This past May, I was on a plane when I created the first version of the path to revolution (see figure below) in management consulting, and which I am sharing with you today. This figure has not really changed much since then, but I have been developing the underlying structure to help me, as well as executives at consulting service providers, segment and map the new portfolio of existing and evolving services that have bubbled up in the wake of the increasing diversification of delivery options. My interactions with a number of executives over the past few months have helped me in this early validation process.

I recently started a discussion about what constitutes management consulting 2.0 in The Forrester Community For Vendor Strategy Professionals. This opened up the discussion on innovation in management consulting to a broader audience. While the community discussion has triggered quite a number of views (already more than 1,200 views), there are unfortunately just four (very valuable) responses so far. I encourage you to weigh in to the discussion (and to also check out others such as those on an apps-everywhere world and Smart Computing). You’ll also find new contributions from me there soon.

In the future, we will see four main approaches to delivering value to clients from management consulting service providers (which begs the question as to whether the phrase “management consulting” is not fading into obsolescence anyway):