The path towards the future
Yesterday the official news: Sketchin just inaugurated a new phase of its development by becoming part of the BIP Group, one of the largest and youngest management consulting firms of the Italian landscape, after a collaboration that has lasted for over a year. BIP, which today is present in 10 countries with more than 1,300 people, has acquired a multiplier of the international market for 55% of the shares (the remaining 45% is owned by me). The governance and direction of the business remain in my hands, and the total independence of Sketchin was considered a fundamental prerequisite by both parties.
From today on, we will work side by side with one of the largest groups that are active in the digital transformation challenge. The plan that will lead us towards the future foresees investments of up to 5 million Euros and will focus on hiring talents and capable people to strengthen our company culture, our ultimate aim being that of becoming one of the top 10 design firms in Europe within 5 years.
In order to reach our goal, the team will grow from 30 to 150 people in 2 to 5 offices in the next five years. However — and this is out of the question — we will remain totally independent in our choices, and we’ll focus on what has distinguished us up to now: the people, the team, our corporate culture, our working methods.
Today, thanks to the talent of the team and the uniqueness of the model that was developed in its ten years of life, Sketchin is, in fact, the smallest among the big strategic design firms in our target market. Every day we confront, fight and often win against companies that are often 5 to 10 times larger than us, and by doing so, we prove that our approach is a winner, but this is only the first step in facing the great challenge of the future.
Sketchin and BIP are both young companies, pioneers in their respective fields, and have emerged in the last ten years as excellences in the market by developing their own special offers and corporate cultures. In the past year both have been wondering about the challenges for the future of consulting and strategic design.
With the advent of the fourth industrial revolution and the spread of new exponential technologies that will change most of the services industry and the labor market, our new challenge will be to assist companies who sense this shift and are eager to transform their organization and enhance the human experience, and to support them in their digital and business transformation.
Our partnership is absolutely transparent: the market’s challenges require a radically new approach that can horizontally integrate design, technological know-how, and management skills in a truly cooperative environment.
I firmly believe that Sketchin can play a fundamental role in this scenario, but to do so, it needs to evolve. Not in relation to its teamwork methods or its culture, but in the ability to co-operate and support companies on issues such as change management and strategic decisions and by offering new services such as advanced technological prototyping, the design of the Brand Experience, the IOT or UX Engineering and by designing more and more future experiences.
For this reason, we have developed a unique offer in the field of digital transformation in collaboration with BIP: we want to work where our respective areas of expertise meet, in the belief that this will exponentially increase the value that we can create for our clients.
Finally, I want to emphasize that this step would not have been possible without the talent and the willingness of the people to put themselves at stake, believing in my vision of putting design into practice in a distinct way. Thank you.
