UK’s Leading Management Consultants 2024

29th February 20241 Minutes

We are delighted to have been recognised again as one of the ‘UK’s Leading Management Consultants 2024’ by the Financial Times 

Recommended across 11 categories an increase from 8 in 2023, the annual rating, compiled with data company Statista is based on endorsements by clients and peers. It demonstrates our consistent year-on-year sector and service line growth.

Consulting companies are awarded Bronze (recommended), Silver (frequently recommended) or Gold (very frequently recommended).

Sectoral Expertise

·      Aerospace & Defence – Bronze 
·      Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals – Bronze 
·      Construction & Infrastructure – Silver 
·      Energy, Utilities & Environment – Bronze 
·      Financial Institutions & Services – Bronze 
·      Healthcare & Life sciences – Silver 
·      Public Sector – Bronze 

Consulting Services

·      Digital Transformation – Bronze 
·      Operations & Supply Chain – Silver 
·      Strategy – Silver 
·      Sustainability – Silver 

Managing Partner Andrew Morgan said

The FT Awards are a humbling recognition of our company’s continued growth and as a direct result of our team’s talent and commitment. I’m deeply grateful for their unwavering dedication, incredible drive and ability to deliver outstanding results for our clients.

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UK’s Leading Management Consultants 2023

17th February 20231 Minutes

We are delighted to have been recognised for the sixth consecutive year as one of the ‘UK’s Leading Management Consultants 2023’ by the Financial Times.  

Recommended across 8 categories and with a Gold Award for the 2nd consecutive year, the annual rating, compiled with data company Statista is based on endorsements by clients and peers. It demonstrates our consistent year-on-year sector and service line growth.

Consulting companies are awarded Bronze (recommended), Silver (frequently recommended) or Gold (very frequently recommended).

Sectoral expertise

  • Construction & Infrastructure – Gold
  • Healthcare – Silver
  • Financial Services – Bronze
  • Public & Social Sector – Bronze

Consulting services

  • Digital Transformation – Silver
  • Operations & Supply Chain – Silver
  • Strategy – Silver
  • Sustainability – Silver

Managing Partner Andrew Morgan said

We are absolutely delighted to see the continued and consistent progression of Curzon.  I am so proud of the team, as this emphasises their commitment and dedication to deliver sustainable, tangible results for our clients through strategic, operational and transformation delivery.

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2022 MCA Awards Winners

5 Minutes

We are so very proud to announce #CurzonConsulting, has won the Commercial Impact #mcaawards 2022 award, with #RamsayHeathCare. Representing the very best of our consulting business, it’s such an incredible achievement to be recognised for our Procurement Transformation Programme. The judges said this was a team that: “brought specific expertise to a problem and rebuilt the procurement capability at speed, changing hearts and minds in the organisation.”

Established by the Management Consultancies Association, the representative body for the UK’s leading management consulting firms, the #MCAAwards demonstrate the transformational work the sector has undertaken during the last challenging twelve months.

The remarkable achievement marks the eight consecutive years that Curzon Consulting has been a finalist at these prestigious awards.

Commercial Impact: Procurement Transformation Programme with Ramsay Health Care UK

Ramsay Group operates a global network of 530+ healthcare facilities across 11 countries.

The pandemic exposed an over-reliance on a ‘single’ income source. With all elective activity (e.g., joint replacements, cataracts), the primary income source, halted overnight, but a high fixed cost base remained.

As a response, Ramsay UK embarked on an ambitious growth & efficiency programme. Curzon was engaged to design and deliver a Procurement Transformation programme.

Over 9 months, we took a pragmatic, agile and “together” approach to accelerate benefit delivery, particularly in high spend / high complex clinical spend categories.

By assessing the existing PO against a methodical and objective review against 8 dimensions we highlighted several data-driven insights; fundamentally, the PO only managed 44% of total spend; hence lack of PO involvement resulted in suboptimal category /supplier management and savings delivery.

Improvement opportunities were incorporated into the design of the new Procurement Organisation.

Our methodology was specifically adapted to address demand-side cost optimisation levers.

Through a deep dive into orthopaedics, a key benefit delivered in Orthopaedics came from ensuring the Surgeon selected the appropriate implant system (metal or ceramic) to match the patient’s profile (e.g., age, gender).

