Practus is a global management consulting practice that has delivered over $200 million in ROI to over 1,000 clients ranging from funded startups to Fortune 500 companies through their CFO office, business transformation services, and performance improvements. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Practus Chief Business Officer – North America Graham Kitching to learn more.
Graham Kitching’s Background
Kitching is a UK Chartered Accountant and MBA. Kitching said:
“I traveled in my career with international controllerships based in Italy, the Netherlands, and the US. I have been in the US since 2004, when I transferred from Europe, initially to Princeton, NJ, with Bristol-Myers Squibb. I held a variety of transformation, finance, and executive roles in McGraw-Hill before joining Tata Consultancy Services as Head of Sales and Solutions for North America. I have been in Florida since 2019, where I joined Withum, a mid-tier Advisory / CPA firm, as Principle in Business Process Services.”
“Two years ago, I joined Practus as Chief Business Officer in North America to drive the firm’s growth in this geography.”
Formation Of Practus
How did the idea for Practus come together? Kitching shared:
“Practus came together out of a need to disrupt the consulting space where several client needs were not being met by traditional and often larger firms.”
“The value proposition allows Practus to make a significant impact in Process Improvement and transformation enabled by technology, with a hybrid approach of onshore and offshore delivery.”
“My main goal is to enable the growth of the business in North America, guiding the firm into new business, developing the brand, and ensuring the value addition for our clients of ROI multiples are met on our assignments.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for Practus so far? Kitching reflected:
“My favorite part of being in the team is working with the people in Practus. The quality of the people is quite astonishing. When I get the feedback that clients are so happy with the service that they want to give individual ‘bonuses’ to our team members is a great feeling. Also, meeting the team in person in India was a tremendous highlight!”
Challenges Faced
What challenges has Kitching faced in building the company and has the current macroeconomic climate affected your company? Kitching acknowledged:
“There are always challenges in growing a firm, of course. There are limitations of good new resources, both hiring the right talent in the US and getting the visas in place for transferring tenured team members from India to the US. Building new processes around internal technologies for recording, managing, reporting, and projecting was less onerous than I expected due to the high quality of the internal team in Practus, as well as senior leadership support.”
Core Products
What are Practus core products and features? Kitching explained:
“Our main feature is ‘business problem solving,’ which usually consists of assessing current landscapes, facilitating the selection of solutions, and then implementing and managing those solutions. Mostly but not always, this is linked to People, Process and Technology – Analytics, Data visualization (Dashboarding), Robotic Process Automation including AI.”
“However, problem solving can also be through working capital solutions and other, typically finance-related processes. Another key area for us is support for M&A processes and pre and post-transaction activities (Due Diligence and Integrations).”
Evolution Of Practus’ Technology
How has Practus’ technology evolved since launching? Kitching noted:
“Technology is always evolving, and it is really about the use of technology by our clients. We assess many (hundreds) of technologies so that we can help clients select the correct technology for their businesses to be successful.”
“This is an ongoing process as we have moved through the phases of cloud-based Integrated ERPs / Integrated Planning Tools / BI tools / Blockchain / Crypto / Cyber / Robotic Process Automation and AI. We solve business problems by using technology as an enabler. We are not stuck with one type of technology or owe allegiance to a technology partner. We are a company that likes solving business problems.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of Practus’ most significant milestones? Kitching cited:
“Practus works with companies across all sizes, with different stakeholders ranging from a CEO, and CFO to PE fund managers, Supply Chain, Manufacturing heads, and Ownership types (FMB, funded start-ups, PE-backed portfolio companies, and global corporations) with implementation and delivering ROI as the unique differentiation. We have delivered over $200 million as ROI for our clients in the last decade.”
“We work at the confluence of people, process/methodology (proprietary tools and frameworks), and technology (agnostic to the tool or the technology partner) to solve business problems of clients. We have built a highly committed, skilled, cross-functional, and diverse team across multiple geographies. The company is professionally managed, governed by a board, and continues to reset benchmarks.”
Customer Success Stories
Upon asking Kitching about customer success stories, he commented:
“Yes, last year, we built success on success by completing multiple assignments for an individual client, a $6 billion life sciences manufacturer. Multiple issues were addressed in the inventory, expenditures cycle, and revenue cycle as separate projects, leading to longer-term support both ongoing and offshore.
Funding/Revenue
After asking Kitching about funding, he replied:
“Given that we are privately owned (we are backed by a leading family office), we would not be able to share these details. Our vision is to become a $1 billion company by 2030.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is Practus pursuing? Kitching assessed:
“The addressable market for Management Consulting Services in the US was over $300 billion in 2022. The wider level of services increases this number by multiple times. Suffice it to say the market is clearly enormous.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Practus from its competition? Kitching affirmed:
“The main factors are our super agility and speed of readiness and laser focus on results and client delight. This is complemented by our obsession with ROI which we even placed as part of our email address domain name. The delivery of ROI to our clients through value enhancement is at our core. For every dollar clients invest, we deliver 3x to 12x times returns.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of Practus’ future company goals? Kitching concluded:
“The goal is to expand and enhance the global footprint, becoming a Globally recognized brand without diluting the original core values that the company stands for.”
“Practus has repositioned itself as a company that solves business problems. A significant part of our projects today are about solving growth challenges, helping a company in a turnaround situation, or optimizing / improving efficiencies across functions. Another factor has been the extensive use of technology and tools. We also recognize the need to strengthen our networks given that collaboration (people, vendors and technology partners) drives better impact. We have been certified as a Great Place to Work in the last two years and made it to number 51 in the Great Places to Work. Lastly, our commitment to working with communities and supporting causes closer to our hearts in the areas of education, health, and environment.”
