The pandemic meant much of the business sector, confronted with the challenge of how to keep operating amid a lockdown, dramatically slashed spending to conserve cash. As projects were deferred or cancelled, the consultants responded in two ways.
The first was to protect the health of staff and partners. Long experienced with remote working, they quickly shifted to having most or all staff and partners work from home. They then moved to cut costs in anticipation of an extended downturn.
3. Skipp Williamson
Despite COVID-19, the plain-speaking founder and managing director of consulting firm Partners in Performance has been busier than ever. In the private sector, her firm is helping more industrial sites move to hybrid renewable energy as a way to cut costs and reduce emissions.
In the 12 months to August 2020, it had won more than $61 million in contracts from federal government agencies, including Defence and Services Australia. Partners in Performance, one of the few large homegrown consulting firms left in Australia, prides itself on delivering bottom-line results.
It focuses on costs and transferring skills to client staff so they build self-sufficiency, an approach custom-made for the pandemic era when only outcomes matter.
Source: Australian Financial Review