A well-established norm in Orthopaedics is to routinely implant, high quality, lower-cost metal vs. ceramic hip systems into >70-year-old patients. Our analysis showed Surgeons at Ramsay UK implanted costly ceramic hip systems in 33% of >70-year-old NHS patients. The NHS reimbursement for a complete hip replacement is fixed, so every incremental switch from ceramic to metal impacted the bottom line.

Surgeons had little comprehension of how their hip selection decisions impacted Ramsay UK’s profitability.  Our insights directly influenced the Orthopaedic Steering Group’s new policy which required Surgeons to utilise lower-cost metal hip systems in older NHS patients.

Curzon established an open, trusted, and collaborative way of working with the Ramsay team, and by adopting a “one team” approach with the PO we ensured everyone involved with the procurement transformation owned the outcome and maximised the benefits from knowledge transfer during Wave 1.

Fundamentally a key part of the relationship was to ensure recommendations on cost improvement would not compromise clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction.

Wave 1 has delivered £multi-millions in incremental annualised savings. In addition, the savings have translated into several £100 million worth of shareholder value.

Commenting on the success – Ramsay Health’s CFO Peter Allen said:

“Curzon helped us obtain the confidence and operational ‘can-do’ to drive incremental savings sooner than we could have expected, and then to push on to best practice performance.

Their skill was in balancing pace of change and the results imperative with the need to take the organisation with them on the journey.  A key achievement was building the necessary collaboration between the many functions that needed to act together to drive benefits in complex clinical spend categories.

Curzon’s strong analytical expertise, and ability help us to take a critical view on the “art of the possible” and bring the team along on the journey to demonstrate benefits delivery was a critical success factor.

The result was a tangible and ongoing commercial win, and a new Procurement Organisation to drive cost leadership, profitability and sustainability going forward”

A massive congratulations to the Curzon Consulting team and Ramsay Health Care UK and the other finalists.

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We are delighted to welcome a new Partner for Financial Services Sector!

25th October 20221 Minutes

Curzon Consulting has appointed Andy Stewart as Partner – Financial Services, starting in October.

Andy will help drive the strategy in the financial services market, which is core to Curzon’s growth plans for the future.  Working with Douglas Badham, Partner & Financial Services Sector Lead, Andy will be responsible for developing new and innovative propositions and go-to-market approaches as well as managing some of Curzon’s long-term client relationships.

Andrew Morgan, Managing Partner, Curzon said: “It’s fantastic that Andy has joined the team.  He brings a wealth of background and experience that will help us add even more value to our financial services clients”

Douglas Badham, Partner & Financial Services Sector Lead, Curzon said: “I look forward to working with Andy as his expertise and strong client relationships will be invaluable to us as we execute our growth strategy”

Andy Stewart, Partner – Financial Services, Curzon said: “I’m excited to be joining the team at Curzon as they have long been committed to outstanding client service and the delivery of tangible results for their clients.  I’m looking forward to getting started”

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CIPS Awards Winners

1 Minutes

Last night at the CIPS Excellence in Procurement Awards, we won “Best Procurement Consultancy Project of the Year” for our collaboration with Ramsay Health Care UK.

Congratulations to both teams!

Procurement Transformation Programme with Ramsay Health Care UK

As a pandemic response, Ramsay UK embarked on an ambitious growth & efficiency programme. Curzon designed and delivered a substantial cost reduction and Procurement Transformation programme.

Over 9 months, we defined a pragmatic and agile approach to implementing a best-in-class procurement organisation with an increased mandate, able to accelerate benefit delivery, and manage high spend / high complex clinical spend categories.

We helped Ramsay UK to deliver £multi-millions in incremental annualised savings. In addition, the savings have translated into several £100 million worth of shareholder value.

View the full case here – https://www.curzonconsulting.com/procurement-consultancy-project-of-the-year-ramsay-healthcare/

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Delivering greater procurement efficiencies for a construction company

The issue

  • £1billion division split into 6 semi-autonomous business units, spending £450m per annum on materials and sub-contracted services
  • Each business unit under revenue and margin pressure especially those dependant on public sector work
  • By re-establishing good procurement practices  a modest 3% savings target was agreed upon, the stretch being that the full cash saving had to be delivered in-year
  • No single picture of procurement spend or performance compared to the external market
  • Procurement & supply chain savings were already baked into business unit budgets and there was pressure from plc to deliver over and above this

