Tag Archive: management

  1. Our Approach to Application Development Consulting 

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    How Our High-Value, Purpose-Built Application Development Services Deliver Results Across the Board.

     

    When your organization requests IT consulting services from Core Catalysts, you can expect a highly intentional process that not only delivers results, but establishes a sustainable legacy and long-term success. 

    Core Catalysts knows that challenges such as application development require more than a consulting firm that “knows tech.” Taking many strategic steps alongside development gets you across the finish line, including:

    • Dynamic program and project management.
    • Effective business analysis and process mapping.
    • Key development resources.
    • Comprehensive application functionality.

    Core Catalysts provides significant expertise in IT implementation, but our robust services offerings turn application development into something larger: comprehensive process development. When we approach IT implementation, we also ensure that we make the best decisions on behalf of all stakeholders, while reducing costs and securing team member buy-in.

    A Core Catalysts Case Study In Application Development

    Our client is a globally recognized business that required our assistance with their goal to build a high-value, purpose-built application. This application modernization project would allow them to automatically allocate insurance premiums across their multiple properties. 

    Our initial assistance was focused on helping them to project manage the effort, which also included vendor management. In addition, this client needed a skilled resource that could aid them in gathering all the requirements necessary for the creation of this application. 

    Our Initial Recommendations: Project Management

    Core Catalysts assigned a seasoned project manager with significant experience in managing custom development projects. This individual quickly established a project timeline for the initial phases of the project, leading up to actual development. 

    Additionally, the project manager established the appropriate project governance that would help ensure the proper management of risk, issues, and changes. As part of this governance, and critical to the gathering of requirements, our project manager determined that a stakeholder analysis was necessary. This analysis identified all appropriate internal and external individuals and established their project needs (e.g., the creation of a RACI model to determine which team members were responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed).

    Implemented Business Analysis and Cost Reduction Solutions

    In addition, Core Catalysts assigned a highly skilled business analyst, who guided our client through the development of their application requirements. This individual leveraged the stakeholder analysis and initiated interviews and workshops that allowed the stakeholders to discuss their needs and expectations. 

    This business analyst carefully documented the requirements using a proprietary “traceability matrix” that helps to link business, functional, technical, and testing requirements together. After the business analyst reframed this data in a logical and consumable format, they validated the information with the appropriate stakeholders. 

    Application Development Consulting Begins

    Upon completion of these efforts, the requirements were provided to the application development vendor that the client selected. This vendor provided our client with a timeline and cost estimate to complete the application. Unfortunately, the timeline and cost associated with the development of this application was significantly longer and significantly higher in cost than our client had anticipated. 

    Intimately familiar with the application’s requirements, Core Catalysts took the opportunity to provide our own cost and timeline estimate to the client. Our estimates were significantly less than those of the other vendor. Because Core Catalysts had already established trusted working relationships with the stakeholders and had intimate familiarity with the requirements, the ramp up time to development was significantly reduced, thereby lowering costs as well.  

    A Highly Efficient Timeline 

    Our client selected our proposal to build this high-value purpose-built application, including development work on the initial phase and an MVP (minimum viable product). Our work commenced immediately.

    Because our client valued our ability to respond quickly to their needs, they requested that Core Catalysts not only host the application, but also provide ongoing maintenance and support.

    Within three months our client was able to interact with the initial build of the application. Within six months, our client was able to start using some of the initial functionality within the new application. At the nine-month mark, our client had a complete and operational MVP that provided them with the foundational elements necessary to properly allocate insurance premiums across all their properties.  

    Successful Application and Process Development 

    As the MVP phase came to a close, the trusted relationship that Core Catalysts established with our client was still flourishing. Our ability to execute and deliver on their requested product gave them the confidence to move forward with phases two and three of the project. 

    Core Catalysts is currently working on phase three, continuing to provide additional application modernization and functionality for our client. We provided immediate results and value for both individual users of the application and our client’s entire organization.

    4 Reasons to Partner With Core Catalysts For Application Development Consulting

    This case study illustrates our application and process development success. This success can be broken down into four essential qualities that separate us from other business consulting firms. 

