- 36 consulting firms through to the finalist stage of the MCA Awards, which highlight outstanding client results achieved by the sector and the breadth of diverse talent in the industry
- Major businesses from Tesco, Estee Lauder, Lloyd’s of London, Volvo, Purplebricks and Astra Zeneca line up to champion the collaborative work done with consultants
- Public sector projects highlight pivotal work of sector in dealing with backlog of work from pandemic including delayed breast screening and increased demand for adult social care
- Major successes around digital transformation highlighted across the board from Network Rail to Hastings Direct, the Home Office and London Ambulance Service
- 20% increase in SMEs making it to the final stages compared to last year
The MCA has announced the list of finalists for the 25th MCA Awards in 2022 decided by the independent panel of judges. A total of thirty-six consultancy firms have made it to the interview stage in the most competitive year yet for this leading industry event in the UK. Small, medium and large firms are all represented in the shortlist in both project and individual award categories and 20% more SMEs this year have made it to the interview round.
A total of 85 clients from across the private and public sector will join leading consulting firms to promote the results and impact they have achieved together in partnership across a range of different categories from Technology Transformations, Commercial Impact and Performance Improvement in the Public Sector.
New award categories for 2022 include the Sustainability Award, which demonstrates the work that has enabled clients and consultancies to deliver sustainability benefits for organisations and wider society. Finalists include IBM Consulting for its work with the UK Fashion and Textiles Association (UKFT) to enable the fashion industry to meet sustainability challenges in their supply chain and effectively trace raw materials through the supply chain. Inner Circle Consulting is a finalist for its work with Birmingham City Council on its ‘Route to Zero’ plan and both KPMG and PwC separately make it through to the finalist round for their work in assisting different clients in investing in sustainable assets.
The MCA Awards demonstrate the positive impact consulting firms are having in wider society from helping deal with the backlog of women delayed in waiting for breast screening due to the pandemic (CF), to critical digital upgrades required for Network Rail’s safety management (EY) and the London Ambulance Service (Mason Advisory). Other leading projects selected by the judges include Atkins’ work with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on materially reducing cyber risk by creating a cyber aware workforce and culture.
Many leading businesses across a plethora of sectors will be joining consultants to promote the results achieved in partnership with consultants at the interview panels later in June. The UK’s largest retailer Tesco will join KPMG to promote its work on successfully completing a major new cloud-based HR and payment system giving staff a better working experience. Coeus Consulting, an SME, joins a list of larger and medium sized firms in competing for the Technology Transformation Award for its work with Shell Energy in providing a technology transformation needed to offer renewable energy to the retail market. And PwC is also selected in the same category for its technology transformation work with London South Bank University that ultimately helped to improve the learning experience for thousands of students.
The individual finalists are drawn from firms across the sector and new categories for this year include the Technology Consultant of the Year, Experienced Leader award and the Inclusion Award.
As well as the project and individual categories, there will also be separate awards for the Times Consultant of the Year and Project of the Year. Judges will be selecting winners in these categories for the individual and project who has demonstrated the most exceptional performance in any category. Only two firms made it to the finalist stage for Best New Consultancy – Tessiant, providing strategic advice and transformation delivery to retail and consumer businesses, and Blurred, a London based firm, which combines management consulting and communications.
Tamzen Isacsson, Chief Executive of the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), said:
“In the most competitive year yet for the MCA Awards, the 25th year, we are proud to present the firms and individuals who have been selected by the judges as finalists for 2022. The projects demonstrate the impact delivered by our sector to organisations across many areas of life from driving technology change in some of the UK’s biggest high street brands to assisting the public sector deal with critical issues like adult social care, safety on our railways and breast screening. Congratulations to all the finalists and our thanks go to the independent judging panel who completed a mammoth task in shortlisting this year’s entries.”
Also new for this year is the Chartered Management Consultant of the Year, which recognises exceptional consultants who have been awarded Chartered since the official launch in April 2021. The Chartered Management Consultant (ChMC) Award is the highest recognition of a management consultant’s expertise, experience and talent given within the profession. It was developed to set and maintain the highest standards in management consulting and to reward consistent, high levels of professional competence and achievement and it is an appropriate new category for the 25th year of the awards. Consultants from Arup, EY, IBM Consulting and PwC are all recognised in the augural award.
There are now 25 award categories with 10 individual awards and 12 project awards as well as an award for Best New Consultancy, The Times Consultant of the Year and Project of the Year. Interviews with consultants, firms and their clients with the judges will take place next month and the awards ceremony itself will take place on Monday 14th November. Full details, including information on early bird ticket and table bookings, can be found at www.mca.org.uk/mca-awards