Finalists announced for prestigious MCA 2020 Awards

  • 33 firms make it to finalist stages in both project and individual awards
  • Improving care and shortening waiting times for cancer patients and transforming police forces across UK provide strong examples of value of consulting to public sector
  • Major businesses from BP, to HSBC, Astra-Zeneca, Standard Chartered, Ocado and L’Oréal line up to champion the collaborative work done with consultancies

The Management Consultancies Association (MCA) has announced that 33 of the UK’s leading consulting firms have been shortlisted in the MCA 2020 Awards in both team and individual categories. EY are top of the leader board with 17 finalists (7 projects and 10 individuals) while PwC have 16 (9 projects and 7 individuals). They are shortly followed by Deloitte with 13 finalists (6 projects and 7 individuals) and BAE Systems Applied Intelligence and Arcadis who each have 7 finalists shortlisted for the awards. This year has seen a record number of entries up 13% on last year and there is strong representation from medium and small firms across all categories with 60% of finalists from SMEs. The awards, now in their 23rd year, recognise the positive work the sector has undertaken for both the public and private sector as well as acknowledging individuals who are having a significant impact within their consultancy.

As in previous years, the awards demonstrate the extensive work being done with major brands and high-profile organisations such as Network Rail, Highways England, the NHS, L’Oréal, Walgreens, HSBC, Standard Life and Ocado which highlights the range of industries that MCA member firms work with on a day to day basis.

The awards clearly shown the significant impact and results achieved by public sector organisations and consultants working together at a national and local level. Deloitte and NECS Consultancy are both recognised for their separate work in improving how cancer patients are managed by the NHS during treatment and referral and improving the speed with which they receive the right care and appointments. As police forces across the country try to respond to changing operational and organisational pressures, consultants are also recognised for the transformational work they have undertaken across the UK including PwC (with Bedfordshire Police), and Deloitte with the Metropolitan Police. BAE Systems Applied Intelligence is shortlisted for its work in helping Gloucestershire’s police and social services to improve its data systems for managing child protection investigations.

Other finalists in the public sector include IBM for its work in delivering a world class technology transformation for the Department of Work and Pensions, improving user experience for over 20 million customers.   Atos Consulting is also shortlisted in the “People” category for their work with the UK Visa and Immigration service and helping them to provide fast, flexible, and better digital services to citizens, part of the Government’s digital agenda.

Consulting work with local public sector organisations also feature prominently in the awards finalists including Inner Circle Consulting’s work with the London Borough of Newham to accelerate the delivery of affordable housing, PwC’s work with Haringey Council on improving adult social care and Coeus Consulting’s partnership with Southend-On-Sea Borough Council to transform its IT function. BearingPoint are also recognised for their work on delivering a Healthy Child Programme with Hertfordshire Community Trust.

Major upgrades to the UK’s infrastructure are currently benefiting from the expertise and skills brought by management consultancies and many of these projects feature in the Awards this year thanks to the backing of high-profile clients. Arcadis is nominated for its work with Stansted Airport’s expansion – the biggest upgrade to the airport since its construction. PwC are shortlisted for their work with Highways England and EY for Network Rail.

As well as public sector projects, the MCA Awards recognise consulting excellence with private sector firms. Consumers are shifting towards more plant based foods for health and ethical reasons and PwC is shortlisted for its work with helping Upfield, the largest plant based consumer producer company in the world, to rapidly change and transform its business to meet this growing demand.  Other high-profile projects in the private sector categories include Arca Blanca for their work with developing a new operating model for Ocado, the online supermarket, and Deloitte for its work with Maersk in dealing with the aftermath of a global cyber security attack. Vendigital is also shortlisted for its work with helping Newsprinters to transform its operating strategy while delivering 20 million newspapers on a weekly basis.

The International category showcases the work that MCA Member Firms undertake globally and why the UK management consultancy sector is so well regarded abroad. Arup, as part of the UK Delivery Team consortium, worked with the Department for International Trade to support the delivery of the Pan American and Parapan American Games in Lima, Peru. PwC helped develop a new model of healthcare with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Finalists Simon-Kucher & Partners created a new pricing and organisation strategy for international shipping and logistics company, DFDS.

As well as projects, the ‘Best Use of Thought Leadership’ in consulting is also a very competitive category this year. Arup’s entry focuses on its work to create a child-friendly approach to urban planning, that creates healthier and more inclusive cities that work better for everyone. KPMG is also shortlisted for its work in stimulating debate around banning plastic which has resulted in several live projects with clients around their use of plastic.

This year’s awards have experienced a number of changes including a new judging panel and a greater focus on younger talent in the awards. The MCA Awards also saw an impressive number of consultants entered for the individual awards up over 40% on last year. Categories range from Team Leader of the Year to Young Consultant of the Year and, new for 2020, Best New Apprentice and Rising Star also being recognised with several excellent finalists.

Tamzen Isacsson, Chief Executive of the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), said:

“The MCA Awards are a celebration of the outstanding work that management consultants are involved in across the public and private sector and highlight why the UK is proud to have one of the largest and most well-respected consulting sectors in the world. Of course, winning matters but more importantly these case studies put clients centre stage, on the record, championing the collaborative work being done with consultancies to deliver better business results and public services for society. The number of individual entries has sky rocketed this year as firms seek to champion the younger talent driving results and change across our industry and we look forward to welcoming all the finalists to the awards event in April.”

Overall for 2020, there are 20 award categories with 7 individual awards and 12 project awards as well as an award for Best New Consultancy. Full details can be found at www.mca.org.uk/awards,

— ENDS —

NOTES TO EDITORS

The judging process continues in January and February 2020 with the winners announced at the awards ceremony, on the 23rd April 2020.

