Despite Increased Spending in Recent Years, Executives Believe Their IT Budgets Are Still Too Small
NEW YORK –(Business Wire) — The majority of business and information technology (IT) executives in the United States anticipate increases in IT expenditures over the next three years, according to results of an annual study released today by Accenture. READ MORE →
ZYMAN GROUP APPOINTS TIM R. PEARSON AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER. SERGIO ZYMAN, FOUNDER, TO CONTINUE AS CHAIRMAN.
Press Release, Feb. 9, 2006
ATLANTA, February 9, 2006 ? Zyman Group, the international management consulting firm that leverages the proven business principles codified in the best-selling book The End Of Marketing As We Know It, today announced the appointment of Tim R. Pearson as Chief Executive Officer, effective February 1, 2006. In this position, Pearson will team with Sergio Zyman, who as Chairman will actively focus on clients? strategic issues, new business development, and acquisitions in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
?Tim Pearson is a recognized leader in the marketing and brand management fields with an unrivaled record of achievement in driving profitable growth, strengthening and building teams, and managing large multi-country marketing operations. Zyman Group?s exceptional growth over the past seven years will benefit greatly from Tim?s well-known leadership skills and global experience as we continue to rapidly grow nationally and internationally,? said Sergio Zyman, Chairman of Zyman Group.
?It?s an unprecedented time at Zyman Group,? Pearson said. ?Working with the Zyman team of pre-eminent marketing practitioners who put into action proprietary and proven principles to create growth is unique in management consulting. And, actively partnering with Sergio ? the first global chief marketing officer and the industry?s standard setter ? is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I look forward to ensuring Zyman Group fulfills its mission of helping its clients ?sell more stuff to more people more often for more money more efficiently?.?
Zyman added, ?Tim and I are passionate. We believe that marketing is business and that growth is the only imperative. We share the same vision, beliefs, and principles that built Zyman Group into the fastest-growing consulting firm in 2005 as ranked by Inc. Magazine. Our results-oriented point of view will continue to raise the benchmark for premiere, undervalued and emerging brands and businesses — and their pursuit of profitable growth. My role will continue to point out where and how traditional marketing is broken, and Tim?s role will be to ensure we apply the right solutions to fix it.?
?At Zyman Group, every one of our seasoned business practitioners believes in, and successfully implements, the principles set forth in The End Of Marketing As We Know It. These principles have attracted a large number of Fortune 500 companies to Zyman in the B2B, B2C and Industrial areas. Putting these tenets into practice transforms our clients into smarter, more efficient organizations capable of achieving growth at an accelerated rate,? says Sergio Zyman.
?Tim is absolutely the right person to help the world-class management team at Zyman Group accelerate their ability to capitalize on new opportunities in management and marketing strategy,? according to Miles Nadal, Chairman and CEO of MDC Partners. ?The expanded capabilities of the Zyman Group will further enhance the expertise of the MDC Partners Network.?
Prior to joining Zyman Group, Pearson was Vice Chair and Global Managing Partner, Marketing and Communications for KPMG, one of the Big Four audit, tax and advisory firms. Pearson was responsible for KPMG International?s global brand management, marketing and communications for member firms in 717 cities in 148 countries. During his tenure, which began in 1997, KPMG LLP became the industry revenue growth leader for eight consecutive years. Pearson also served as Managing Partner of KPMG LLP?s 1,800-person Montvale, NJ, National Support Services complex (Audit and Advisory Center of Excellence, Finance & Administration, Human Resources, Information Technology Services and Operations).
Pearson also has expertise in emerging technology applications. He has been awarded interactive technology process patents in 18 countries and has developed leading-edge business and enterprise-wide solutions. Additionally, he has won numerous awards including The Wall Street Journal?s Best, Belding, Cables, Golden Phone, Protos, PRSA, Sunny Awards and Advertising Age?s Best, among others.
Tim also serves on the Advisory Board of The Nobel Peace Center, Oslo, Norway, and on the Harvard Business School?s Dean?s Research Society. A graduate of DePauw University with a B.A. in English Literature with Honors, cum laude, Pearson currently serves on DePauw University?s Board of Visitors.
About Zyman Group
Zyman Group is an international management consulting firm dedicated to helping companies accelerate growth profitably. The firm delivers actionable solutions that reflect the depth of its practical experience, scientific approach, and provocative points of view. These solutions are based on proprietary methodologies codified in the best-selling book The End Of Marketing As We Know It, and incorporate best practices from leading global companies. Headquartered in Atlanta with offices in Chicago, Miami and Mexico City, Zyman Group was founded in 1999 by Sergio Zyman, former Chief Marketing Officer at The Coca-Cola Company. Zyman Group is a member of the MDC Partners Network.
About MDC Partners
MDC Partners is a leading provider of marketing and communications services, and secure transaction products and services, to clients in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. Through its partnership of entrepreneurial firms, its Marketing Communications group provides advertising, and specialized communication and consulting services to leading brands and businesses. MDC Partners Class A shares are publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol ?MDCA? and on the Toronto Stock exchange under the symbol ?MDZ.SV.A?.
“What’s interesting about Savista is that it illustrates a major change in direction and culture going on right now in Accenture. … The company is pursuing an ambitious, clever, but tricky strategy of supplementing its traditional (and expensive) sales channels with a series of lower-end offerings that reach new audiences, or at least block new competitors (such as those from India) from reaching established customers. It’s a classic piece of market segmentation. Accenture realises that its traditional “client partner” sales channel – which sells expensive bundles of consulting, systems integration and outsourcing to big companies – simply can’t reach the mid-market, where much of the new growth is expected to emerge over the next few years. Hence the acquisition of Savista, which will operate independently of the established partner sales channel.”
More at: http://www.ovum.com/news/euronews.asp?id=4049
(Accenture news release)
Accenture has agreed to acquire key assets of Savista, expanding the range of bundled, back office business process outsourcing (BPO) capabilities the company offers to include those designed specifically for the middle market – organizations with fewer than 12,000 employees.
The market for these services is estimated by industry analysts to approach $17 billion and is expected to grow to more than $25 billion by 2009. READ MORE →
Depends on who you ask.
by Rick Telberg
At Large
Do CPAs really know what clients want? Do clients themselves know?The answer may be a harsh “not really.”
To find out more, we contacted several hundred CPAs in public practice and in business and industry. While their values about character, integrity, and technical competence align closely, their views about what it takes to land or lose a client reveal a disquieting gulf. And if there’s a gap between CPAs in public practice and CPAs in private practice, one can only envision an even broader gap between CPA firms and business-owner clients. READ MORE →
The costs and difficulty of backups, updates and disparate applications too often deter companies from implementing proper procedures. But can you really afford the risks?
by Rick Telberg
for Hewlett-Packard
If you’ve already guided your small and mid-size businesses to accounting software applications, then you may find new opportunities in helping them safeguard the data in those applications and other software they have since added.
Data security is, in fact, one of the biggest concerns among companies with between 50 and 499 employees, according to researchers at AMI-Partners. Forty-two percent of those companies identified enhanced data security as their biggest IT concern, followed by data backup and disaster recovery, cited by 38%, and improved data storage, 31%. The results closely parallel our own findings at Bay Street Group, which focuses on finance and accounting professionals. READ MORE →
