Press Release: The Evolution of a Consulting Firm

Idealist Consulting announced today that longtime consultant John Licata will be operating a complementary affiliated business as Value Stream Consulting, focusing primarily on the Kansas City area. Licata and his Missouri-based team will continue to work with Idealist Consulting focused around Foundation Connect and NGO Connect.

This shift is part of a changing landscape in CRM implementation. “Over the past couple years, we have developed friendly ‘co-opetition’ relationships with many other consulting firms,” says Rob Jordan, CEO and Founder of Idealist Consulting. “Value Stream Consulting will not only help us build new members for our consulting team, but it will provide an educational environment to train new consultants to enter the space...something this sector desperately needs.”  

Value Stream Consulting and Idealist Consulting will cooperate strategically, while operating as separate business entities. VSC is differentiating itself in several ways:

• A CRM “career development” value proposition. Value Stream Consulting will focus on education through live classroom and on-the-job training, providing qualified individuals career opportunities as Salesforce professionals.

• Focus on the Kansas City area. Whereas Idealist Consulting operates nationwide, Value Stream Consulting will operate primarily in the Kansas City area, where “apprentice” consultants can experience face-to-face client interactions.

• Reduced cost implementations for organizations with less complex needs. Idealist Consulting has clients of all complexities and sizes, from small businesses to global enterprise companies. Value Stream Consulting will focus on less complex projects, utilizing “apprentices” alongside tenured CRM consultants to reduce the cost of implementation without compromising quality.

“Over the past few years the global demand for qualified Salesforce practitioners has outpaced the available talent. It was apparent that in our local community (the Kansas City area), there was not a structured process or environment for developing CRM consulting.  We saw this problem as an opportunity for a “win-win” scenario.  By utilizing both tenured consultants and apprentices in an on-the-job training environment, we could provide Kansas City area organizations with effective, lower-cost CRM implementations, while educating the next generation of Salesforce.com professionals”, says Licata.

Jordan added, “There will be no noticeable difference for Idealist Consulting customers. John and his Missouri-based team will continue to be available to Idealist Consulting clients. The intent is that this evolving relationship will benefit the Salesforce community at-large, while making both firms better resources for their respective clients.”