A full list of finalists can be found below:

Best Use of Thought Leadership sponsored by Kimble

Arup

Atkins

Deloitte with UK Policing

KPMG

PwC with Microsoft

 

Change and Transformation in the Private Sector

Arca Blanca with Ocado

Arca Blanca with McCarthy & Stone

Deloitte with Maersk

Gate One with Whitbread and Costa

PwC with Standard Life

PwC with Upfield

Vendigital with Newsprinter

 

Change and Transformation in the Public Sector

Arcadis with Digital Railway

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence with the Home Office

Carnall Farrar with Isle of Wight care system

Coeus Consulting with Southend-On-Sea Borough Council

Cognizant with the FA

Deloitte with the Metropolitan Police Service

EY with Youth Endowment Fund

EY with Dept of Justice and Equality

IBM Services with the Scottish Government

KPMG with NMC

PwC with Highways England

PwC with Haringey Council

 

Commercial Excellence

Arcadis with Stansted Airport

Arcadis with Southern Water

Procura Consulting

Vendigital with Bombardier

Vendigital with Meggitt

 

Data and Innovation in the Private Sector

Chaucer with BP

Deloitte with AstraZeneca

EY with Roche Health

IBM Services with Cannes Lions

KPMG with HSBC

PwC with Starling Bank

 

Data and Innovation in the Public Sector

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence with the Royal Navy

Cognizant with the FA

Deloitte with NHS Lothian (Edinburgh)

Inner Circle Consulting with the London Borough of Newham

 

International

Arca Blanca with Vision-Box

Arup with the Department for International Trade

Integration Consulting with L’Oréal

PwC with The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Simon-Kucher & Partners with DFDS

 

Performance Improvement in the Private Sector sponsored by Retain International

BearingPoint with Slater Gordon

Egremont Group with Walgreens

Gobeyond Partners with NHBC

PwC with SIG Plc

 

Performance Improvement in the Public Sector

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence with the Home Office

BearingPoint with Hertfordshire Community Trust

EY with Network Rail

IBM Services with the Department for Work and Pensions

NECS Consultancy with NHS National Cancer Programme

PwC with Bedfordshire Police

 

People

Atos with the Home Office

EY with The Metropolitan Police Service

Sysdoc

 

Social Value

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence with Gloucestershire Constabulary

Deloitte with Healthforce

EY with EY Global

Sia Partners with Ofgem

 

Strategy

Carnall Farrar with Barts Healthcare

Curzon Consulting with Arcadis

Decision Technology with BT Group plc

EY with EDF

 

Young Consultant of the Year

Samuel Brown, Amey Consulting

Lewis McCormack, Arcadis

Orsolya Patterson, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence

Ben Santucci, BearingPoint

Harry Touche, Deloitte

Anju Jacob, Deloitte

Mei Pun, EY

Emma Landry, EY

Stephen Hall, Mason Advisory

Penny Fesenko, PwC

Andrew Brough, Vendigital

Martin Pochopien, Vendigital

 

Best New Apprentice

Muhsin Ramjhan, Atkins

Lucy Rollinson, Deloitte

Mica Ellis, Deloitte

Samuel Imie, Deloitte

Chloe Homans, Moorhouse Consulting

Kemi Ogunremi, PwC

Humaid Motala, PwC

 

Rising Star

Ysabel Brown, Arcadis

Holly Armitage, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence

Asha Patel, Carnall Farrar

Laila Takeh, Deloitte

Jenny Beard, EY

Farah Zarar- Ishaq, EY

Andrew Mistry, Inner Circle Consulting

Gyula Tőrzők, Inner Circle Consulting

Joshua Hasdell, KPMG

Jessica Newton, PwC

 

Team Leader Consultant of the Year

Jo Wraith, Arcadis

Phil Livingstone, Carnall Farrar

Sylvie Zaman, Chaucer

Justin Wilkes, Cognizant

Paul Rees Jones, EY

Matt Khaw, EY

Laura Flynn, EY

Andy Starkie, Inner Circle Consulting

Emma Booth, PwC

Richard Thompson, PwC

Abhimanyu Julaniya, Simon Kucher & Partners

 

Thought Leader Consultant of the Year

Louise Ellis, Arup

Simon Evans, Atkins (now Arup)

Roberto Desimone, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence

 

Innovation Consultant of the Year

Jonathan Stephens, BearingPoint

Piyush Patel, EY

Ryan Gwinnett. EY

Tyler Welmans, Deloitte

 

Outstanding Achievement

Greg Bradley, Arcadis

Daniel Harvey, BearingPoint

Kelly Demyan, EY

Jen Nixon, Gate One

Chris Twigg, Inner Circle Consulting

Anna Somaiya, KPMG

Ally Robson, NECS Consultancy

Andy Woodfield, PwC

 

Best New Consultancy

Amey Consulting

Arca Blanca

Gate One

JCURV

Mason Advisory

NECS Consultancy

Procura Consulting

-ENDS-

Media Contact:

Caroline Florence, Head of Communications and Research, caroline.florence@mca.org.uk/ 0207 645 7959

The Management Consultancies Association (MCA):

The MCA is the representative body for the UK’s leading management consulting firms. For over 60 years, the MCA has been the voice of the consulting industry, promoting the value of consulting to business, the public sector, media commentators and the general public. The MCA’s mission is to promote the value of management consultancy for the economy and society as a whole. The MCA’s member companies comprise over 50% of the UK consulting industry work with over 90 of the top FTSE 100 companies and almost all parts of the public sector. The UK consulting industry is amongst the best in the world and a vital part of the business landscape. See the full list of current MCA Members.

Compliance with the MCA’s tough entry criteria and adherence to the principles of Consulting Excellence means that MCA member companies are widely acknowledged to provide high quality services to their clients. Many of their achievements are recognised in the annual MCA Awards.