Business-Centric Information Management: TargetArc Consulting

The Silicon Review

First comes vision; then organization of that vision, into actionable plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in identifying your Target. -Napolean Hill

We live in a world of information; data is recognized as a business asset and evidently, organizations are striving to leverage their data to gain strategic advantage. Never have organizations been able to access such a vast amount of data so easily, which brings new challenges: leading and facilitating the organizations’ adaption to data-driven culture is one such challenge. Slow-paced transformation is an issue of major concern to large enterprises, which is compounded by the competition from new entrants and early adopters to change. Virtually all firms are trying to move in that direction, but only about one-third have succeeded at this objective. There are many consulting firms in the market offering information management services, most of these firms are technology heavy, very few firms are business focused and impartial. TargetArc is one such business focused, information management consultancy firm that has successfully helped various organizations transform and prosper in turbulent and competitive market conditions.

TargetArc specializes in Business Architecture design. Their Frameworks and methodologies leverage information to create institutional knowledge that drives business strategy, operating models and business driven technology selection and deployment.

In conversation with the Principal Strategist, TargetArc Consulting- Murali Kala

Q. What was the inspiration to launch the company?

After 25+ years of working with various consulting firms, frameworks, and industries, we noticed a huge gap in the market for services offered by consulting firms in a few specific areas: information enabled business models & strategies, and information led technology selection & deployment. Everywhere focus was only on technology, and businesses were forced to adapt to new tools and technologies that were not meetings their needs. TargetArc was established as a technology-agnostic business consulting firm that uncovers information to drive organizational strategy, and that builds institutional knowledge to accelerate business-aligned technology deployment.

Information is at the heart of every business. We strive to be a premier information strategy firm, distinguishing ourselves with a unique business-outcome based approach that enables effective management of information assets and drives our clients’ success.

Over the years, based on our experience, customer pain-points, and market needs, our services have evolved and expanded. Our service break-down model empowers the organizations to choose complete or a subset of specific services based on their business needs.

Q. How would you define the difference between a business and a brand?

A business looks at building products or services, balancing books and P&L. This model is not sustainable in the current disruptive markets. Our goal is to establish TargetArc as a reliable and go to brand for information management and business consulting. Differentiation, reputation, and quality are the foundations for our brand.

Q. What was the first project undertaken by your company?

Our first engagement was to build and execute R&D Data Strategy and business-blueprinting-led IT strategy for a global pharmaceutical organization in 2013. The fact that this organization has been one of our main clients, engaging us in all their strategic & tactical initiatives and M&A’s since 2013 to-date speaks a lot about our commitments to delivery.

Q. How do you manage to stay on top in a volatile market?

Our goal and our core principle have been clear since the moment of our inception: Enable organizations to use their “information-asset” to define and drive business strategy and operating models. Organizations have never been thinking about and investing more on data as of now. We have been promoting this change of thought since our formation. The needs of organizations have been evolving with the emergence of new technologies and market changes. We continuously ensure that our services are evolving based on the market trends and needs of the customers.

We have learnt from our experiences so far. The main issue for a small firm is being heard. Businesses have big brands that they wish to go to when they have a need. Change to approach is not something that a small firm like ours can easily drive. We have been working with different business models to compete in the current markets through our partnerships, collaborations, and publications, and are still committed to providing unique, technology-agnostic and unbiased consulting services.

We are in the market to establish TargetArc as a trustworthy brand. We had to overcome lean periods caused by market volatility and competition from bigger consulting companies and still continue to do so. Some of our engagements involved taking over failed initiatives previously led by big consulting firms and we were effective in turning them into organizational success stories.

Q. What principles would you outline as being your company’s core values?

Integrity, honesty, and transparency to our partners, employees, and clients are our core values. These values have enabled us to be independent and provide unbiased advisory and consulting services to our clients. These core values have helped us retain and get repeatable engagements from our clients.

Q. How have you shaped TargetArc’s offerings?

When we started out, our services were generic. After 5 years of working with various clients and addressing their needs, they have evolved and augmented, and we now offer some specific industry/pain-point focused consulting services. We also offer an end to end services model for our offerings now.

Getting feedback from clients is essential to sustain and evolve. This is very important to a boutique firm like ours. We make sure that we incorporate our clients’ and Key Opinion Leaders’ feedback at every given opportunity. We proactively seek feedback on our performance and services, and this has been the key to evolve as a business-centric consulting firm.

Q. Where do you see your company a few years from now? Do you have a roadmap for the future?

We have started new services on business analytics and AI/Machine Learning and iCDO (Interim Chief Data Officer). We are also now offering end to end services to our clients.

After a successful run within pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and Oil & Gas industries, we are now venturing into energy & utilities and manufacturing industries. We are confident that in the coming years we will be an established, premier consulting firm within the information management and business transformation space.