About BEACON: SIMCON Newsletter Nov 2012 named as Beacon, denoting the light cast far into the sea by the lighthouse to guide the ships and averting them from colliding on rocks. Same will be the purpose of this newsletter to guide us all on consulting path and lead to the success. Beacon is also denoting acronym for (BE-A-CONsultant). :) Your contributions and inputs are most welcome. Mail To: simcon.simsree@gmail.com

1. A number of student clubs have been active in
SIMSREE but due to growth in consulting industry
there existed a need for consulting club. As a result,
few students of the 2012-2014 batch initiated the
formation of SIMSREE Consulting Club named as
“SIMCON”.
The SIMCON aims to provide exposure to the
consulting industry & enables students to get a bet-
ter idea of what a career in consulting is all about by
networking with other consultants. We plan to have
some interactive sessions and competitions, also update students with the latest thoughts and
ideas in the industry, and providing them information about careers in management consulting via
industry workshops, alumni interaction etc.
As part of the same effort, we are starting with SIMCON monthly newsletter named BEACON
(Be-A-Consultant) from this year and are happy to present you the first issue. Hope you enjoy
reading it.
1. ABOUT SIMCONC O N T E N T S
O F
I N T E R E S T
About SIMCON
Food for Neurons
Know your Company
Book Review
Mind Workout
M E M B E R S :
ASHISH NAMJOSHI
DEVARSH CHAVAN
KANT MISHRA
KARAN KATARIA
ONKAR SOVANI
PRATHAMESH PARKAR
RAHUL RAMAN
SAGAR SANKHE
SAHIL KAMDAR
VISHAL BANIYA
W h a t a r e w e a i m i n g f o r !
Our Vision:
1. To create awareness amongst the students about consulting industry & its latest trends
2. To maintain strong relations with top consultancy firms
Our Mission:
1. To provide platform to craft highly skilled & competent consultants from SIMSREE
2. To provide exposure to students via competitions, live projects, guest lectures & conclaves
A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FROM SIMCON - SIMSREE CONSULTING CLUB
BEACON
NOVEMBER 2012ISSUE 1
BE-A-CONSULTANT
SIMCON FOUNDERS
Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education

2. What is management consulting?
If we ask ourselves “Which organisations are the big & famous today?” a long list
comes to our mind. These organisations are huge in size, employ massive number
of resources, have operations all round the world and are involved in complicated
stuff every single day. Naturally, they do have some critical issues to handle and
some crucial decisions to make. Given the complex nature of their business and
large number of functions to look after, these organisations look for some external
helping hand in such cases, an advisor who knows in and out of the particular area
wherein the issue lies, an expert who has solved similar issues successfully in the
past or a short-term workforce which is task-ready from day zero, which can come
in, can help the organisation with a short term project and then move out. A more
simplified definition of management consulting would be „helping out organisa-
tions to improve their performance by analysing their current issues, providing
them with solution & designing plans for its future development‟.
Business problems exist across a range of industries, business functions and organisation types. Consequently, con-
sulting firms also vary in size from huge MNCs (examples include McKinsey, BCG, Bain, IBM Global Services,
and Accenture) that cover a wide range of issues to smaller boutique firms that cater to a particular industry or func-
tional areas.
What are different roles / profiles involved in career path of a consultant?
Specific titles vary from firm to firm, but the individual roles are usually as follows:
Analyst: This is an entry-level consulting role with candidates usually coming in straight from undergrad. Role in-
volves strategic analyses, participating in team problem solving, client interaction and leadership, and communica-
tion of recommendations and analyses. Usually, analysts are expected to venture off and get some other experience
of two years (different job, grad school, etc) before coming back as an Associate.
Associate/Consultant: Candidates often come in after business school or some other graduate program, but there
are also cases where Analysts are promoted directly to Associate and others when candidates come in as experienced
hires from other industries; Role involves the same sort of tasking as the Analyst, but there‟s an expectation of
greater business knowledge/insight and greater role in client leadership; People usually stay in this role for 2-4 years,
depending on the firm.
Manager: At this point, the consultant starts driving the problem solving effort using the work of the Analysts and
Associates. Role involves high-level problem structuring, resource allocation, process management, direct client
leadership, and providing quality control on final deliverables; People usually stay in this role for 2-3 years, depend-
ing on the firm.
Associate Partner: Transition role between Manager and Partner where a person begins to add value to multiple
teams and/or clients concurrently; At this point, the consultant also takes a greater role in business development and
selling work for the firm; By this point, the consultant should have developed an area of functional and/or industry
expertise that he/she will leverage as a platform to work toward a promotion to Partner; Consultants usually stay in
this role for 2-4 years, depending on the firm.
We hope you liked small ounce of upcoming flood of knowledge of consulting, write to-simcon.simsree@gmail.com
2. FOOD FOR NEURONS:
MANAGEMENT CONSULTING INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
P a g e 2
CONSULTING KNOWLEDGE FROM
STUDENTS ,FOR THE STUDENTS
B E A C O N

