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Earlier this month, North Highland, a mainstay on Consulting’s Finest Companies to Work For rankings, finalized the acquisition of LogistiPoint Consulting, a retail provide chain and distribution consulting agency that helps purchasers obtain leads to logistics and distribution operations. The transaction expands North Highland’s breadth and depth of technique and provide chain experience, in keeping with Navid Ahdieh, Managing Director, North Highland. Phrases of the transaction weren’t disclosed. North Highland’s analysis within the 2020 Beacon Report discovered that 85 p.c of enterprise leaders consider that operational effectivity is a high precedence for transformation inside their group. Based in 2009, LogistiPoint brings greater than 30 years of expertise bettering logistics and distribution inside the retail provide chain business to assist purchasers obtain increased efficiency from their folks, amenities and techniques. The partnership displays North Highland’s funding in strategic operations to drive lasting capabilities and worth for purchasers, says Ahdieh. Ahdieh, together with Andrew Billings, Affiliate Vice President & Provide Chain Functionality Lead at North Highland, and Randy Moore, Founding father of LogistiPoint Consulting, sat down with Consulting journal to debate the acquisition and what comes subsequent.
Consulting: With all that’s occurring on this planet, and particularly within the enterprise world, why is that this time for an acquisition?
Ahdieh: Our dedication to actually digging in and fixing advanced consumer challenges is the first driver for us proper and we’ve been working very intently with LogistiPoint for the final two years on a wide range of totally different engagements. LogistiPoint affords a extremely compelling alternative to speed up the choices and development that we’ve been working in the direction of within the provide chain house, and particularly inside the retail provide chain house. We proceed to spend money on that experience, and we noticed this chance to develop each the breadth and depth of our provide chain choices. And that coupled with our joint breadth and depth additionally within the retail house made it alternative to discover and examine. Whereas we have been working collectively, we discovered a lot about one another; we have now an identical tradition and heritage constructed on related values and a dedication to providing a distinct method to consulting. The timing was proper.
Moore: LogistiPoint is a small form of specialist, boutique agency, and we actually concentrate on logistics execution and provide chain execution—so the extra tactical operations and engineering varieties of initiatives. And as a specialist, you’re all the time seeking to develop your attain so we began the partnership with North Highland about two years in the past to attempt to work on larger initiatives with bigger purchasers and it labored nice. So, we each determined that this was the fitting time to make this transfer. And it makes good sense for each events. As all of us watched the problems with COVID unfold in March and April, all of us checked out it and realized this can be a good instance of how provide chain technique planning and execution must work collectively hand in hand. We form of mentioned that is actually shining a light-weight on the significance of provide chain, and it makes extra sense to do it now than ever.
Billings: And what we have now skilled over the past a number of months, actually an uptick in demand from numerous our retail and CPG purchasers particularly to incorporate pharmaceutical corporations, corporations which can be transferring a considerable amount of bodily items, as a result of the character of transferring merchandise to satisfy shopper demand has modified drastically over simply the final six months. So it really has opened the window for us to ship some very giant significant, impactful engagements to our purchasers. So, I feel from a timing standpoint it really works very properly as a result of our collective capabilities and provide chain companies align to the wants of the market which have spiked, frankly, due to COVID.
Consulting: Sounds just like the emergence of COVID really accelerated this course of, or would you simply say it adopted a pure development?
Moore: I feel, in our view, it did considerably speed up it just because it accelerated all of the wants our purchasers had. The explosion of e-commerce in simply the final six months has in all probability surpassed what most of our purchasers have been anticipating to realize within the subsequent 5 or 6 years. And so the acceleration of e-commerce actually accelerates how a provide chain must adapt and react and alter to such a dramatic shift in quantity.
Ahdieh: I agree, Randy. Actually stepping as much as serving to our purchasers obtain the provision chain resilience they’ve to realize in a brief time period, created a pleasant catalyst impact. We knew that the shift that was going to occur would require a steady evolution and enchancment of how we do enterprise, how we serve our purchasers, how we create alternatives for workers, how we design merchandise; and whereas we have been heading into that, it simply appeared it was clearly the fitting time to combine LogistiPoint and their experience. Whereas we already had totally different components of the engine open, so to talk, why not make it possible for we fold within the LogistiPoint areas of experience in order that we will extra totally recognize the worth of it and embed it extra deeply into the agency. That is one thing we’re actually captivated with—once we purchase the experience of different corporations, our goal is to combine it deeply inside the group. We need to embed it inside our material and do it in a approach that offers it the sustainability it wants.
Consulting: When it comes to bringing the agency into North Highland, what are we speaking about when it comes to assets? How many individuals are coming over? How will that work from a cultural perspective?
Moore: We’re a small agency, we have now 10 full-time workers which can be coming over to North Highland. We all the time strove to be the most effective at what we have been doing, and we by no means actually apprehensive about scale and measurement as a result of we simply don’t suppose that’s as vital as being wonderful. So we’ve pursued excellence, above all else, and now with this integration with North Highland we will additionally scale and develop, as properly.
Consulting: What else was engaging to you about North Highland and this chance?
