Our Mission & Business Drivers

We are a business and ICT service provider whose mission is to assist your organisation with managing risk and delivering success. We can do this by providing you with professional business and ICT practitioners when you:
  • experience people or skills gaps in your organisation which must be filled quickly to avoid discontinuity of business - such as key people leaving without suitable successors, or where a role in your organisation need not be filled by an expensive permanent member.We address these needs through our Interim Management Services.
  • require a team to take full responsibility for converting an organisational vision into a well designed and implemented solution - such as the development of an ICT infrastructure, or the fit-out of a new building as part of an organisational move. We address these needs through our ICT Design & Build Services.
  • need a high quality, reliable and cost-effective support and supply service to maintain and enhance your ICT infrastructure - such as supporting your client/server network, providing and supporting a leased network, or supporting your ICT systems. We address these needs through our ICT Managed Services.
  • need one or more roles in a project to be filled, or indeed to take control of the whole project - such as the provision of a project manager, technical design authority or full project team. We address these needs through our Project Services.

In each of our services, we apply four key business drivers:

Continuity of Business

Your organisation is the sum of its people, processes, assets and stakeholders. Customer order fulfilment, accounts payable and receivable, supply chain and manufacturing ensure that the organisation is able to achieve its raison d’être and satisfy the needs of its customers. However, these same people, processes, assets and stakeholders are vulnerable to threats from many different quarters. The impact of these threats on the continuity of your organisation and its customers can range from limited business interruption to profound business failure. Experience shows that any discontinuity in a business, for whatever reason, can lead to a loss in customer and supplier confidence as a minimum, and at worst lead to litigation.

We manage business discontinuity for you at two levels. Firstly, in terms of a specific interim management service line, in which our business continuity managers design and implement solutions and manage crises as and when they arise. Secondly, as part of any assignment in which people or skills gaps in an organisation can lead to business risk.

Through the innovative application of two fundamental principles – demand & supply and business as usual – then mapping them onto the business disruption lifecycle, we ensure that the organisation is protected to a level commensurate with the perceived level of risk. In other words, the organisation is able to maintain a level of operational normality against a background of abnormal circumstances.

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Pragmatism

Your organisation is measured by results. Whether it is meeting organisational goals, improving sales and productivity, implementing legislative imperatives or achieving team/individual performance targets, it is end results that matter. And normally these end results are delivered by operational activities. However, the trick is knowing the most effective and cost-efficient way of getting to the end result. In essence ensuring that the ‘means’ and the ‘end’ are both appropriate and commensurate with the business objective.

We believe that the people who understand most how to get the balance right between the ‘means’ and the ‘end’ are pragmatists born from real life practical experience. Pragmatism is a crucial core competency for those in key business roles to possess. Our interim managers, project managers and service delivery teams are all experienced practitioners in their areas of expertise who have learned through real and challenging situations what delivers results and what does not.

This means that our clients will not be exposed to impractical solutions, systems, methods or working practices – which although may look good on paper will have limited application or maintainability. Thus, the benefit is that at whatever stage we are engaged in the business lifecycle, the operational robustness will always be a critical success factor influencing decisions and design. With us you are assured of a partner whose maxim is to seek where possible simple solutions to complex problems.

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Return on Investment

For every business decision taken, your organisation must demonstrate that the benefits it accrues outweigh the associated investment and cost of risk mitigation. Basically, the value for money proposition must be a positive one showing that money is being well spent.

Using our services represents one of the best business cases for resourcing key roles or teams in an organisation on an interim, ‘just in time’ basis, to deliver specific business objectives or bridge people or skills gaps in the continuity of the business. The key word is ‘interim’, which means that investment need only be made as long as the business objective, gap or risk remains – a true ‘switch-on switch-off’ service'. This means that our resources are deployed at your point of greatest need – which combined with our competitive market rates and pricing models will provide you with true delivery of value for money.

But taking this argument further, it is our view that certain key roles in an organisation are best sourced on an interim basis rather than as a more expensive permanent option. For example, the work activity of business continuity managers and crisis managers will frequently follow a profile of peaks and troughs. Peaks correspond to the development of business continuity plans and managing crises as they take place, whilst troughs equate to reduced maintenance activity. A similar case applies to ICT system/network personnel, where modern ICT infrastructures mean that no one person can be an expert in all fields. However, by using our managed ICT services you benefit from having a wide range of expertise available to you but used only when you need it.

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Risk Control

Managing your organisation is about managing risk. Any business decision, whether strategic, operational or project based, must involve a sound assessment of the adverse consequences of the decision. If this understanding is not available then at the very least it is doubtful whether you are managing for success. In the worst case scenario the basis upon which the business decision has been made may be unsound. Thus, identifying, quantifying and controlling risk as a key business variable must be part of every manager’s decision-making tool-set.

In our approach, risk control comprises two parts:

  • Risk analysis, in which risks are identified, categorised, quantified and prioritised; and
  • Risk management, in which cost-effective ways of controlling or mitigating the risk are implemented.

Only by combining both parts of risk control will you be able to understand your organisation’s exposure and vulnerability to threats and be in a position to put in place measured responses that are appropriate in both scope and investment for the risk in question.

We apply risk control at two levels. Firstly, in terms of a specific interim management service line in which our specialist risk managers work with you to control your risk. Secondly, as part of any assignment, we will prepare a Risk Control Plan (RCP) for you, clarifying the key risks and issues and how we will control them during the assignment. The RCP will be used to quantify the investment so you are aware of your commitment up-front. This approach ensures that best and most focused use is made of your resources.

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