{"id":34805,"date":"2018-11-13T18:29:42","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T23:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/how-consulting-is-dealing-with-the-machine-learning-challenge\/"},"modified":"2018-11-13T18:29:42","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T23:29:42","slug":"how-mckinsey-is-dealing-with-the-machine-learning-challenge","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/how-mckinsey-is-dealing-with-the-machine-learning-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"How McKinsey is Dealing with the Machine Learning Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2015, McKinsey & Company, a leading global management consulting firm, with nearly one century of existence, bought the start-up QuantumBlack (QB) \u2013 a small company founded in 2009 with the goal to reimagine how organizations coulduse data analytics and machine learning to outperform their rivals.1<\/sup><\/p>\n

The deal is one of several acquisitions that the consulting company has made recently in order to develop the capabilities needed to help its clients do business in an increasingly data driven environment.These include acquisitions of design firm LUNAR, aerospace and defense analysis firm VisualDoD, and retail analytics firm 4tree.\u00a0By acting through acquisition, McKinsey gets access to a talent and knowledge pool very difficult to create organically in a large organization, and by keeping them relatively \u201cindependent\u201d inside the structure of the Firm, it enables the start-up environment to continue to exist and keep bringing sustainable innovation to its clients.<\/p>\n

The reason McKinsey moved into the \u201ctech arena\u201d is that data is proving to be an increasingly valuable resource. QuantumBlackuses data science and machine learning techniques to identify solutions for real world problems\u2013 which is exactly what McKinsey\u2019s clients need. From detecting fraudulent financial transactions to using performance data to predicting injuries for professional athletes, all the knowledge and capabilities QB developed during its early stages of existence can be used to enhance performance in well stablished, traditional companies too.<\/p>\n

And the reality is that even with the increasing amount of data available in virtually every sector of the economy, combined with the several academic advances showing what is possible to accomplish with machine learning, companies are still having a difficult time harvesting all the potential from these technologies. As stated in a recent HBR article, \u201cThe gap for most companies isn\u2019t that machine learning doesn\u2019t work, but that they struggle to actually use it.\u201d2<\/sup><\/p>\n

That is when McKinsey can add value: the role consulting can play in these early stages of the Machine Learning era is also related to help its clients to understand the potential and the several uses this technology can have. To enable this, project teams are designed as interdisciplinary teams, consisting of strategists \u2013 the regular \u201cgeneralist consultants\u201d \u2013 data scientists, engineers, and designers.The generalist consultants often work as \u201ctranslators\u201d between the data scientists and the clients, making sure the business issue being tackled, as well as the technical constraints of the technologies used, are aligned between all parties involved.<\/p>\n

According to Nicolaus Henke, head of\u00a0McKinsey Analytics,\u201cData analytics is one of the most disruptive and potentially transformative developments in management. QuantumBlack, through its Nerve platform, combines data from disparate sources to produce meaningful data around human endeavor\u2014something that previously has not been reliably measured.\u00a0 This is why we\u2019re so excited about the combination of our organizations\u2014together we can provide our clients with a completely new means of making decisions and converting knowledge into action.\u201d3<\/sup><\/p>\n

In a study for a global pharmaceutical client looking to use data to reduce time-to-completion in the clinical trial process, QuantumBlack used it proprietary tool NerveTM<\/sup>to combine data from 350 clinical trials, with 150,000 patients across 30,000 sites (which translated to 250 million rows of data), and by linking these complex data sets they were able to provide their client an integrated view of their data and, resulting in 15% reduction in time per clinical trial and 11% reduction in cost.<\/p>\n

The impact machine learning can bring is indisputable. Moving forward, one option for McKinsey would be partnering up with universities to stay at the frontier for the development of new technologies inside the data analytics environment. Of course, these new developments will not be business-ready in the short-term, however getting involved in the early stages of development will help McKinsey understand the trends in the data analytics space and be recognized as an authority in this topic.<\/p>\n

Also, internally, as projects become more and more dependable on data analytics and its complex approaches, McKinsey also needs to make sure the capabilities needed for these types of project are also spread across the organization between all consultants.<\/p>\n

Following the trends on innovation, how can McKinsey and other consulting firms build the evolving capabilities needed to support their clients in this new business environment? What are the biggest competitors the consulting firms will face entering the AI and other high-tech driven market? (723 words)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Footnotes: <\/strong><\/p>\n

1<\/sup>QuantumBlack company site – January 2018 [URL], accessed November 2018<\/p>\n

2<\/sup>B. Schreck, M. Kanter, K. Veeramachaneni, S. Vohra, R. Prasad, \u201cGetting Value from Machine Learning isn\u2019t about fancier algorithms \u2013 It\u2019s about making it easier to use\u201d,性视界 Business <\/em>Review (March 2018)<\/p>\n

3 <\/sup>\u201cAccelerating with QuantumBlack\u201d, New at McKinsey Blog\u2013 December 2015 [URL], accessed November 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All industries are facing a great challenge regarding how to take advantage of all the data they have available to steer their business. 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