    • Seasoned program and project management talent: Our team’s experience ensures we honor project timelines, reduce costs where possible, and expediently and efficiently deliver application functionality.
    • Effective business analysis and process mapping: We provide highly-skilled resources to gather business and functional requirements, and fully map the application development process. We offer a deep understanding of technology, allowing us to initiate technical requirements, as well as associated testing requirements, such as quality assurance. 
    • Robust development resources: Core Catalysts provides clients with a blend of onshore and offshore resources for the development of the application. This ensures that communication, critical in the development of a custom application, is effective and consistent. We also provide clients with balanced cost models, allowing applications to be built in a cost-effective manner.  
    • Exceptional application functionality: We ensure that your application meets all your functionality requirements, including application modernization. Ultimately, with Core Catalysts’ help, your application will meet or exceed your requirements, so you can use this new resource efficiently and sustainably. 

    Core Catalysts exists to resolve your challenges and deliver results that are yours for the taking. If your team requires application development to modernize your processes, improve organizational efficiency, or deliver any other key metrics, contact our team. 

     

  2. The Core Catalysts Approach to Program and Project Management

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    Get to Know the Key Differentiators That Help Our Clients Succeed.

    Your business initiatives require objective, targeted leadership to ensure your organization meets or even surpasses benchmarks. You want to see strategically driven progress in action and feel the assurance that only an expert program and project management consulting firm can deliver.

    Core Catalysts takes a client-focused approach to program and project management that meets your needs for an actionable plan that gets results. Our work on your behalf is powered entirely by a desire to see you succeed in the short- and long-term. 

    A Veteran Take On Program and Project Management

    To meet your program and project goals, we adopt agile methodologies, including:

      • Transparency: As business consultants, we are accountable to you. We earn your trust with comprehensive reporting, updates, and unmatched communication and professionalism. Although we are dedicated to taking the reins on any business initiative, it is always understood that our purpose is to provide exceptional service and expertise for your end goals.
      • Collaboration: We never approach a client with preconceived notions about how a program or project should be executed. We walk right beside you as a sounding board and support system to ensure your next initiative succeeds. When needed, we offer counterpoints from our experience in the spirit of helping you strive for excellence. We function well as a consulting firm that thrives in the marketplace of ideas, while remaining hyper-focused on getting your programs and projects across the finish line.
      • Adaptability: Programs and projects evolve, bottlenecks may suddenly appear, and new approaches may be needed at a moment’s notice. Our flexibility, versatility, depth of experience, and resources allow us to problem-solve quickly and successfully. We believe that transformation can never truly be achieved without adaptations. We understand that flexibility is a part of program and project execution, not a hindrance.

    Although we pride ourselves on our ability to make an unparalleled difference for your business, we rely upon these time-honored approaches to program and project management consulting. We understand what works, based on our many wins for a broad range of clients in many industries. 

    Ethics, High Engagement, and a Seamless Connection to Your Team and Organization Along with transparency, collaboration, and adaptability, you can expect the following values and practices throughout the Core Catalysts management consulting experience:

    1. Diligence and engagement let you know immediately that our project management office (PMO) is fully invested in your success. We are fully accountable for our role in helping you achieve your business goals, while ensuring that you remain at the helm.
    2. Our ethics have made us a trusted name in business consulting. No business initiative can succeed without equity and integrity.
    3. When our PMO works on your behalf, your organizational culture becomes ours.
    4. Your teams and stakeholders want to feel included in our work. We bring tools, resources, procedures, and clear communication that allows actionable and highly effective inclusion in our PMO, so we can easily transfer ownership, engagement, and accountability to your team at the conclusion of our services. 

    Optimizations For Excellence

    Throughout our decades of experience assisting clients with program and project management, we recognized that we could add value by implementing a full suite of related services and solutions. We align program and project management with successful organization-wide optimizations.

    In addition to establishing a program and project management office, we also provide operational and executional excellence services, including:

    • Optimizations for expense reduction, margin improvement, and sustainable growth.
    • Operational improvement.
    • Process redesign.
    • Enterprise project management office (EPMO).
    • Value creation office (VCO).
    • Financial modeling and business reporting.
    • Data analytics and visualization.
    • And much more.

    Flash Case Studies: Our Successful System Modernization Projects

    To quickly get a sense of our depth of experience, we’ve chosen five clients that represent our work on system modernization and IT implementation projects from a program and project management consulting perspective.

    • Client: $Bn International Engineering and Infrastructure Design Firm

    Our role: Project and client lead, tech subject matter expert.

