February 1993

From Business Week's "Virtual Corporation"

The idea has broad implications for service businesses, too. Consider InterSolve Group Inc., a Dallas-based management-consulting firm that consists largely of four partners. For any given assignment, InterSolve assembles "just-in-time" talent to solve problems or implement strategies for clients that range from IBM to First Interstate Bancorp. Once a job is complete, the consulting team disbands. 'One of the founding principles of our firm is that we would assemble and disassemble teams for work,' says Edward R. McPherson. 'We can bring the right talent to fit the assignments opposed to using talent already in inventory. We don't have to warehouse staff or specialists.'

InterSolve's recently completed assignment for First Interstate, for example, saw the creation of four teams of 26 experts led by McPherson, who had only met one of the members before the assignment. The group squeezed nearly $14 million in annual savings out of First Interstate's backroom operations. 'The advantage is you get specialists to work on your problems,' says Hayden B. Watson, a senior vice-president at First Interstate. 'As long as you keep their activities coordinated, you're going to get a lot more result for the money you spend.'"