Access
Consultancy Services

Policy Advisory & Interpretation

Governments and large organisations face increasingly complex and dynamic challenges that require multi-faceted policy solutions to drive political and business objectives in order to bring about sustainable change.

ACS’s Policy Advisory services offer tailored consultation with critical insights in order to deliver actionable recommendations.

Leveraging ACS’s rare blend of public policy and business sector expertise, we have assisted our clients to answer the most important and difficult questions they face in a turbulent world. We are able to do this by tapping into our strong networks in the state, country and globally across a range of sectors and industries.

Industrial Advocacy

ACS speaks in favour of, recommends, argues for a cause, supports or defends, or pleads on behalf of the industry. This aids not just the survival of MSMEs but also supports the general eco system of the industry. The MSMEs have certain inherent problems that somehow escape the imagination of the decision makers. For the bureaucracy, industry means the larger or medium scale manufacturing facilities. Whereas the back bone of manufacturing in smaller states operate ‘under the radar’, in the ‘unauthorised’ and other industry occupied area in by lanes of residential areas of the traditional industry towns. The relevant departments have neglected and failed to create any conducive industrial atmosphere for them. ACS is mindful of its mandate to bring the existential issues of these industrial clusters to the attention of the authorities and get the required policies amended to include the progress of these industries as well. Advocating for policy corrections or policy creation for these industries is an objective that we proudly pursue.

Cluster Development

Today’s economic map of the world is characterized by “clusters.” Industry clusters are groups of similar and related firms in a defined geographic area that share common markets, technologies, worker skill needs, and which are often linked by buyer-seller relationships.

Firms and workers in an industry cluster draw competitive advantage from their proximity to competitors, to a skilled workforce, to specialized suppliers and a shared base of sophisticated knowledge about their industry.

Cluster development approach is a key strategy for enhancing the productivity and competitiveness as well as capacity building of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) and their collectives in India. Clustering of units also enables providers of various services to them, including banks and credit agencies, to provide their services more economically, thus reducing costs and improving the availability of services for these enterprises.

Political & Election Management

Good campaign plans are written months and even years prior to elections so that the party-building and good governance work required to be elected or to be re-elected are put in place with that clear, strategic goal in mind. The written definition of that goal – and the map of how to get there – is the essence of any campaign plan. This project will be used by parties big and small, established and new, as they draw a picture of their future electorate and ways to engage them effectively. This also enable more women candidates to effectively run campaigns and get nominated in the face of substantial obstacles. Women’s increased nomination – and election – will be beneficial to their parties and the communities these women will represent.

Different political parties offer different analyses of the problems and solutions facing society. These are the choices put before voters. But if those ideas are not communicated effectively, to the right voters, using appropriate language and through a medium in which they can be heard and acted upon, those parties’ ideas will not be represented in parliament/assembly. A campaign plan is about thinking through the component steps of a campaign to touch voters in such a way that they choose over the other parties and candidates on offer.

The winning election campaign is most often the one that takes the time to target voters, develops a persuasive message and follows through on a reasonable plan to contact those voters directly. This project has been proposed to assist political parties and candidates in taking these steps to become this type of winning campaign. Unfortunately, the actual planning process is much more difficult than simply following one rule. There is much more that goes into the process. This project is designed to take the campaign through a step-by-step process to develop a written campaign plan. These steps include:

Doing the research necessary to prepare for the campaign.

Setting a strategic campaign goal of how many votes are needed to win.

Analyzing and targeting voters

Developing a campaign message.

Developing a voter contact plan.

Implementing that plan.

Competitive Intelligence and Bench Marking

Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time and cost. In the process of best practice benchmarking, management identifies the best firms in their industry, or in another industry where similar processes exist, and compares the results and processes of those studied (the "targets") to one's own results and processes. In this way, they learn how well the targets perform and, more importantly, the business processes that explain why these firms are successful.

Benchmarking is used to measure performance using a specific indicator (cost per unit of measure, productivity per unit of measure, cycle time of x per unit of measure or defects per unit of measure) resulting in a metric of performance that is then compared to others.

There is no single benchmarking process that has been universally adopted. The wide appeal and acceptance of benchmarking has led to the emergence of benchmarking methodologies.

We have adopted the 12 stage methodology for a comprehensive process mapping.

1. Select subject
2. Define the process
3. Identify potential partners
4. Identify data sources
5. Collect data and select partners
6. Determine the gap
7. Establish process differences
8. Target future performance
9. Communicate
10. Adjust goal
11. Implement
12. Review and recalibrate

Access Consultancy Services provides specialised business dispute resolution to help organisations resolve conflicts quickly, confidentially and cost-effectively. Led by a qualified mediator and arbitration and conciliation expert, the firm handles a wide range of commercial disputes, including contractual, partnership, vendor and stakeholder issues, with a clear focus on preserving business relationships.

Using structured mediation, parties are guided through a neutral, solution-focused process to reach mutually acceptable settlements without the delays of traditional litigation. Where a binding outcome is required, professional arbitration procedures are used to secure enforceable decisions in line with applicable legal standards.

Conciliation and negotiation support helps de-escalate matters at an early stage, reduce operational disruption and protect the reputation of the business. Throughout, clients receive end-to-end assistance—from initial assessment and strategy to documentation, hearings and final settlement.

Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time and cost. In the process of best practice benchmarking, management identifies the best firms in their industry, or in another industry where similar processes exist, and compares the results and processes of those studied (the "targets") to one's own results and processes. In this way, they learn how well the targets perform and, more importantly, the business processes that explain why these firms are successful.

Benchmarking is used to measure performance using a specific indicator (cost per unit of measure, productivity per unit of measure, cycle time of x per unit of measure or defects per unit of measure) resulting in a metric of performance that is then compared to others. There is no single benchmarking process that has been universally adopted. The wide appeal and acceptance of benchmarking has led to the emergence of benchmarking methodologies.

Deepak Sharma is the Founder and the Principal Consultant at Access Consultancy Services, which is focused on the SME sector for the past 20 years. He prefers to be known as a social entrepreneur. A post graduate in management and a graduate in economics, with over 30 years of professional career in corporate and developmental set ups .He has vast experience in leading a variety of MSME cluster development projects across multiple industry sectors and geographic locations in Haryana and Punjab. With the insight that comes with working with Govt set-ups, development organisations, international agencies, financial and non financial institutions, services providers and NGOs, he has helped shape various proposals for cluster development projects.
In Govt advisory, as a ‘Public Policy Expert’, has played an active role in creating the document of the Enterprise Promotion Policy (Industrial Policy), Policy for relocation of industry that operates from residential and other non conforming zones in Haryana, and the Dept of Industries Haryana’s approach for cluster development. Besides these, he has shaped 17 other policies for the State of Haryana. Deepak is engaged as a lead consultant with NGOs like TERI for internationally aided developmental activities. His firm is also a consortium partner of a Big Four consultancy firm EY (Ernst and Young) to lend support to their Govt Advisory vertical