    Project highlights: We served as project and client lead and tech subject matter expert for the design, development, data migration, and integration for enterprise resource planning (ERP) and CRM solutions. This required significant data input and processing automation, as well as an emphasis on cybersecurity. Our team guided this $125 million project through implementation and adoption, addressing significant technology debt, growth and efficiency roadblocks, resource utilization, and more.

    • Client: $Bn Mining and Manufacturing Company 

    Our role: Project management, budget management, process mapping and engineering, and technical documentation.

    Project highlights: Core Catalysts served as the PMO lead on a three-year project to upgrade and integrate a modern ERP system. We provided full-life-cycle implementation, including testing, adoption tracking, and identification of change management and communication needs. This upgrade from a legacy system resulted in a highly significant tech transformation for this client.

    • Client: Multi-State Non-Profit Healthcare Provider

    Our role: Project management, business and systems analysis, proof of concept (POC) vendor management, and collaboration.

    Project highlights: Core Catalysts served as the process improvement and change management leaders for a full-scale IT adoption initiative. Our work resulted in effective, efficient multi-site, multi-state implementation of IT for core healthcare processes.

    • Client: $Bn Grocery Wholesale and Retail Organization

    Our role: IT planning, design and implementation lead, platform design and system integration, data architecture design and modeling.

    Project highlights: Our team led the design, development, data migration, and integration of an enterprise-wide electronic point of sale (EPOS) solution, while reducing technology debt and improving efficiency and resource utilization.

    Partner With Core Catalysts For Program and Project Management Core Catalysts is ready to take on your organization’s most critical challenges. However, you won’t feel that our recommendations and viewpoints are set in stone. Expertise brings confidence, and confidence means understanding the value of collaboration, communication, and flexibility. It means knowing when and how to lead. 

    When you seek out our program and project management consulting for system modernization or any other business need, you’ll experience the assurance that we’re a part of your team. We engage your key stakeholders to develop solutions that will endure long after our job is finished. We’re not here to present theories and ideas that can’t be recreated later. We’re here to help you develop lasting, sustainable change, so your business can thrive. That’s our commitment to you.

    Contact Core Catalysts today to learn more about how we can help you overcome your next big hurdle. 

  3. EPMO in 2023

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    John F. Kennedy said that “Change is the law of life.” His thoughts certainly are appropriate for the current state of employment in the US. We have seen such dramatic changes since the “Great Resignation” in 2021.

    During 2021, we experienced record breaking changes in employment. In fact, 2021 delivered the highest average on record for employees leaving their employer, which equated to an average of 3.9 million resignations each month.

    In contrast, throughout 2023 we’ve seen headcount reductions across all business sectors.  Time Magazine reports that close to 172,000 people have lost their employment in the tech sector alone. Other organizations such as Disney, Blackrock, Goldman Sachs, Bed Bath and Beyond, and many more have also reduced their headcount significantly.

    You may be thinking these data points really aren’t that interesting or you may be thinking this news really isn’t that important.

    What these staggering numbers do not address is the impact that significant attrition or staff reductions can have on an organization. When organizations lose experience, knowledge, and expertise in large numbers, most organizations have a difficult time maintaining or even regaining their momentum, let alone meeting their annual business objectives.

    There are numerous steps organizations can take to help reduce this type of impact and support their ongoing momentum. One suggestion that we will focus on today is the creation of an Enterprise Project Management Office that will provide:

    • Executive exposure to strategic programs and projects
    • Focused support and consistent reporting with the intention of improving outcomes over time
    • Consistent methods and processes for approving, initiating, staffing, and implementing programs and projects

    The structure of an EPMO provides visibility, knowledge of the strategic programs across the organization, and a clear set of methods and processes for teams to follow. All of these are key areas that help prevent loss of knowledge when an organization is facing a high attrition rate.

    Additionally, an EPMO can provide guidance on how to implement cost reporting in an organization and to build upon that reporting, can help identify and measure areas of cost savings. An EPMO is often the right organization to assist with data-based decision making as well.

    These types of consistent processes and knowledge sharing are key to supporting an effective operational structure that will provide the support needed to achieve business objectives.

    If you would like to learn more about how to implement a successful Enterprise Project Management Office in your organization, you may want to work with a small team, with deep expertise and real experience, to help you create the desired outcome.

    If you have an interest in learning more, give us a call.

    – Kellie Bryan

     

  4. Growth Strategies in a Recession

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    While many business fundamentals remain robust, it is fair to say that the global economy isn’t exactly thriving, and chances of at least a mild recession in the near future are high.