Solution

  • Created a definitive ‘spend cube’ and with it a single set of numbers
  • Completed a top-down and bottom-up analysis of spend at the detailed category/supplier level and agreed impactable spend
  • Created and executed a prioritised implementation plan closely monitoring and recording the benefits as they are realised
  • Redesigned the P&SC organisation bringing in the necessary skills and expertise as required

The results

  • In-year cash savings of £8million with an exit run rate of £10million per annum
  • New operating model fully installed and driving benefits (sustainability)
  • Benefits fully traceable within business unit P&L

An award-winning team

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UK’s Leading Management Consultants 2022

28th January 20221 Minutes

We are delighted to have been recognised for the fifth consecutive year as one the ‘UK’s Leading Management Consultants 2022’ by the Financial Times.   

Recommended across 8 categories and with our first Gold Award, the annual rating, compiled with data company Statista is based on endorsements by clients and peers and demonstrates our consistent year on year sector and service line growth.

Consulting companies are awarded Bronze (recommended), Silver (frequently recommended) or Gold (very frequently recommended).

Sectoral expertise

  • Construction & Infrastructure – Gold
  • Financial Services – Silver
  • Public & Social Sector – Silver
  • Healthcare – Bronze

Consulting services

  • Digital Transformation – Silver
  • Operations & Supply Chain – Silver
  • Strategy – Silver
  • Sustainability – Bronze

Managing Partner Andrew Morgan said

We are absolutely delighted to see the continued progression of Curzon, competing alongside some major consulting brands.  I am so proud of the team, and this emphasises their commitment and dedication to deliver tangible results for our clients in a range of markets through strategic, operational and transformation delivery.

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Congratulations to Our 2021 MCA Awards finalists

24th May 20218 Minutes

We are delighted to announce that Curzon Consulting are finalists in 2 categories of the Management Consulting Awards 2021, representing the very best of our consulting business.

Established by the Management Consultancies Association, the #MCAAwards demonstrate the transformational work the sector has undertaken during the last challenging twelve months.

2021 marks the seventh consecutive year that Curzon Consulting has been finalists at the prestigious awards. 

Commercial Excellence

Curzon with AIG – ‘Back to Life’ – Fast-Tracking to Leadership in Customer & Profit Retention

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After a period of impressive top-line growth, AIG Life’s leadership now concentrated on driving for profitability on a US GAAP basis.  Working with Curzon to isolate what could best deliver profit uplift, we zoomed in on a stubbornly un-moving customer persistency rate and recognised that every 1% point of lapse averted would yield significant and multiplicative profit gains.  

Curzon was engaged on an ambitious programme to rapidly get control of lapse and release commercial benefit, and to build the capability to achieve best practice retention management.  This was an enormous challenge given the starting point: no set persistency strategy, an absence of key lapse analytics, retention not owned or resourced in the organisation, and a lack of lapse prevention and turnaround processes.   

Over 11 months through 2019, we took a pragmatic, agile, and ‘together’ approach to accelerate to retention excellence, securing the organisation’s buy-in to what it would take to get there, and quickly demonstrating the commercial, operational and customer benefits of joined-up retention management.  Curzon enabled the new cross-functional working essential for success, and gave the business the structures and confidence to operate highly effective preventative and save processes – internally and leveraging external partners.  

Among the prime watershed moments were revealing how:

  • a shift in distribution mix from advised face-to-face to telesales had created a hitherto unseen problem of drop-out inside first 3 months
  • customer communications from welcome onwards needed to explain clearly the personal value of life insurance, and how holding it ensures financial provision for those you love
  • rather than automatically cancelling customers on request, customer service had a responsibility to engage them before they make a potentially uninformed decision 

When the business took the reins 3 months after improvements were implemented, lapse rate had been reduced to the best practice % mark on a run-rate basis and incremental revenue and profit benefit unlock was exceeding our original target.  This translated annualised into 5-figure policy saves and a cumulative £multi-million gain in Pre-Tax Operating Income by 2023.  The business had taken ownership of a new retention management function, with a new Lapse MI suite providing the predictive insights to continually optimise retention.  Beyond achieving the agreed objectives, the work also led to complementary projects including work to minimise drop-out in the Bank partnership sales channel. 

Commenting on the success, AIG Life CFO Donald MacLean said: 

“Curzon helped us obtain the confidence and operational ‘can-do’ to get control of lapse sooner than we could have expected, and then to push on to best practice performance. 

