Telkom spending millions on consultants

[Jamie McKane]

Telkom spending millions on consultants

Over the last few years, Telkom has come under pressure for spending millions on consultants, with some industry insiders questioning the value of their contribution.

In one of the latest examples, Telkom subsidiary BCX paid Bain & Company around R200 million for cost-cutting and turnaround strategies that will not be used.

 

[Okty]

They told MyBroadband that these consultants seldom add value outside of what Telkom employees already know.

Sounds like a project I worked on while back. Management decided to hire McKinsey & Company to consult on the project, since all our work experience was deemed 'useless' by management. Lo & behold, at the end of the day, and a few million Rands later, McKinsey came up with almost the same requirements and recommendations as we did at the beginning of the project.

 

[Thor]

This reflects bad on management.

 

[My_King]

Ha ha lekker been saying this for years.
Employ dumb "managers" fresh out of Uni that can't do the work. (But we know they can only party for a few years)

They then in turn need to outsource to people who can actually do the work.

 

[Wag]

Who cares, bailout strategy is the go to solution.

 

[Budza]

I think you misunderstood the article. What I read was that Bain (for e.g.) is a useless company that adds very little value for lots of $$

Which competent management at Telkom would have known, and the deal would have been structured better/never existed.

 

[grok]

Seen the same at some of the SOE's we're servicing, they filled the positions with PDI's who cannot do the jobs but know how to draw the salaries, then get consultants to fill in the gaps.

 

[deesef]

This is not new. Telkom had been using various consulting companies for many years, generally at a cost of R100s of millions per year. Some of them but chose to R1 billion per year. Baine, McKinsey, Delta Partners, PWC, are a few of the many that immediately during to mind.

I don't think that they are actually hired for their consulting skills. Based on the whole State Capture Saga, these firms were/are used as a mechanism to skim funds from the SOEs and to line the back-pockets of selected people.

 

[Yskasmetnstoof]

For free: Answer the phone. Have the website work. Make the website easy to understand. Make data affordable and fast. Keep the phone on. Cancel accounts (really cancel them) when asked. Treat customers with respect.

 

[Luke7777]

This reflects bad on management.

.. which is no longer working there.... this also from December 2018 ??

 

[Jopie Fourie]

So, basically paying exorbitant consultation fees to the white employees they sacked due to AA.....

 

[Jofran]

The feeding st the trough never seems to stop. When will we get really able and committed people into runnining these organizations and stop the rot.