    However, this doesn’t mean you have to give up on growth! There are multiple potential strategies that can help your business grow and prosper during a recession. Here are just a few you should consider:

    Strategy 1: Increase Marketing

    To save money during a recession, many companies reduce Marketing spend. However, historically it is the companies that don’t cut their ad spending during a recession, but in fact increase it, that fare best during the downturn and that also bounce back strongest.

    If all your competitors are cutting their budgets, and your business is increasing and fine-tuning its marketing efforts, then your business could win new customers and sell more to existing clients by being more aggressive.

    Furthermore, during a recession you can often get more “bang for your buck” in terms of marketing spend. When competitors slash their marketing budgets, consumers will be less likely to see their marketing efforts, while at the same time seeing your presence and messaging even more frequently.

    Bottom line: Don’t cut back on Marketing spend, increase it! Recessions are a great time to improve market share and achieve greater marketing return on investment at lower costs than in good economic times.

    Strategy 2: Focus on your best customers

    A recession is the perfect time to segment your customer base and market, and to focus on your most productive and profitable customers.

    Take time to analyze your available data and balance the short and long term. Who are your best customers now? Who has the most potential? Look at channel, mix, and margin, as well as just revenue and profit. Think about lifetime value (how valuable they will be to you over the full lifetime of your relationship with them).

    Recessions are also the best time to consider cutting or addressing difficult, unproductive, or unprofitable customers. After all, they’re either costing you money or there is an opportunity cost in spending time on them versus easier to work with, more profitable, more productive, or higher potential clients.

    Finally, it is important to remember the old adage: It costs ten times as much to recruit a new customer as it costs to retain an existing one.

    Customer acquisition costs have generally been getting more expensive, but recessions make it even more costly.

    Therefore, making more out of the customers you already have, and reducing and eliminating customer defections to competitors, or other causes of “churn”, are smart things to do during a recession.

    Strategy 3: Raise the game in pricing and portfolio management

    If the last couple of years of historically high inflation have taught us anything, it is that almost all companies could be better in the discipline of pricing: even “high performers” in pricing management still have opportunities to unlock additional value through more data driven approaches.

    Companies can enhance their understanding of pricing by mining past transactions, performing customer segmentation, and analyzing preference, win rate, and competitive pricing data. These insights can then be used to dynamically manage pricing or customize and evaluate pricing for individual products, services, contracts, or deals.

    Equally, during a recession, the best companies also replace broad-based price changes with strategic changes to either grow revenues or protect / grow margins.

    During a recession, companies have several pricing strategies at their disposal. These include exchanging price for value, providing additional benefits like volume guarantees, bundling products and services, adjusting service levels, or passing on surcharges for customer behaviors that result in revenue or profit loss.

    In a recession, smart companies also modify and streamline their product or service portfolios and offerings to optimize “mix” and best match supply and demand.

    Examples of this include changing or eliminating product or service families based on cost structure, complexity, or strategic fit, and migrating customers to other (more profitable) items.

    When done right, these moves can deliver streamlined operations, increase revenue, and lower costs as well as increase customer loyalty and growth.

    Strategy 4: Communicate your value to customers

    Demonstrating your value to customers is important all the time, but especially so during a recession.

    In times when customers are reevaluating their budgets and considering changes in their buying patterns, it is crucial to remind them of your value. This can be achieved by presenting hard facts and compelling data that support the benefits of your products or services, as well as their returns on investment. By doing so, you reinforce your value to customers.

    At the very least, having conversations with your clients about this will flush out their concerns and intended decisions. This allows you to work with them and come up with strategies to maintain and even grow demand by identifying solutions to the issues and opportunities they raise.

    Strategy 5: Scale Automation

    Despite the current economic headwinds, many businesses and industries are still struggling with labor shortages and skill challenges.

    Equally, companies that emerge healthier from recessions typically reduce activities that are performed manually and eliminate unnecessary or nice-to-have activities. In turn, this optimizes organizational and operational efficiency and effectiveness through enhanced and increased automation.

    Scaling automation reduces costs, improves resiliency, frees up scarce human resources, and creates fuel to invest in key priorities.

    We have been encouraging our clients to consider scaling automation within their businesses to address these issues that are drags on their revenue and profitability potential.

