Advisory Services

Wherever technology is used in an organisation it should have a positive impact – it should support businesses to delight customers, manage operations effectively, and empower people, all as effectively as possible. But reality often falls significantly short of these expectations because ‘getting technology right’ is not easy.

We work with business and technology leaders in both commercial and public sector organisations to provide independent technology and business advice to help our clients to:

• make the most of the data, digital assets, technology and people
• reduce acquisition, implementation and operating costs
• transform the way that technology supports their organisation to make a ‘step change’ in business performance and return on investment
• design and deliver successful technology projects and programmes
• recover existing projects and programmes that have lost their way.

Technology Strategy – we help set the blueprint and plan that will guide how our clients’organisations use and manage technology to support the delivery of business strategy.

Technology Programme Delivery – we provide expertise and guidance on how to structure and deliver major programmes of business change, enabled by technology. We assist in design and acceptance of technology solutions as well as sourcing the right application and integrator for our clients’ requirements.

Technology Sourcing – we focus on the activities required to source and procure technologies and services to deliver complex technology-enabled transformation programmes – to drive down cost and reduce delivery risk.

Architecture – we help clients re-architect their technology to align better with business strategy and deliver a higher return on investment in IT; and we help clients address more tactical solution design issues.

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Large projects and programmes are inherently complex and often critical to an organisation meeting its business goals and objectives. This complexity, and the mounting regulatory requirements for disclosure and transparency, is putting managers and sponsors under increasing pressure to demonstrate delivery against expectations and value for money criteria.

We work with clients to reduce the risk of programme failure and improve confidence in the successful delivery of anticipated benefits. Through independent assessment we help to reduce unwanted surprises by identifying critical risks in time to make informed decisions and avoid costly overruns.

Programme advisory – we help clients view their investment through a strategic lens to align objectives with business outcomes while providing effective governance, robust risk management and comprehensive control.

Programme assurance – we help clients steer complex projects and programmes effectively while not losing sight of objectives. We conduct programme health checks and efficiency reviews to enhance controls and processes and avoid problems.

Programme delivery – working together with our clients, we focus on their project and programme objectives in order that they are delivered within budget, time and quality parameters.

Today’s organisations face one constant: change. Dealing with change requires leaders to be responsive, adaptive and energetic in their day-to-day activities. Change comes from all directions and at a pace that demands new capabilities and skills. Tomorrow’s successful companies will be those that not only cope with change but truly manage it.

We help by working with you to devise an integrated approach to managing your change challenges and developing your change capability; we transfer our skills to your people – raising their capabilities to help them more effectively manage constant change.

Change strategy – we help you to build a clear and concise vision of your future, and deliver on it.

Coaching the Board – we help the Board to behave appropriately in a change environment and interact with each other effectively.

Creating change leaders – successful change requires leaders who are mobilised and energised to drive change at all levels in the organisation.

Team development – we develop the capabilities of the people in your organisation so that they can deliver effectively as a team.

Creating an architecture that supports the desired business outcomes – we help you deal with change in a structured and coherent manner that prioritises change. We do this by focusing on the three or four areas that will have the biggest impact on your business.

Organisational design – we put in place the structure, roles and capabilities your business will need to deliver on your vision and achieve your strategic goals.

Embedding culture and behavioural change – we help you define and implement the most appropriate culture for delivering change to your organisation.

The speed of business change is accelerating. Product life cycles are getting shorter; business Models are changing more frequently; market conditions are driving acquisitions and companies are merging to consolidate in the marketplace. All this results in multiple business processes, increased complexity in core transactional processes, and adjustments in operating models to accommodate post change-integration issues.

We work with clients to dig deep into their organisations, creating sustainable and necessary transformation.  Our approach is to develop a fact-based, pragmatic and compelling case for change, and help to establish a common vision. We focus on building capability and skills which create a platform for continued and future success. Our services include:

Building a case for change – we help identify and prioritise key areas of improvement. We identify and align core end-to-end processes through understanding current state and assessing enterprise and process maturity.

Detailing the aspirational design – we develop a detailed future state design blue print aligned to the operational model and business strategy. We perform a business readiness assessment, finalise a detailed business case to ensure sustainable and useful change.

Unlocking the value in implementation – we work with you to execute and implement a plan of continuous improvement supported by a capability and up-skilling programme. This ensures that process transformation is sustained and allows our clients to identify areas of improvement and change.

Organisations, regardless of sector, must balance a number of challenges at any given time – the need, for example, to realise growth in a mature market, or find opportunities in emerging ones.  To maintain customer loyalty. To innovate. To manage price, and cost. To deliver change or design new products. However, these challenges are complicated by the fact that none of them fall neatly into one silo, such as finance, supply chain, customer or people.

By listening to and understanding our clients’ particular circumstances we can devise a solution to any one of the business challenges they face.  We work with organisations to establish a business strategy – agree what it is you want to achieve – then design and manage different models and programmes across your organisataion and bring them to life.

Strategic Review – We identify the specific levers that drive our clients’ performance, develop and assess strategic options and help align the management team around a shared strategic intent.

Operating Model Design – We help clients address cost challenges and position themselves for lean growth.  We do this by identifying the capabilities that are critical to translating their strategy into action and aligning organisation structure, processes and investment plans around these capabilities.

Shaping Transformation Programmes – We work with our clients to translate their strategic intent into a vision, business case and programme structure for large transformation programmes.

Pricing and Commercial Strategy – We help our clients optimise pricing, promotions and trade investment to maximise profit.