One on One with UMS Advisory's Rakesh Kishan

UMS Advisory is an Arlington, Va.-based firm focused on the real estate and facilities management market. The niche firm serves mainly the global Fortune 200 , including Pfizer, Kraft Foods, Sprint, Morgan Stanley and Toyota. UMS was founded in 1993 and has been growing steadily since the Great Recession. In that time, Rakesh Kishan, President and CEO of UMS Advisory, estimates his firm has delivered savings of more than $500 million to clients—mostly from outsourcing work. Kishan says it's time to let people know what UMS has been up to. "We haven't really made any significant or sophisticated play in marketing or outreach. Thus far, almost all of our business has come from references, but I think it would be foolhardy of us to think we could continue to expand without us making a conscious effort to let people know who we are." Kishan sat down with Consulting One-on-One to discuss UMS and the market it serves.

Consulting: What do you think differentiates UMS Advisory in the real estate and facilities management space?

Kishan: What's unique about us is that we're a small firm with less than 50 people, but we have many of the attributes of a much larger firm. We bring much more to the table than most niche firms. We are actually an international firm. We have an office in Europe and an office in North America. Right now we're almost equally split in our North American and European work, and we do some work in Asia, as well. So, we're incredibly diverse geographically. Also, our clients are almost exclusively Fortune 200 . We play at the very high end of the spectrum, especially for a firm of our size. And we have, I think, outstanding thought leadership. We have our own publication; our own conference and a consulting tool kit that's very diverse. Now more than ever, clients are demanding market intelligence and thought leadership. That's one of the biggest changes I've seen in consulting.