As always, their skill was in balancing pace of change and the results imperative with the need to take the organisation with them on the journey.  A key achievement was building the necessary collaboration between the many functions that needed to act together to manage retention in a joined-up way.  

The result was a tangible and ongoing commercial win, and a vital new balance struck between sales and retention for business profitability and sustainability”

People

Curzon with Highways England – ‘Project Performance Accelerator – Enhancing delivery capabilities through innovative approaches and working relationships to achieve HE delivery goals

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Project Performance Accelerator (PPA) was designed to develop and implement a delivery mechanism for Highways England’s (HE) overarching Business Transformation Programme, addressing inconsistent levels of capability throughout HE’s Project Management community and developing highly skilled project delivery teams. Overall, HE’s three main Major Project programmes account for 80 projects worth more than £23bn, each being delivered by a supply chain or contractor led by a Project Management team.

PPA’s leader Steph Illingworth engaged Curzon to interpret and structure her Vision of the PPA Programme into clear deliverables, shaping the fundamentals. There was consensus on cultural flaws and ineffective ways of working. Revealing a deeply siloed organisation with multiple departments or technical areas that lacked collaboration or a holistic view of the primary objectives and deliverables: projects were not executed on time and within budget, nor maximising benefits and social value. Also, capability development and training programmes were too theoretical and onerous, focusing on processes and systems rather than people, impacting the overall project success.

Focusing on performance management, capability development, project control capability and enhancing commercial acumen, the PPA Programme included two outputs as the medium for change: An Immersive Learning Experience and Digital Project Management Guidebook.

The Immersive Learning experience was designed to disrupt the way programmes are delivered. The Digital Project Management Guidebook contained PM content selected through independent reviews and capability assessments. Both outputs were crafted around the project lifecycle of typical HE infrastructure projects, set to be delivered in-person over a period of 18 months. Cohorts were selected to receive a tailored experience, improve project team maturity, and provide a solid foundation for capability uplift to achieve clear learning outcomes and benefits.

At the heart of the PPA philosophy was to enable project teams to grow, enhancing ‘ways of working’ whilst bolstering project performance. These included a “working better together model”; a fundamental shift in the way individuals interact and take ownership of overlapping project aspects and problem-solving techniques. This, along with the Immersive Learning, reinforced the Programme’s success, shifting the focus from systems and processes to people.

The pandemic introduced significant challenges, necessitating the immediate conversion of the Programme from in-person workshops to a virtual setting. The team adapted structures and materials, incorporating a variety of software suites to enhance the learner experience. Frequent interaction and close collaboration with the internal and senior stakeholders were critical to maintaining speed and delivery, adopting a fail-fast, fix fast approach to syllabus creation

The consulting team could interpret the client’s vision into a clear pathway, support and enhance the design to become one of the most successful transformation project delivered in HE.

The Digital Project Management Guidebook launched in August 2020 via four interactive webinars to c.300 employees have now received over 1,000 unique viewers. A modified deployment strategy was adopted in light of the pandemic, redesigned as a remote Immersive Learning Experience. However, over 5,049 hours of remote learning have been received by 100 staff through 9 project teams, enhancing teams’ capability with a combined portfolio value greater than £3.3bn.

Congratulations to all of the other finalists.

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UK’s Leading Management Consultants 2021

18th February 20211 Minutes

Ranked in the Top 20 of the UK’s consulting firms, we are delighted to have been recognised for the third consecutive year as one of the ‘UK’s Leading Management Consultants 2021’ by the Financial Times.   

Recommended in seven categories compiled with data company Statista, the annual rating is based on endorsements by clients and peers and demonstrates our steady consistent year on year sector & service line growth.

Consulting companies are awarded Bronze (recommended), Silver (frequently recommended) or Gold (very frequently recommended).

Sectoral expertise

  • Construction & Infrastructure – Silver
  • Financial Services – Bronze
  • Healthcare – Bronze
  • Public & Social Sector – Bronze

Consulting services

  • Digital Transformation – Bronze
  • Operations & Supply Chain – Bronze
  • Strategy – Silver

Managing Partner Andrew Morgan said

We are thrilled to see the continued progression of the firm, competing alongside some major consulting brands.  I am really proud of the team and this reinforces their dedication to deliver tangible results for our clients in a range of markets through strategic, operational and transformational delivery.

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curzon consulting infrastructure bridge

Infrastructure after Covid-19 – when the mould is broken where do you want to be?

