HP reaches for the COSMOS with new Consultancy

HP has taken a step, four years in the making, which transforms the company from a solutions provider with consulting services to a full-blown independent consultant.

HPs Solutions Consulting Service is an integrated portfolio of six specific services that provide a holistic view and assessment of a service provider’s organization.

The HP SCS comprises a set of assets called HP COSMOS, which includes intellectual property, methodologies, processes and best practices. COSMOS manages transformational change across organizations, operations and technology.

Teresa Schlegelmann, director of worldwide solution consulting services for HP’s Communications Media and Entertainment unit, said this applies to two types of transformational change. The first are the large transformation projects for which HP can apply all of its services. The second is more tailored and focuses on addressing specific issues. “ Here, we apply services that can help service providers have a big picture view that helps them understand what kinds of issues their micro issues may be causing in the overall organization,” she said.

The six services are: product innovation, process improvement, organizational change, architecture optimization, transformational governance and financial evaluation.

Product innovation is used to analyze a company’s service offerings against its competition and recommend new services along with related success factors. Process improvement analyzes all business processes to address gaps and overlaps in order to deliver optimized processes that support business and operational transformation. Organizational change is evaluated to identify inefficient silos, weak links and the underutilization of people. Architecture optimization looks at the technology infrastructure to identify improvements. Transformational governance assesses risk and financial impact of change management programs. Finally, a financial evaluation analyzes the financial outcome of re-aligning process, organizations and technologies.

“We believe the portfolio and the six areas of services we are providing really address the key issues service providers are trying to solve,” Schlegelmann said.

She added that HP’s approach to consulting is not a paper approach. COSMOS was built on top of an object modeling tool set that allows HP to deliver its consulting message in a visual format. “We are able to provide a visual picture of the overall operating environment and that provides a good baseline for seeing how people in different silos are part of the bigger whole,” Schlegelmann said. “It is important to understand how things actually hold together from product development through to the actual operations of an organization.”

IDC analyst, Curtis Price, published a whitepaper on HP’s SCS and said, “By combining a model –based approach with documented best practices from HP’s varied engagements with communications and media companies, HPSCS enables [CSPs} to manage, control and transform their entire operational environment from the delivery of end-user services to the back-office operations.”

ETB Colombia has already used HP on a consultative basis for its strategic transformation. HP assessed the company’s enterprise architecture and helped define an evolutionary path toward a more streamlined structure.

HP did likewise for TUS TELEKOM in Slovenia. It started with a 360-degree analysis of the business and developed a mobile service fulfillment process. It also helped TUS streamline the product development process and ease the transition from development to operations.

Schlegelmann cited four key differentiators between HP and other independent consultancies. First are the very specific six consulting services. “”Services and packaged and repeatable and customers know up front what the deliverables will be,” she said.

She also cited the assets in intellectual property, particularly in telecom it has built over the years and its ability to implement solutions. “We have the luxury of being an engineering company,” she said. “Having someone who understands the issues and can provide recommendations is one thing. But having people who can actually implement those recommendations is another story.”

There is also HP’s product portfolio and partner ecosystem and the company’s global reach.