Moore: Having the pleasure of working facet by facet with one another in initiatives over the past two years, I feel all of us realized that there was a cultural match—not solely between our respective undertaking groups—but in addition between our groups and our purchasers. It was like hand in glove. And all of us realized that not solely did this make sense from a talent and functionality standpoint, however it actually made sense from a cultural standpoint. That’s when you recognize it’s going to achieve success.
Consulting: And from North Highland’s perspective?
Ahdieh: Definitely, the areas of experience round provide chain engineering, the talents capabilities, the refined approach of working, the consumer relationships, the expertise that LogistiPoint brings to bear is all very useful and thrilling. However I’d like to return to one thing that Randy was saying: we’re excited at any time when we will we will deliver collectively totally different groups in a approach that not solely feels seamless to us as an inner group, however can also be impactful when the consumer is aware of and has confidence that we’re now collectively stronger collectively. And that the way in which we will serve them as a single agency is exclusive. It’s a kind of one plus one is certainly greater than two situations. Purchasers are persistently desirous to simplify their methods of participating with corporations. It’s not about getting all the pieces from the identical agency however when you may get end-to-end provide chain experience functionality that can take you from strategic planning to a really detailed extremely specialised distribution heart all the way in which to the implementation and execution of course of adjustments and new applied sciences, that’s an enormous upside for our purchasers.
Consulting: Will this sit in a single explicit follow? How do you go to market with this new, expanded providing?
Ahdieh: To reply your query instantly, that is going to sit down inside our Technique follow, and this can be a elementary a part of the way in which we serve our purchasers by means of the totally different lenses of transformation that we discuss fairly a bit, and the way that runs throughout the purchasers operational wants, their workforce wants and their customer-related wants. Our perception is that these three wants and people three lenses are all the time an space of focus for our purchasers, simply in numerous measures. The group from LogistiPoint and our provide chain work efforts—and we’ve been aligned on this approach already—are going to sit down inside Technique inside our transformation capabilities and, and extra particularly inside the areas of operational transformation that we’re supporting our purchasers by means of. Our rapid plans are to make sure that we’re caring for the prevailing consumer base, however we completely have our sights set on bringing this expanded functionality to different purchasers, as properly. First on that record could be the retail purchasers we have now and with the ability to assist them to run extremely advanced provide chain technique engagements. However very a lot on the heels of that we have now each intention of increasing this past retail. We all know that, for instance, the transportation business may be very a lot in want of assist from provide chain excellence, so we’re constructing out our strategic plans proper now to increase into different industries. We’re going to align organizationally in ways in which enable us to drive development in a really coordinated agile approach with out encumbering it with only a super quantity of weight and paperwork. LogistiPoint’s purchasers are going to need to make it possible for we’re staying as nimble as they’ve skilled up to now.
Consulting: What alternatives do you see proper now and as we—hopefully— start to come back out of this? What are you over the following six to 12 months when it comes to initiatives and pipeline?
Moore: The learnings from COVID have actually raised all of our consciousness of the place e-commerce goes. Considered one of our colleagues mentioned within the years forward there’s in all probability going to be much more distribution facilities constructed and so they’re all going to be shops. So I feel it’s addressing that drastic shift within the market of the place customers are, and the way their shopping for patterns on-line have modified a lot.
Billings: We’ve seen numerous corporations who’ve been adversely affected by COVID, and there’s an pressing must drive operational effectivity to proper measurement their provide chain with a purpose to maintain their profitability margins. So, we’re seeing numerous demand in that space, as properly.
Consulting: You’ve touched on tradition a bit of bit, however anytime there’s an acquisition in consulting, I feel it’s paramount to speak about tradition. Why are you assured this one will work?
Billings: I really first met Randy in 2007 and we labored collectively at a previous agency, together with a number of different members of the LogistiPoint group. We’ve been working collectively for a very long time on and off, so I feel from a cultural standpoint, I’d say there’s little or no concern a few form of cultural advanced, our groups are extraordinarily snug with one other and have already been collaborating below widespread initiatives for the final two years.
Moore: I feel these are your statistics, Andrew, however I feel it’s been a complete of 5 totally different purchasers we’ve labored with and 12 initiatives we’ve undertaken collectively over the past two years, so it’s its been a protracted trial marriage and it’s been nice!
Ahdieh: We’re not bringing this group over to easily have them proceed doing precisely what they’ve all the time completed. Randy’s settlement to change into a part of North Highland was primarily based on the chance to repeatedly evolve. The group that he began with a really loyal group of workers has been in a development mode for a few years now. Our dedication to one another is that we’re going to assist one another evolve: we’ve acquired ten new group members who’re searching for us to chart a profession journey for them. We need to ensure that these group members really feel like they’re a very embedded a part of the group as shortly as doable in order that they’ll think about—after which reimagine—their careers.
Moore: We all the time wish to measure our success by what our purchasers say about us and Andrew and I’ve been working at this one consumer for a few years now and I keep in mind not too way back, certainly one of their high executives mentioned: ‘You understand, I had no concept once we began this undertaking with North Highland and LogistiPoint that we’d be capable to go to at least one agency and discover this breadth and depth of expertise.’ And I feel that’s simply what we skilled earlier than we turned companions, and I feel we’ll expertise that and much more now that we’re formally collectively as one entity.
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