Operations and Technology

I help with any or all steps in the creation and implementation of an operational and technology plan to achieve your business objectives. I also can step in as interim CTO or COO of a technology firm or an asset management firm (hedge fund, private equity fund, wealth management).

Distill

  • Through interviews, and reading, learn your business, what makes you similar, and what makes you different from your peers.
  • Review your operations flow and your current systems, finding what is core necessity and what may be a relic of past endeavors.
  • Help you craft a strategic technology and operations roadmap to match your business strategy.

Synthesize

  • Help you define the optimal workflow for your organization; infuse that with practical realities; and produce the ideal implementable roadmap.
  • Produce a holistic enterprise data architecture, combining data that is onsite, hosted, on-demand from third-party and SaaS sites.
  • Guide you through the technology landscape
    • Review the technology options that can support your business goals, addressing vendor products (best-of-breed and integrated solutions), bespoke solutions, and system integration; assess the real total cost of ownership of each option.
    • Guide you through a vendor landscape survey, pointing out the pros and cons of each available product based on your specific requirements
    • Lead the process of vendor selection, including RFI/RFP, demo, assessment, recommendation. Ensure transparency between you and the vendors, minimizing or eliminating surprises when you move beyond selection and into implementation.
    • Review the internal build options, and the resourcing required.
    • Formulate a system integration plan (integration of vendor products, with in-house systems)  that allows you to keep the buses running even as we swap out the wheels.
  • Guide you through a thorough data governance policy, addressing security, privacy, compliance, etc.

Transform

The final stage of a project is to implement the agreed-upon plan with the goal of transforming the business.  With many years experience as product architect, project manager, implementation consultant, and executive sponsor of technology projects at investment companies, I am uniquely suited to help you plan and run the implementation, so as to have a much higher chance of completing on time, on budget, and with happy end-users.

I help you in these areas:

  • Physical implementation of the design
  • Leading discovery and planning sessions with the selected vendor
  • Mapping your business to the selected product and physical realities
  • Creating or validating an implementation plan
  • Providing executive oversight throughout the implementation