The Davies Howard Group offers a range of services to clients. They are centred on providing the leadership to facilitate discussion to enable informed choice. Informed choice is delivered through Strategic Advice, Investment Logic Mapping and Business Case development.
Strategic Advice
The Davies Howard Group consultants understand the fundamental importance of strategy as a foundation for an organisation achieving vision and goals. Strategy is pivotal to enable all related outcomes, but it must live and be meaningful to be effective. All too often we see ‘strategic’ documents that add little to the planning process to ensure alignment with broader goals and aspirations.
We will enable you to select the preferred strategic intervention (or set of interventions) based on their likely impact, cost and feasibility.
The Group’s consultants have wide experience in the following disciplines, approach and methodologies of business strategy:
- Investment Logic Mapping (ILM);
- Business Planning, Project Strategic Assessment and Strategy Development as part of the ‘Better Business Cases’ model;
- Innovation and Technology Trends Scanning; and
- ‘Baselining’ Current Technology Capability and Capacity.
Investment Advice – Investment Logic Mapping (ILM)
The assessment of the validity of a concept and how it aligns with strategic intent is key to prioritising investment and enabling effective choice. Stephen is Accredited in the use of the Investment Management Standard to facilitate a collection of simple, common-sense practices that enable an organisation to direct resources to their best use.
The approach has evolved as a reaction to investment practices that demand compliance with complex processes but fail to articulate the need for investment or the benefits that the investment will deliver. In the place of complex processes, at the core of the Investment Management Standard are two key components:
- two-hour informed discussions that bring together the people with the most knowledge of a subject to create and agree to the ‘investment story’; and
- the depiction of the agreed investment story (Investment Logic Map) on a single page, using language and concepts that can be understood by the layperson.
Our investment management practices are skewed towards the early shaping of investments and focus heavily on the evidence to support the need, the best strategic solution and the benefits that will be delivered. The practices also track the delivery of benefits and support evaluation of the effectiveness of the investment.
The practices are used by governments and businesses across Australia and New Zealand. They are low-cost and high-impact, and provide substantial benefits over more process-driven approaches.
For the sake of this standard, investment is defined as ‘the commitment of resources of an organisation with the expectation of receiving a benefit’.
It is our responsibility as the facilitator to make that discussion successful and we pride ourselves in our ability to do just that.
As specialists in facilitation of informed discussions we are monitored and accredited by the Victoria Government Department of Treasury and Finance, New Zealand Treasury National Infrastructure Unit to the Investment Management Standard.
New Zealand Treasury – Better Business Case (BBC)
Senior consultant, Stephen Davies Howard has been endorsed by the Better Business Case International Standards Board as as one of four people to be recognised as both an Expert Practitioner and Reviewer for the New Zealand Treasury. His endorsement is part of a Treasury pilot initiative aimed at improving the business case capability of Priority Public Sector Organisations.
The key purposes of the Expert roles:
Expert Practitioner
– Assist organisations with the scoping, planning and production of the business case at key stages
– To act as an adviser to the Management Team on the application of the BBC processes, including technical issues associated with the supporting methodology and the application of investment tools and techniques.
– To act as a facilitator within supporting workshops, whilst ensuring that the prescribed products are prepared and completed to the required standard.
– To challenge within supporting workshops, whilst enabling views to be expressed and a way forward to emerge
Expert Reviewer
– Assist Organisations with the quality assurance of their business cases
– To provide independent and impartial confirmation to the Management Team and/or Decision Maker that the BBC processes and tools and techniques have been applied to the required standard and that the resultant deliverables are fit for purpose, prior to approval.
– To maintain the standards of the BBC as set out in the BBC Guidance, supporting templates, CBA Primer and associated sources.
Contact the Group if you would like to see how we can help you grow your business case capability.