I’ve had the privilege of advising some of the world’s largest companies, working directly with Fortune 100 CEOs and boards across a wide range of industries and...
Seven‑Phase Blueprint for Effective Human‑AI Collaboration
Successful human-AI collaboration requires thinking through the processes to be reshaped or redirected. Here's a seven-phase process to do that. (My latest in Forbes) via @forbes https://t.co/WZaEj1X3ag
AI's Future Depends on Management Consulting Expertise
#AI Needs Management Consultants After All by @AllisonPohle @wsj Learn more: https://t.co/22WVGLJGTi #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning #ML #DL https://t.co/BNYeCN5xJc
Are You Ready for AI Agents in Core Workflows?
Question for your next meeting: "If our competitors deployed AI agents into our core workflows tomorrow, would we know? And would we have a response ready?" The agent economy moved from PowerPoint to production this week.
Challengers Set Pace; Incumbents Must Rethink Operations
Scaled disruption begins when challengers set the tempo of a category. Since growth now rewards digital fluency and rapid iteration, incumbents must rethink operating models, not just rebalance portfolios. Source @McKinsey Link https://t.co/mUXoT9cj6K via @antgrasso #CEO https://t.co/XqYGVPFFnC
Process Excellence Overrated; Focus on Understanding and Common Sense
“Consultants & software cos. preach about #ProcessExcellence. But most business processes don’t need to be ‘excellent.’ All that’s required is understanding & effectiveness in process thinking—and *a big dose* of common sense.” https://t.co/ylz4kVYcuu #BPM #processimprovement