3. 3. Know your company: Cognizant
P a g e 3
Industries serviced :Banking & Financial Services, Communications, Energy &
Utilities, Healthcare, Information, Media & Entertainment, Insurance, Life Sci-
ences, Manufacturing, Retail, Transportation & Logistics, Travel & Hospitality
B E A C O N
AREAS OF SPECIALTY
1. Business Issues
Prepare for the Future of Work
Put Analytics to Work
Improve Your Customer Interaction & Experience
Run IT Like a Business
Transform Your Enterprise
2. Strategic Services
Application Portfolio Rationalization
Business/IT Strategy
Business Operations & Process Transformation
Cloud Optimization
Future of Work Readiness Assessment
Global Sourcing Transformation
IT Cost Optimization
IT Organization & Operating Model
Organization Change Management
Post Merger Integration
3. Customer Solutions
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Business Process Management (BPM)
Cloud Enablement
B2B-to-B2C Transformation
4. Enterprise Information Management & Analytics
Business Analytics
Data Warehousing
5. IT Infrastructure Services
Enterprise Computing
Infrastructure Security
Network & Convergence
End-User Computing
IT Management Consulting

4. Title: The Mckinsey Way
Author: Ethan M. Rasiel
The sole reason that I went ahead to read this book was a keen interest in consulting
field. But after reading this book, I would say that almost all the thoughts and problem
solving techniques are more or less applicable to every professional who is looking for-
ward to make a successful career as a manager and want to lead his/ her firm or business
to greater heights.
The author is an ex-employee of one of the most prestigious business manage-
ment firms; Mckinsey & Company and he has written the book with goal of explaining
various work methods used in Mckinsey, the thought process behind these methods and
how these would help to help professionals more efficient & effective in business. The
book has been logically divided into five parts, each dedicated to different areas which
author wants to explain.
In the first part, author takes us through the initial stage of problem analysing at Mckinsey. Here author gives
insights about how a typical Mckinsey-ite would approach a business issue brought by the client. He also explains about
few rules and principles followed by Mckinsey while building solution to a business case.
Rasiel then takes us to the next stage, which is solving the business problem. Here, he explains about various
tasks involved in building the solution to a business case and how a typical Mckinsey team would work on these tasks. He
takes us through brainstorming till selling the solution.
In third part, author explains about importance of presentation skills required while dealing with the client. He
stresses on the fact that even after building a perfect solution for client, the job is only half done. The next step is to sell
the same to the client convincingly. This section covers creating effective presentations, usage of data charts and working
with client.
After this, author focuses on the survival skills for a business consultant. Though the section heading suggests
that it is about Mckinsey, the thoughts and advice given by author are more or less applicable to every consultant profes-
sional.
Lastly, author concludes with his memorable moments at Mckinsey, his life after Mckinsey and the key learn-
ings he took away from his tenure at Mckinsey.
The book is very well structured and author has maintained a very good flow of thoughts. The order of sections
and chapters is so natural that many times you get exactly the same topic what you expected to come next, while reading
previous page.
Another worth mentioning feature is very lucid language. This is a self-help book which won‟t ask you to look
out for words in dictionary. At the same time, author has used specific jargons wherever those are required to get the
readers acquainted with those. But, footnotes make the understanding of jargons very easy.
Lastly, the feature which makes this book a must-read is the illustrations that the author gives to back up a
thought or advice or even a method which is followed by a typical McKinseyite. First hand experiences shared by author
increases the authenticity of rules or principles explained in the book.
All in all, I found this book to be of great value yet easy to read. This book is a great source of real world information for
professionals keen to get into consulting field. At the same time, it is equally useful to anyone who works within an or-
ganization as most of the ideas in here are replicable.
B E A C O NP a g e 4
4. Book Review: The Mckinsey Way

5. 5. MIND WORKOUT: QUIZZ TIME !!
Below are the questions:
1. An alumnus of IIT Delhi & Harvard University . He went on to be-
come the CEO of one of the world‟s leading consultancy firm . Identify
who & which firm?
2. Identify the lady. (Chairwoman of one the leading consultancy firm)
3. He started his career with BCG & later joined Bain & co In 1984 he
left Bain & co to cofound private equity firm Bain Capital. We know
him better because of his other pursuits Who?
4. The firm started in in 1909 by an MIT chemist who had discovered
acetate. Named after it‟s founder this company pioneered the concept of contracted professional services. The com-
pany played key roles in the development of business strategy, operations research, the word processor, the first syn-
thetic penicillin, LexisNexis. Which firm?
5. The firm was created by the merger of two large firms in 1998. The two firms each had histories dating back to the
nineteenth century. It provides auditing services to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, giving it the
unique distinction of having been the tabulator and certifier of votes for the Academy Awards (Oscars) since 1934.
Contributions invited: To make this feature a successful effort, we seek continued involve-
ment and contribution. From our readers, that is YOU. We invite articles and trivia on themes related to
consulting. Be it industry news, consulting trends, a joke, a cartoon or feedback, we are eager to hear
from you. So go ahead, do your research, pen down your thoughts and mail your entries to sim-
con.simsree@gmail.com.
Best Regards,
SIMCON –SIMSREE CONSULTING CLUB
SIMSREE, B-ROAD CHURCHGATE 400 020, INDIA.
Mail To: simcon.simsree@gmail.com
Mail answers to simcon.simsree@gmail.com (we will announce winners in next month)
B E A C O NP a g e 5