NelsonHall recently attended BearingPoint’s 2017 analyst summit in Le Village by CA, Paris. A key takeaway from the event was BearingPoint’s ability to partner with its clients and its partner network to drive innovation.

Innovation Hubs

Crédit Agricole, one of its largest clients in France, set up Le Village by CA in 2014 as an innovation hub to nurture startups, and not just in fintech. BearingPoint has contributed to establishment and operation of the innovation village from CA Group’s initial reflections on the project. Using a network of partners including the likes of BearingPoint, Microsoft, HPE, IBM, Orange and Philips, the village hosts ~100 startups with solutions inside and out of the financial services space.

The center is in prime real-estate in Paris, surrounded by the headquarters of many of France’s largest enterprises. This proximity and the partnerships allow the start-ups to gain unprecedented access to these organizations. In some cases, through the coaching provided by the partners and this access, start-ups have saved six months in sales development.

Each month, start-ups pitch to the partners for the ability to enter the village, with pitches lasting a tightly defined 13 minutes: 5 minutes of pitch time, 5 for Q&A and 3 for decision making. Successful start-ups receive the ability to rent space in the village half price, and support & mentoring through the expertise of CA and the partners for up to two years. BearingPoint highlights the importance of this mentoring: ‘incubating is not enough, now you need coaching’. BearingPoint’s contribution includes start-up mentoring and support programs and offering participation in think tanks and other events. Through this coaching the center aims for ~50-60% start-up success, with BearingPoint and other partners offering co-creating of solutions.

Since its inception CA has established 8 such villages, supporting 237 startups across France, and plans to open 30 more villages in 2017.

Global Alliance Network

BearingPoint’s global alliance network includes ABeam Consulting, Grupo ASSA, and West Monroe Partners. Each alliance partner adds geographic coverage; ABeam Consulting in APAC, primarily Japan; BearingPoint in EMEA; Grupo ASSA in Latin America; West Monroe Partners in North America. The global alliance network has 10.2k FTEs across 35 countries with revenues of ~$1.5bn (of which BearingPoint $655m).

The global alliance network promotes ‘working as one group’, and is co-developing centers as a group effort. It intends to open a mobile innovation center, starting in Vienna hosting ~10 start-ups, and thereafter in APAC.

Each alliance member owns the relationship of clients headquartered in their geography, leveraging the global alliance capabilities. The first cross-alliance contract is Continental, where BearingPoint owns the relationship, with resources from West Monroe, Grupo ASSA and ABeam providing SAP integration services across their respective geographies.

The global alliance network will help BearingPoint serve its clients with global operations – its target 2020 revenue for RoW is €65m.

Operating Model

BearingPoint’s operating model is designed to support innovation across its Consulting, Solutions and Ventures organizational structure.

BearingPoint runs shark-tanks twice yearly out of innovation hubs such as Le Village by CA to choose innovative companies to invests in for its Ventures unit.

With this operating model, in 2016 BearingPoint generated 420 new ideas from BearingPoint’s consultants, drawing from their experiences in client engagements, created 11 accelerators that have generated €47m in new sales, and spun off its first venture: blockchain technology for financial institutions, acquired by Digital Asset Holding.

This model has been a success; global alliance partner ABeam is working on implementing a similar incubator platform in 2017/18.

BearingPoint’s 2020 ambitions include €1bn in revenues and a 15% EBIT margin. Three key elements of BearingPoint’s growth strategy are:

• Demonstrating its global reach through its global alliance network
• The solution business adding €100m to its current €139m revenue
• M&A to fill gaps in the portfolio and to support growth in strategic areas. This week for example. BearingPoint announced the acquisition of LCP consulting to strengthen its presence in the retail sector.