The Best of British

PIPC: A British success story in turbulent times

Interview with PIPC Global Managing Director, Dr Simon Rawling by Alice Hunter

Square Mile, March 2009

PIPC has seen an average growth of 50 per cent a year from 2004 to 2008. What’s the secret of your success?
This year (ending March 2009), we’ve grown 30 per cent on 2008 so I’m clearly pleased that we’ve maintained our growth plans over the past 18 months, despite what can only be described as extraordinary turbulent times. I’d summarise our success in four ways. First, we’ve got the best team – I’m working with some exceptional people. Secondly, we constantly deliver extraordinary results for our clients – too many competitors are purely ‘advisory’ and simply fail deliver anything tangible. Thirdly, we have the luxury of being global and as such can rapidly reshape our business as demanded by changes to the global marketplace (as an example, we can launch a programme team anywhere across the globe within seven days); and we are happy to align our fees with our clients’ return to ensure we have some stake in what we deliver. And fourth, which is perhaps of critical importance in the current market, we ignore the pessimists.

How does PIPC differ from its rivals?
We will do whatever it takes to ensure our clients success. Since its foundation, PIPC wanted to revolutionise the management consultancy industry by building a company that delivers tangible results for its clients. We differ from purely ‘advisory’ management consultancies, who may deliver advice, glossy reports and big presentations, but take no accountability for delivery and execution. How many consultancies put their money where their mouth is when it comes to delivering solutions for clients? We will do it every time.

M&A transactions now account for about 35 per cent of your business. How has the nature of this work changed owing to the credit crunch?
The need to integrate businesses post-acquisition or merger has not changed. Indeed, we’ve recently seen numerous deals including Lloyds/HBOS; Barclays/Lehmans; JPMorgan/Washington Mutual; and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. What has changed, however, is the way in which these organisations have been forced together, either out of the need to survive or out of government intervention. Helping these clients to integrate is likely to continue well into 2011 and I’m also clear there will be further consolidation across the financial services, telco and retail sectors.

What was the most interesting or challenging M&A project that PIPC has worked on and why?
The RBS integration of NatWest was seen as one of the most successful integrations of all times and received major plaudits, such as the 2005 Harvard Business Review. It was high-risk and hard work, and we helped to achieve an exceptional result that exceeded all market expectations. However, perhaps the most interesting M&A programme was the integration of two retail business, Littlewoods and ShopDirect (previously GUS). It was itself a major challenge, with a single shareholder, the Barclay Brothers, and the integration of two under-performing businesses. The additional complication was that we were directed to make the integration pay for itself, ie, cashflow positive, from day one and tie a success fee to the P&L. We delivered above expectation against such challenging objectives. How many other consultancies would base their reputation on an ability to influence the P&L? Not many. But we did it and ensured an outstanding result for all parties.

Are you seeing any effects on your business due to the economic outlook?
No more than usual for the pace of growth we are trying to achieve. What we have seen is a change in work content. In 2006/7, our primary focus was on helping our clients to acquire, launch new products, invest in new markets, or develop new channels to market. Now, we’re helping our clients to divest, cut costs, improve performance and out source any non-core businesses. In 2007, many external parties questioned the rationale behind our global expansion relative to our scale of operation. Conversely, now the UK market has softened, we’re receiving acclaim for the success we’ve delivered through that very same global strategy.

Why is the Middle East proving so attractive for PIPC’s project skills?
The Middle East has seen unparalleled growth over the past few years as the market continues to look for alternative investments for ‘petro-dollars’. Looking at the UAE as an example, the Abu Dhabi 2030 Plan will place the Emirate as a huge metropolis and in all likelihood, the commercial centre of the Middle East. This huge growth potential was the primary driver behind PIPC’s decision to invest heavily in creating a regional presence and we opened our 14th global office there last year.
It opens the opportunity for us to help support government, financial institutions, energy providers and infrastructure developers. In fact, it reaffirms our business to exploit global opportunities.

PIPC is well-known for its work in the area of sustainability (it won an MCA award for its work with ITV). How do you think investment in ‘green’ issues has been affected by the credit crunch?
Early 2007 saw most major corporates push their environmental agenda. However, I can safely say that most have now stopped investment and are focused on business survival. We continue to provide this service, but I expect the major growth to commence a couple of years from now. I think the UK may well be in a position where we are seeing some signs of recovery in 2010. At that point, businesses will begin to launch new projects in order to get back on track. So we are fully expecting investment in the green agenda to take a back seat until well into 2011.

What was your most satisfying business win last year?
It has to be a new programme with the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). We launched our Government and Public sector practice back in June 2007 and invested heavily by recruiting some of the best players in the market. By September 2008, the team had done a great job in building the practice and the win at DCSF in October 2008 really confirmed the team’s capability. This is only the start – we have one of the most talented government and public sector consulting teams.

What is the one piece of advice you would give to a struggling business in the current economy?
Be absolutely ruthless. The economic environment is not going to improve in the near-term, so act now rather than hope things will simply improve.

What are your ambitions for the future of the company?
PIPC will become the leading global project management company. That is, whenever C-level executives have complex project or programmes to deliver, they will call PIPC to support them. We’re on a relentless drive to achieve revenues of £100m per annum and we plan to get there by 2014.

What has been the highlight of your career thus far?
It was almost certainly taking the risk to join PIPC. At the time I joined the firm, we were based solely in the UK, with revenue of less than £2m and we employed less than 20 people. Although the business clearly had great potential, it seemed like something of a long shot. We’re now a truly global business and I have seen that initial risk pay major dividends. In all honesty, I have never looked back.

How much of your free time is taken up with marathon training?
Not enough. Training for London last year, I tried to avoid any impact on both professional and family life, which was tough. All my training was done running back from the office to home along the Embankment. I used to extend my runs from the City via various London bridges (Chelsea, Wandsworth, then Putney, Hammersmith and so on), and then home. This year I’m running the Paris Marathon on 5 April and the London Marathon on 26 April. I’m looking forward to the challenge.

You ran the London Marathon in three hours 41 minutes last year. What are your hopes for this year?
My ultimate goal would be to break the three-hour barrier.