One of the remarkable quotes from the man who played an instrumental role in standardizing the firm’s approach to systems installations and paving the way for significant growth in the 1970s, like I marked in my last post ‘Setting Standards‘.

The global spread of technology by the early 1980s raised the competitive pressure on companies across a wide range of industries. In addition to their success in using computer technology, Arthur Andersen consultants played a leading role in applying new management techniques, such as just-in-time processes to manufacturing clients, serving as a model for truly integrated business solutions. Given the potential of business consulting, new players emerged to challenge Arthur Andersen’s dominance in the field and compete for top talent. While megajob computer systems installations remained the core of the increasingly profitable and rapidly growing practice, offices in different regions and countries were responding to clients’ more complex needs by offering solutions that went beyond just installing and integrating systems. In fact, the London office took the lead beginning in the early 1980s with a systems update for the U.K. Department of Health and Social Security’s outmoded benefit disbursement process. At the same time, the consultants realized that their competitive landscape was changing, and that the firm needed to change with it.

The Information Age

By 1986 the consultants realized that while Administrative Services was growing at roughly 20 percent a year, the industry was growing even faster, and, therefore, the consultants were losing market share. A new breed of non-accounting firms with practices coming from IT outsourcing, was emerging, initially in the United States and in Europe and Asia by the end of the decade. These competitors were not only more closely identified with the information technology sector than were rival accounting firms, they were much bigger. Andersen’s consulting practice needed to grow to remain competitive. And it rekindled a sense among much of the consulting leadership that they needed to take greater control of their destiny, rather than continue to be dominated by the audit leadership.

Millar also concluded that the consultants were in danger of progressing from job to job and not focusing adequately on trends in their market. His thought at the time was to put together a five-year plan to allow everybody to get their eyes off of their shoes and look out at the horizon about where this thing was heading. One of the major ideas to come out of this process was to stop referring to ourselves as being systems people, and focus on information, the deliverable. That allowed us to talk more to the senior client about what he was interested in.

This work also paved the way for the consulting group’s name change in 1980 to “Management Information Consulting Division”.