    To achieve success in an automation program, companies should focus on the following:

    1. Strong executive sponsorship
    2. Ambitious automation goals
    3. Clear pipeline of opportunities
    4. A well-defined change management plan
    5. Solid governance structure
    6. Effective delivery capacity
    7. A plan to redesign work to realize automation value
    8. A system for tracking benefits

    Done well, scaling automation can unlock significant growth!

    Summary

    To achieve growth during a recession, consider the following growth strategies:

    • Increase Marketing
    • Focus on your best customers
    • Raise the game in pricing and portfolio management
    • Communicate your value to customers
    • Scale Automation

    Growth during a recession is possible.

    Core Catalysts is full of experts in growth strategy, helping our clients grow both their top and bottom lines.

    If you need help with achieving growth in your business or would like to learn more, please reach out to us to schedule a discussion!

    –Mark Jacobs, Client Service and Delivery

  5. PMO: Basics of Project Management Office Start-Up

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    There are so many challenges when an organization decides to setup a Project Management Office (PMO). These challenges range from strategic to tactical, theoretical to practical. The question is how do we implement an effective PMO?

    Understand Your Environment

    It is essential that you understand the environment in which you will be setting up an effective PMO. For example, does your company produce software? If so, you may be best served by setting up a PMO that leverages an Agile framework and methodology. Maybe your company is service related? In that case, it may be beneficial to setup a PMO that leverages a Waterfall/Phase-gate framework with an Agile methodology.

    Regardless of the framework and methodology that you choose it is imperative that you consider the skillsets that you have in your organization. There are a few questions to consider:

    • Does the PMO have top-down buy-in?
    • Have you properly prepared leadership for the setup of a PMO?
    • Does your current staff have the appropriate skillset?
    • Will current staff require additional training?
    • Will you need to hire on new staff/roles?

    Crawl – Walk – Run Mentality

    There’s always room for improvement, and you will always need to mature into that improvement. Regardless of where you are in the project management maturity model, it is important to remember that you must crawl before you walk, and walk before you run. This expectation must be set early and reminded of often. Too many times the perception is that the PMO will solve all of an organization’s woes. This simply isn’t the case. The implementation of a PMO will definitely help certain aspects of the initiatives that an organization undertakes, but to be highly effective takes maturity, and the cost of that maturity is time.

    Crawl: Standardize and Improve

    When first learning to operate a PMO, you’ll want to focus on two critical components. First, standardize the way you plan and execute your projects. This is commonly referred to as your framework. A good foundational framework is key and will ensure that everyone understands how you, as an organization, will plan and execute your projects.

    Some great elements of a solid framework are standardized projects and program governance. This covers things such as how to scope a project (what is and isn’t included), how to manage risks and issues, how you manage change, and even how you will communicate. Setting these foundational elements up front will allow you to mature your framework and methodology to best suit your organizational needs and wants.

    Walk: Improve and Increase Efficiency

    Now that your PMO has mastered the basics, it’s time to mature the model. You have some experience under your belt and this is key in advancing your maturity level. For example, you may have now moved through several projects and know how your organization likes to communicate. Take this experience and refine your Communications Management Plans to fit the needs and wants of the organization. Perhaps it’s time to become more efficient and accurate on the estimation side of a project. There are tools and techniques that you may want to help you in maturing your ability to estimate project duration and cost.

    You have near-infinite options on what you choose to mature, but keep two things in mind as you do. First, you’re always going to be refining and maturing the model. Doing so only makes things better for you and your organization. Second, if at first you don’t succeed try, try again. Yep, that old adage was bound to come up! Not everything you try will work, but don’t give up.

    Run: Refine for Optimal Efficiency

    There are a ton of PMO maturity models out there on the world wide web. I’ve used many of them and can say that some are good and others are not. What I can say, definitively, is choose the maturity that is right for you and your organization. Some organizations need a ton of structure while others require more flexibility. Finding that sweet spot and optimizing it is the key to success.

    Encourage everyone to keep their eyes open for waste. Even in highly mature models, it isn’t uncommon to find waste. This typically manifests itself in wasted time. For example, if your project managers are creating a project artifact that is used only in the rarest instances, perhaps it is best to reevaluate that document. You may find that you can identify the types of projects that the artifact is used in up front, and create it only for that project type. The opportunity for refinement and operational efficiencies are boundless.

     

    – Matt Craig, Client Service & Delivery