Extensive SWOT Analysis of Deloitte – Detailed Explanation

We previously looked at the SWOT Analysis of Accenture, one of the world’s major consulting firms. This time, we’ll take a closer look at the SWOT Analysis of Deloitte. Deloitte is a global professional services network with operations in over 150 countries. The company is a member of the Big Four accounting firms and has the world’s biggest professional services network.

Deloitte’s marketing initiatives are another factor that has helped it grow into the powerhouse it is today. Marketing is evolving as the world moves online, and if you want to stay up to date, check out our Free MasterClass on Digital Marketing 101 taught by Karan Shah, the CEO and Founder of IIDE.

Do you want to know how Deloitte was able to achieve such success in the automobile industry? Before we dive into the SWOT Analysis of Deloitte and understand the company’s success, let’s take a look at the company, its history, services, financial state, and rivals.

About Deloitte

Deloitte, also known as Deloitte Touché Tohmatsu Limited, is a professional financial auditing and service company that was established in the year 1845 in London, UK. Deloitte is also running in many other countries around the world mainly in India, China, Hong Kong. Deloitte provides worldwide services with the help of its members and employees. It is a trusted brand in which many enthusiastic professionals work together in independent firms throughout the world to provide their different services to their clients.

For Deloitte, good is not good enough. Their goal is to be the best at all that they do—to help customers know their ambitions, to make a positive difference in society, and to maximize the success and growth of their people. This drive accomplishes the commitment and humanity that run deep through their every action.

Deloitte ranked 7th on the 2021 LinkedIn Top Companies list in the US as the best place for professionals to grow and improve their careers and develop skills. Deloitte in India has kept its 3rd rank in the Business category, for the second year in a row. It has also reached 37th rank in the Engineering category.

Current News

• The board of Adani Ports and SEZ (APSEZ) appointed the top professional services firm MSKA & Associates, an affiliate of BDO International, as the company’s new Auditors. Earlier, on August 12, Deloitte Haskins & Sells as statutory auditors, resigned from the Adani ports. In a statement cited by Gopal Krishna Pillai, chairman of the Adani port’s audit committee, “Deloitte was not willing to continue as APSEZ’s statutory auditor and, therefore, it was agreed to amicably end the client-auditor contractual relationship between APSEZ and Deloitte.”
• Deloitte had asked for a wider audit role at other listed Adani firms, which was not feasible. Since it was not an auditor to other group companies, “the scope of the audit didn’t oversee transactions or balances which may have taken place between these group companies and their suppliers, customers or any other parties” which would result in the inability to form a true and fair opinion.
• As per the APSEZ statement, the grounds advanced by Deloitte for resignation as a statutory auditor were not “convincing” or “sufficient.”

Buyer Persona

SWOT Analysis of Deloitte

1. Strengths of Deloitte

The strengths of a company are the distinctive qualities that provide it with an edge in acquiring greater market share, attracting more customers, and maximising profitability. Deloitte’s strengths are as follows – 

• Serve Better to Its Customer through Technology Initiatives – Deloitte approaches its clients through IT-enabled Services. Which allows them to serve better to their customers.
• Wide Range of Services – Deloitte provides different forms of services. They are in different fields like accounting, management consultancy, tax, financial consultancy, risk advice, and legal. It is the best advisory and consulting firm.
• Global Presence – Deloitte is present in approximately 100 countries throughout the world and is recognized for its services of world-class quality. With various expert clients, it has a wide global presence.
• Sponsorship – The Deloitte brand has an exclusive sponsorship deal with different events throughout the world. By doing so they are gaining more market clarity. Since 2009, it has served as a predominant sponsor of the United States Olympic Committee.
• Customer-Focused Approach – Deloitte has a Customer-focused approach. It has loyalty programs for its clients. Clients are loyal because of its customer-focused approach. It has a good environment for employees and a shift in culture that is guided by the management.
• Broad Enterprise Innovation – Deloitte’s influence focuses on the innovation and absorption of Microsoft Dynamics. It has an online campaign that contributes to the same.
• Awards and Recognition – Deloitte has won many distinctions and honors. It was ranked among the best companies to work for during the year 2019 by Fortune magazine. Deloitte has been called continuously by the name ” Bloomberg Business” as the best place to start a career.
• Huge Area of Expertise – Deloitte offers different types of services like they are in the field of Management, Audit, Tax, Financial Advisory, and many more. Deloitte offers these services to around  2,86,200+ professionals throughout the world. Deloitte is the best in consulting and advisory.

2. Weaknesses of Deloitte

Weaknesses are elements of a company or brand that may be strengthened. The following are Deloitte’s significant flaws – 

• Intense Rivalry – Deloitte has many competitors and that’s why it has limited growth in market share.
• Disputes – Deloitte has had multiple lawsuits and legal disputes that have smashed Deloitte’s brand image. This is an immense weakness for the firm.
• Controversies – The tobacco industry chartered Deloitte to revise a study on illegal tobacco in the year 2011.
• Litigation and Regulatory Action – Deloitte got into the lawsuit and had to settle it with charges to Delphi Communications, the Canadian Bar Association, Li Vent, and Standard Chartered.
• Email Hack – Deloitte faced a cyber assault in 2017, which disrupted customers’ confidentiality. Which became the great weak point for Deloitte.

3. Opportunities for Deloitte

Opportunities are areas where a firm may focus on enhancing outcomes, expanding sales, and, ultimately, profit.

