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Enoch Yiu

THE NAME IBM does not conjure up images of business consulting services.

But the technology giant made the link in October last year by acquiring PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) business consulting unit, the result of bad press from potential conflicts made all too possible by the collapse of Enron.

Steven Davidson, the head of the consulting unit, brought his staff over to IBM. A former civil servant in Britain before joining PwC in 1989, Mr Davidson made a seamless switch.

Projects his team works on include the government's Digital21 and e-government projects. The Informer caught up with him recently to discuss life with  IBM.

Q: IBM is a technology company, so why did it get involved in the consulting business?

A: This is to meet with the changes of the market. In the old days, there were separate people to help a company in different parts of its business.

Nowadays, people want to have a single  one-stop firm with different services. IBM has got strong technology, outsourcing and IT consulting services. The acquisition of the business consulting unit from PwC has filled  the gap.

Q. Did PwC sell the consulting unit because of the collapse of Enron?

A: There were a range of reasons for PwC to sell its consulting business. Even before Enron collapsed early last year, the United States regulator had already said a company had to make it public if you were auditing the company while your consulting arm was providing services for the same firm.

Q: How do you compare life working under IBM from your old days in PwC?

A: PwC is a big family with audit, tax, and consulting businesses, while IBM is also a big company with outsourcing, computer, and other relevant technology consulting services. As a result, our unit is shifting from being a part of one big family to a part of another big family.

I think to work under IBM is more relevant to your consulting business because when you recommend the government and other companies to do their business more  efficiently, it is very often that you need to implement new computer technology or outsourcing services.

Q: Did your clients' portfolios change very much after you switched to IBM?

A: It is very much the same. I am always focused on the public sector and the government. When I tell them I work in IBM now, my clients do ask very much the same questions as you have asked but that does not affect their confidence to use our services.

Q. What government projects are you  working on?

A: The government wants to have consultant services to implement policy to cut down the cost of solving the deficit problem.

They also want recommendations on how to improve services. For example, the Hospital Authority is considering outsourcing meal delivery services to the private sector, which is what the other markets are doing.

We are also involved in the e-government and Digital 21 projects ... the government wants to make sure Hong Kong is successfully implementing digital technology and Internet to service the public.

Q. Is Hong Kong performing well in the e-government area?

A: Globally, Sweden is taking the lead.

In the Asia-Pacific Region, Australia is the most outstanding  country and Hong Kong is next to it. Hong Kong is ahead of Singapore. This is because the Hong Kong government has  implemented a lot of measures to make sure many departments are providing their information and services via the Internet.

Also, Hong Kong has some of the highest usages of the Internet, mobile phones and broadband, which also help Hong Kong to be a leader in the sector.

For the next step, I think the government should educate the public to  be aware and to learn how to use these forms of electronic information. It is not enough for the government to provide the system in place, it needs to increase the level of public awareness.

Only when more people are confident in using the computer and Internet to access government information and services  can we say we have more successful e-government services.

In addition, the government should also consider providing cross-sector services so that people can  use the Internet to access information from different departments at the same time.

Q: Is the government a good client?

A: All clients are very demanding  of good quality services. But working for the government means you are subject to more public scrutiny because the government is spending taxpayers' money.

Also, private-sector reports will be private but the report  for the government will  usually be published. This also adds pressure to produce high-quality reports as you would expect  scrutiny of  your recommendations made to the government.



IBM finds missing link with business consulting service