Company Announcement - Datta Burton & Associates, a young dynamic management consulting firm operating out of South Africa and Australia, has announced the appointment of Peter Newman as partner. Newman was appointed to guide the company’s growth by moulding its global and commercial approach as it expands into broader markets. DBA operates primarily in the natural resources and manufacturing sectors, which are under pressure from volatile commodity prices, labour markets and rising input costs. Consequently, the focus for consulting services has traditionally been improving cost-effectiveness and ROI.

With this understanding, Datta Burton & Associates was founded in 2014 with the goal to help asset and process-intensive businesses transform their operations.  Unlike competitors in the operational consulting space, DBA designs bespoke solutions that support its clients at each stage of their journey - from strategy formulation and activation through to organisation alignment and asset and process optimisation.“DBA distinguishes itself from other consultancies with its extensive experience in strategy and by effectively converting strategy into operations,” states Newman. “This approach is based on a solid foundation of technology-based solutions that is sustainable and ultimately creates behavioural change within value chains.”

Newman says he accepted the position at DBA because it was a fantastic opportunity and will be a mutually beneficial partnership. Newman further affirmed, “I was excited by the prospect to make a ground floor entrance into a young and growing business, and together, build towards an equity partnership.” Although DBA has been expanding steadily in size since its inception last year, the consultancy has reached the stage where its services can be extended to industries over and above that of mining. In his role, Newman will ensure that DBA experiences controlled commercial growth by moulding the company’s value proposition in such a way that it can be rolled out over multiple industries aligned to mining and within the greater manufacturing environment. “In my experience, clients require a consulting company that is flexible, reasonably priced, and offer a partnership-based relationship, not just a service.” Newman believes that there is often a disconnect between the needs of clients and the services ultimately sold by consulting firms. “Conversations  must be centred around needs-based solutions, which should include a solid understanding of the business’s stakeholder strategies and future operational requirements.”

In Newman’s opinion, this is why DBA has been so successful despite operating in a challenging industry. “It is the combination of exceptionally good client management, development of bespoke solutions, and delivery against ROI that has been the back-bone of this consulting business.”

Newman has been in consulting for more than a decade and has extensive experience working within the financial services industry. His founding career spanned over 20 years in this industry, where he gained rich contextual knowledge of this sector. Newman’s expertise will add insightful value in needs-based consulting to clients. For DBA, his comprehensive understanding of marketing and business development will steer the company’s growth in the right direction and will add purposeful guidance and insight during the implementation of the company’s value-based methodology.