21st July 2020

Competition or collaboration? Navigating change in infrastructure after Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about rapid unprecedented change. Companies have responded to imposed restrictions, people have adapted to new ways of working, and the impact on the economy, employment and productivity has been immense.

Businesses face an ever-shifting timescale for recovery but uncertainty on how they need to adapt in the short, medium and longer term.

A commitment to investment in infrastructure

With uncertainty over the shape of economic recovery, the UK government is under increasing pressure to provide answers. The current political agenda is balancing the risk of further outbreaks against the need to kick-start the economy and get people back to work. Infrastructure is a key part of this recovery plan.

As such, we are seeing a range of statements, commitments and emerging policies that::

  • Commit to accelerated investment in infrastructure
  • Criticise past failings in the delivery of major programmes which have taken too long and cost too much
  • Question how other countries can do it so much better than us
  • Recognise that we have developed a huge burden of bureaucratic processes
  • Challenge the slow adoption of new technologies and innovation
  • Reinforce previous goals on climate change and the environment

What does this mean for core infrastructure and regulated industries?

The services and facilities provided by infrastructure and regulated industries are essential to the future growth of the economy. The challenge is how to fairly manage the cost of recovery, which will ultimately be passed onto the consumer. This creates further pressure on the whole system including clients and service providers. Some key questions and considerations include:

For Clients (or sponsors)

  • With greater pressure on household budgets, customer expectations on service and value will increase
  • Customers will be less tolerant of failure and companies will be under greater scrutiny
  • Social and environmental conscience is increasing
  • As a result of COVID-19 there will be sustained change in the way people work. But is the full impact fully understood?
  • Clients or sponsors will be under increased pressure from the regulators to deliver more for less
  • Continuing to stretch existing resources and deliver incremental change will not be enough
  • Companies will be driven to develop different and more efficient operating models

For Service Providers

  • No longer contractors or consultants but “Service Providers”
  • Has traditional contracting had its day and does it really deliver what clients and customers are ultimately looking for?
  • Service Providers will be under the greatest pressure to address the higher-level challenges through creating new ways of working or new service offerings
  • “Necessity is the mother of invention” – the time of greatest need will drive the greatest change and the more agile companies will be those that win
  • Traditional contracts delivered in a traditional way will become an increasing “race to the bottom” based on price with associated increase in failure

Innovation and technology inevitably has a major part to play in addressing the above.

What part should Innovation and Technology play?

Regulated industries are notoriously slow adopters. If this is to change, it is essential to understand the reasons why and break these paradigms.

  • Risk of failure is too high either in terms of impact on customers or regulatory action
  • Procurement processes are cumbersome and often preclude SMEs/Start-ups
  • In reality, Intellectual Property has a very short shelf-life, products are quickly copied
  • There is more to be gained from running faster and letting others follow compared to standing still and protecting what you have got

With many organisations facing the same challenges, is there something to be learned from collaboration?

Competition or Collaboration?

Regulation has often been based on the premise of driving or simulating competition. So, what delivers the greatest benefit – organisations collaborating or competing? Many “alliance” delivery models are based on the benefits of collaboration which raises a number of questions:

  • Regulated utilities by their nature are often monopolies so why isn’t there far greater collaboration and sharing of ideas?
  • Technology/Innovation start-ups often have to prove their concepts several times over to separate clients passing through individual tortuous procurement routes. As a result many collapse before they start. As a wider industry why do separate companies re-invent the same wheel
  • Contractors/Service Providers provide similar services to different clients and sectors in the same geographic area. Is there more to be gained from a common approach across sectors?
  • If the same Service Provider is providing a service across multiple clients and sectors who is the regulator actually regulating – the Client or The Service Provider?
  • If the end service across sectors is a similar service why should there be different regulatory models and different regulatory measures or even different regulators?

Acceleration, adaption and adoption

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an undeniable impact on organisations. Businesses have been forced to adopt a more radical and agile approach in how they adapt to change.

This unprecedented challenge has also created opportunities. Many businesses have failed but some have flourished. In the main, these organisations have embraced a culture of learning from others. They have collaborated and openly shared resources. They have undertaken the accelerated development of complex solutions and executed them with simplicity.

Going forward, significant commitments have been made, expectations are high and pressure on delivery will increase. The challenges will necessitate change and those that move fastest stand to gain the most.

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