• Experience in financing and auditing – Deloitte has technology in financial and auditing experience, which may be of benefit to global financial services.
• Mid-Market Businesses – Deloitte has numerous products and services that support many customers and that’s the reason it will reach mid-market businesses. This will provide the company with a lot of opportunities.
• Small Firm Acquisition – Deloitte could further expand its business by acquiring a small company. Which will provide the company with more chances to expand.
• Stable free cash flow offers incentives for investment in related segments of services – The company can invest not only in research and development but also can invest in new divisions of product lines with more bank balance. This should open a huge opportunity in many other business segments for Deloitte.
• The declining growth rate in the Industry – After so many years of diminishing growth rate in the industry, economic uplifting, and increase in customer spending are an opportunity for Deloitte to increase its profitability and market share.
• The competitive advantages of a company may be a success in a similar field of other services – New client behavior patterns will open up a new Deloitte business. It offers the organization an enormous opportunity to invent new revenue streams and also to modify them into new product categories.

4. Threats to Deloitte

Environmental variables that might damage a company’s growth are known as threats. Deloitte faces the following threats –

• Government Policies – Government Policies are the major factors that affect the business of a company like Deloitte.
• Strong Competitors – There are lots of competitors in the market. When there is already competition from established players in the industry, then ultimately it will continue to diminish Deloitte’s market share.
• Currency fluctuation – Where currency fluctuation happens, international projects appear to be hitting. Which is a serious challenge to the business.
• Knowledge centers – This can have a counter effect on consulting firms’ business when firms constitute their in-house knowledge centers.

A SWOT Analysis is a useful technique for big corporations like Deloitte to break down their complicated operations into simple to comprehend management risks and benefits.

A failed campaign of Deloitte/ backlash from customers

An incident occurred in September 2017, when it was revealed that the firm had suffered a significant cybersecurity breach that had gone undetected for several months. The breach exposed confidential client emails and documents, usernames, passwords, IP addresses, and business plans. It was reported that the breach had compromised a considerable amount of client data, including information from some of Deloitte’s blue-chip clients and government agencies. It drew public attention due to the potential impact on clients and their confidential data.

The incident generated significant backlash and raised several concerns:

• Data Security and Confidentiality: Deloitte is one of the most trusted providers of cybersecurity and risk management services, so the breach raised questions about the firm’s ability to safeguard its own data and that of its clients from external factors.
• Impact on Clients: Clients were understandably concerned about the exposure of their sensitive information, potentially including proprietary business strategies and financial data.
• Reputation Damage: Deloitte’s reputation, built on trust and reliability, was tarnished. Clients and the public questioned the firm’s cybersecurity practices and its ability to protect sensitive data.
• Regulatory Scrutiny: Regulatory authorities scrutinized Deloitte’s handling of the breach, investigating whether the firm had complied with data protection laws and disclosure requirements.

Deloitte responded to the breach by taking several actions:

• Investigation: The first step that the firm took was it launch an internal investigation to determine the extent of the breach, how it occurred, and what data had been compromised.
• Notification: Deloitte notified the affected clients and provided assistance in assessing the potential impact and implementing additional security measures. They alerted the government authorities immediately. 
• Enhanced Security: The firm implemented additional cybersecurity measures to strengthen its defenses and prevent future breaches. They extended their centrally controlled privileged access management system (MFA), which was underway at the time of the attack.
• Transparency: Deloitte remained transparent about the incident and communicated with clients, regulators, and the public about the steps being taken to address the breach and enhance security.
• Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Deloitte cooperated with regulatory authorities and complied with data breach notification requirements and any other legal obligations.

It emphasized the need to continuously enhance the company’s own security measures and practices to protect sensitive information and maintain the trust of its clients. Such incidents tarnish the hard work and efforts put in by generations of people. A company can only survive if it has the public’s trust and faith in them.

Top 5 competitors of Deloitte

1. Ernst & Young: It is a global leader in assurance, consulting, strategy and transactions, and tax services. The insights and quality services they deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies all over the world. EY operates as a network of member firms that are structured as separate legal entities in a partnership, which has 312,250 employees in over 700 offices in more than 150 countries around the world.
2. KPMG:  It is a multinational professional services network and one of the Big Four accounting organizations.The name “KPMG” stands for “Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler”. Its headquarters are in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although it is incorporated in London, England. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with over 265,000 employees. It has three lines of services: financial audit, tax, and advisory.
3. PwC:  It is based in London, England, and is a British multinational professional services brand of firms. PwC firms are in 157 countries, across 742 locations, with 328,000 people. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world.
4. Publicis Groupe: It was founded in 1926 by then-20-year-old Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, and is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. It is one of the oldest and largest (by revenue) marketing and communications companies in the world. Its headquarters are in Paris. Publicis Groupe is the second-largest communications group in the world.
5. Accenture: It was formed in 1989, and is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. Accenture has more than 738,000 employees worldwide. Its revenue for the year 2023 was $63.5 billion.

Conclusion

Deloitte is a recognized leader of top talent and has many strengths, however, it face a few fallbacks. It faces a lot of lawsuits which diminishes its brand name, customer trust/loyalty. Though, to recuperate from the negatives, they should increase their market shares.

Deloitte’s Strategy policy helps the most prestigious establishments around the world generate measurable outcomes by opting for great choices on their most important strategic issues. They mainly focus on development, flexibility, and well-being, and on the basis of that, they hire people who are among the best and brightest in the business. 

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