We solve
problems
We listen closely to our clients to understand their challenges and aspirations. These are samples of the kinds of issues our clients have asked us to help them address.
Business Transformation and Change Management
“We started with stores, and added ecommerce. We are now working on new technologies that follow an omnichannel model and investing heavily in digital strategy. How do we reduce risk in changing to the new business model?”
“What is the difference between managing change and managing transformation?”
“With our new investor, our plan is to double in volume this year, and again next year. We are confident the demand is there to support growth, but we have historically only shuffled along at a single digit growth rate. What do we need to change to be able to meet the plan, and how do we organize for the change?”
"We have a portfolio of initiatives planned to increase current revenue, create a leaner support organization, and search more aggressively for acquisitions. How can our executive team more dynamically coordinate resources, collaborate across organization boundaries, prioritize these initiatives against day-to-day work, and better communicate in the midst of uncertainty?"
Process Design
Building Organization Capability
“It seems like we focus on capabilities that have been historically part of our culture, rather than for competitive reasons. How can we better understand which capabilities impact our business performance?”
“Our core competencies seem less relevant to serving customers well in today’s more technology driven, cross-channel selling environment Our response to change, especially technical change, seems glacial. How can I improve the speed at which my company learns and adapts?”
“What structural and cultural changes can I make to increase organizational learning, and how can I measure success?”
“How can I build a culture of innovation?”
"Our future is decidely digital. Are our organization structure, talent development, funding mechanisms, and key performance indicators aligned with our digital strategy?"
“Our product development cycle seems too long. What could we do to shorten it?”
“We seem to have several different product development and buying processes in our various divisions and geographies. Is there a common path we should be following, or are there good reasons to have different processes to do what looks like the same thing?”
“Our planning, buying, and design processes do not align. We are making raw material commitments before the financial plan is complete, and are committing to buy quantities before design samples are received. How can we align these processes?”
“We take pride in product innovation, but we also have determined our customers are only willing to pay so much. With a price ceiling, how can we control over-designing so that we maintain initial margin?”
Market Research, Customer Insight, Segmentation, and Relationship Management
"Do we fully understand the path of our customers'decision journeys?"
"Our buyers and sellers need to have a better image in their minds as to who our customers are and how they behave. How can we develop a reference persona for each of our key customer groups?"
"We seem to be spending a lot on customer contact, but I’m not sure we have a real strategy. I wonder how much I should be investing in each customer, and which are my most valuable customers?"
"Our segmentation scheme seems too broad for the large amount of data we are collecting. How can I uncover microsegments that might require a different marketing approach to be more valuable?"
"We make assumptions about our value proposition. How can I discover what my customers, and prospective customers, really value?"
"How can I predict my customer’s next likely purchase, and the interaction and content that the customer needs to move closer to a purchase decision?"
Brand Development and Renewal
“How do I sell to digitally empowered customers?”
“How can I obtain a more comprehensive view of my customer?”
“Is my brand’s household penetration growing and, if not, why not?”
“How can I develop a more robust test methodology for digital marketing campaigns?”
“How can I best leverage social media to differentiate my approach to customer engagement?”
“Is my brand identity too complicated? How could I simplify it?”
“Am I adequately covering the fundamental steps of educating, communicating with, and inspiring my customers about the brand.”
Digital and Enabling Technologies
"Is our digital strategy clearly defined? Are we investing at scale and in alignment with our digital strategy? In addition to our technical capabilities, have we built an adaptive culture?
"We have more customer data than we know how to handle, and it’s scattered in different places and in different forms. How should we be collecting and organizing it, and what are the best tools to make sense of it?"
"We have a data warehouse, but it doesn’t seem to match our workflow. How can we optimize our architecture to deal with the Big Data we collect?"
"Our business needs are changing rapidly and our IT group can’t keep up. How can we speed up our development cycle time and make it more responsive to the business?"
"What are the best approaches to leveraging our data and turning it into information? Are we using the most modern techniques and do my people have the right analytical skills?"
"The advent of a Big Data world has forced us to examine more closely our data handling platforms and toolsets. Hadoop, Python, Hive, SAP Hana – which do I need and how do I get the most value from them?"
"What data management and analytic funtions should we be doing internally, and what should we be outsourcing?"
Omnichannel Marketing and Operations
"We have learned to think of customers as journeying across channels in several steps from product awareness through purchase, and at each step, they are seeking information. How can I discover what information is most valuable to the customer at each step in their journey, and through what platform to best deliver it?"
Sourcing and Supply Chain Management
“How can we mitigate out-of-stock situations at our stores and fulfillment centers?”
“What methods should we be using to ensure product quality from our increasingly complex web of overseas suppliers?”
“How can we expand our digital capabilities to include our supply chain operations?”
Planning and Forecasting
"We have a successful history of instinctual merchandising, but we always tend to be overbought. How can I introduce more sophisticated merchandise planning discipline without killing our culture of creativity?"
"We seem to be putting more time and energy into planning than into product development and selling, and it sometimes feels more like the Federal Reserve around here than the fashion retailer we are. How can I simplify our planning process while keeping it's core value?"
"How can I improve the accuracy of my company’s demand forecasts?"
"Our inventory positions by channel and location don’t align well with customer demand, and turns are slipping. How can I improve my replenishment capability to capture sales and increase service levels?"
Pre-acquisition Diligence
“It seems like we receive a new data request every day from our prospective investor, and most of them require a lot of work. How can I organize to respond to the requests, and still pay close attention to the day-to-day business?"
“The target company management is very busy, and their systems are not terribly sophisticated. It’s difficult to obtain diligence data on a timely basis, and it often arrives either incomplete or in a format that is difficult to work with, all of which is slowing progress on the acquisition. How can resources be applied that could improve the timing and quality of the diligence data flow?
“Though we are skilled financial engineers and smart business people, there are nuances in our target company’s business model that are industry-specific, and we need to better understand them. How can we obtain a nuanced but objective perspective of the performance potential of the target company relative to its competitors?”
“Where can we find an active thought partner that can dig into a target company’s operations to help us evaluate a range of potential approaches to growth strategy?”
Acquisition Acceleration
“We have launched an important business process change initiative, which is causing us more headaches than we anticipated, is eating up resources we’d like to apply to other aspects of the business, and is distracting us from responding to diligence data requests in timely fashion. Our prospective investor is watching our progress on the initiative, and we think our success may be pivotal in the investment decision. How can we reduce the risk posed by this initiative?”
“We have a highly successful, entrepreneurial business, but most of our customer knowledge is in the heads of our executives. Our prospective investor has asked us for information on our customers and competitors, and alluded to sending any qualitative and quantitative research we might have on file, of which we have none. What would be the most effective approach to quickly developing a comprehensive, fact-based picture of our customers and our competition?"