Aliud, a boutique technology and business consultancy founded by Kieran Earnshaw, has opened for business.
Founder Earnshaw said that Aliud was born out of a belief that the big consulting firms have become complacent – prioritising growth over quality plus experience, and profit over client value outcomes. “During my time in industry I had so many underwhelming consulting experiences as a client. Moving back into consulting reinforced my views and helped me understand where things have gone wrong.”
“Clients deserve better and that’s what we’re focused on at Aliud.” explained Earnshaw, a former PwC consulting partner and leader at Suncorp Group.
Symbolising its ambition to offer a “different experience” to clients, the firm’s name Aliud has been inspired by the Latin word ‘aliud’ – which means different – and the start-up has embraced the tagline ‘consulting done differently’.
“We provide real independence, real experience and a focus on getting things done and delivering outcomes efficiently. Clients won’t be paying to train our team and can trust in the independence of our advice because we won’t have any inherent bias driven by commercial alliance partnerships,” Earnshaw said.
Whilst it’s clearly tough times for the consulting industry – both in the public sector following government scrutiny and private sector with companies facing uncertainties and economic headwinds – Earnshaw noted that “as a whole there is still strong demand from clients looking for help in driving technology-enabled transformation.”
Key offerings of Aliud include digital strategy, cost optimisation, portfolio and project management, operations management, cyber resilience and risk, data analytics, and architecture advisory.
In building Aliud, Earnshaw has teamed up with former colleague and financial services technology veteran Paul Donohue. “Paul is one of the most experienced and pragmatic technologists I’ve worked with. We’ve done some great things together and had a lot of fun along the way. Our clients will benefit from that experience and knowing that we’ve been in their shoes as they grapple with complex problems and challenges.”
Earnshaw has 25 years of experience, around 20 of which he gained in the consulting sector, at major players including PwC, EY and IBM Consulting.
Donohue has an extensive background in the financial services industry, working mainly as an enterprise architect. Prior to joining Aliud, he worked at a listed financial services group.
Reflecting on the first weeks of doing business, Earnshaw said: “I couldn’t be more excited to be doing what I’m doing and already the response from clients has been outstanding – there is a real thirst for quality, independence, trustworthiness and experience at an appropriate cost. These all align to our values and the Aliud way.”
Notably, Aliud has committed to contributing 5% of its revenue to charitable causes. “From the outset we wanted to give back in a very up-front, transparent and practical way that will make a difference on multiple levels.”
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