- Over 40 leading consulting firms of all sizes have secured places as finalists for this year’s MCA Awards.
- 86 client organisations from across the private and public sector in the UK and abroad are partnering with consultants for the MCA awards process including private sector firms like Coca Cola, GSK, Santander, Motability and Tropicana to the Royal Air Force, the Foreign Office, the NHS and numerous local councils.
- The value of consulting is demonstrated across many categories and sectors including helping firms to meet their sustainability goals, reduce illicit financial crime, protecting safety with cyber security measures and the transformation of retail using AI.
- Finalists in the public sector cover projects improving capacity for palliative and end of life care in Greater Manchester, to assistance with front line acute mental health care and improving provision of special needs care for children.
- Categories for individuals include Apprentice of the Year, Technology Consultant of the Year, Inclusion award and Lifetime Achievement.
The Management Consultancies Association (MCA) has revealed the finalists for the MCA Awards 2024. The awards, which are in their 27th year, continue to celebrate the transformative work the consulting sector is providing for clients and the wider impact of the consultancy on society. The finalists list also includes many talented individuals working across the industry of different ages and backgrounds thriving in their careers from apprentices, thought leaders, technology consultants and experienced hires choosing consulting as their second career.
Global and UK clients will be participating in the judging interviews taking place next month including leaders from well-known brands such as Coca Cola, Visa, GSK, Lloyds, Santander, Greene King, Tropicana and Heathrow Airport. Other public sector organisations which are promoting their joint work with consultancies to deliver better front line services for taxpayers include the National Grid, the Foreign Office, the Royal Air Force, the Home Office and National Highways.
Technology transformation features across all of the 12 MCA Awards project categories as the sector demonstrates its major role in driving impact for firms through digital innovation and new technology adoption. Eviden, an Atos business, worked with the National Trust creating a new digital platform which helped the organisation to reach additional generations and supporters, improve services for existing members and create faster and more efficient fundraising activities. Consulting firm, BJSS’s digital transformation work introduced cloud technology to help the Met Office process vital weather information, critical for the aviation industry to assist with safe flight planning and assessing adverse weather conditions. Gate One enabled transformative technology work with Motability, which provides mobility solutions to around 700,000 customers across the UK, while PwC’s work on future of technology in retail shopping using AI is a finalist in the Best Use of Thought Leadership category. Other private sector projects include the business transformation achieved by Egremont and the UK’s leading health and wellbeing store, Holland & Barrett. They worked in partnership leading to demonstrable performance improvements in sales and employee engagement.
The sector’s strong partnership in the public sector is evidenced across various categories. NECS worked with Bury Hospice to help substantially increase capacity and ensure patients and families received compassionate and outstanding palliative and end of life care. AtkinsRéalis worked with the Government’s Geospatial Commission to enable safer digging, by building a platform to map the millions of underground pipes and cables under the nation’s feet. Capgemini secures a finalist position for its work to help police forces with their “Right Care, Right Person” efforts, which ensures that people experiencing acute mental health crises are dealt with by specialist care rather than front line police officers. Curzon Consulting partnered with National Highways to capture construction performance data throughout its supply chain and increase productivity by 30%. Other case studies cover work across various NHS Trusts, National Highways, Network Rail and local councils.
Finalists in the Sustainability Award category also highlight the industry’s major efforts on supporting clients to reach their net zero goals. This includes Mott Macdonald’s efforts to ensure Heathrow Airport fulfils its ambitions plans to lead in decarbonising its operations to deliver net zero as well as EY’s work to help support the development of the nuclear power station, Sizewell C, critical for the UK to be able to achieve its 2050 net zero target. Arup is also a finalist for its support in delivering a new sustainable waste hub for North London while KPMG worked with Diageo in tackling human rights within its supply chain.
The UK continues to cement its position as a leading global centre of consulting excellence and the international projects delivered by UK consulting firms demonstrate world class expertise. Examples include IBM who secured a finalist position for its work with the Royal Air Force in the Falklands to Mott MacDonald for its work with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) to improve girl’s participation in education in South Sudan.
The MCA awards also celebrate the depth and diversity of talent working across the sector and there are 10 individual categories this year including Team Leader Consultant of the Year, Rising Star and Young Consultant of the Year categories.
Overall PwC secured the most finalist positions with 28 shortlisted entries followed by KPMG with 27, EY has 21 and Capgemini enters for the first time with 14 finalist positions secured. Overall, 40 consulting firms have confirmed finalist positions following independent marking by the MCA Awards judging panel and 56% of finalist entries were secured by SMEs. Over 60 independent judges from a range of backgrounds score all entries without knowing the brand or size of firm they are reviewing. The independent judging panel has expanded again this year with new judges including broadcaster Matt Frei and Deputy Business Editor for The Times, Tracey Boles. They join other judges including Jacqui Rock, Chief Commercial Officer for NHS England and NHS Improvement, Sandra MacLeod, Group Chief Executive for Echo Research and Justin Webb, BBC Radio Presenter.
Tamzen Isacsson, MCA Chief Executive, said:
“The MCA Awards finalists entries make great reading and powerfully demonstrate the value our sector plays day in, day out for clients across the UK and abroad. The UK consulting sector is a great British success story – a thriving force in the UK economy and society and recognised across the world as a global centre of expertise and innovation. The value of consulting is demonstrated across many categories and sectors including work helping firms to meet their sustainability goals, reducing illicit financial crime, protecting safety with cyber security measures and the transformation of retail using AI. The industry plays a crucial role in driving regional growth, building critical infrastructure and supporting the success of thousands of businesses across the UK and is actively engaged in creating jobs, delivering innovation, and contributing to the prosperity of local communities. All of this is exemplified by the finalists in the MCA Awards each year and this year is no exception.”
The Rt Hon Lord Hague of Richmond has recently been announced as the presenter for the ceremony taking place at the Grosvenor Hotel in the Autumn. The event will welcome guests from the management consultancy sector and key stakeholders including Government, national media, and major client organisations. Prior to the ceremony itself, the MCA Awards 2024 Finalist Reception will be held at The Orangery at Kensington Palace in London.
Full details including information on ticket and table bookings for the event taking place at the Grosvenor House in London can be found at www.mca.org.uk/mca-awards.
For sponsorship details please contact Natalie.Mendez@mca.org.uk
The judging process continues in June with the winners announced at the awards ceremony, on the 15th of October 2024.
A full list of MCA Awards 2024 finalists can be found on our finalists page.