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Practical insight for mid-market leaders.

Written by senior practitioners. No vendor agendas. No theory without evidence. If it would not help a CFO, MD, or COO make a better decision, it does not get published.

Leadership & Technology

What is a Fractional CTO? When mid-market businesses need one.

A fractional CTO provides senior technology leadership without the cost of a full-time hire. This guide explains what they do, when to use one, and what to look for.

8 min read · April 2026 Read article
Program Governance

PMO vs TMO: Why the difference matters when your program is already behind.

Most organizations build a PMO and call it governance. A Transformation Management Office is a different structure - designed for a different type of risk.

9 min read · April 2026 Read article
Business Review

What does a business diagnostic actually deliver? And what should you expect from one.

A business diagnostic is not a report about problems you already know about. Here is what a well-scoped 14-day independent review actually produces.

7 min read · April 2026 Read article
Technology · ERP

How to run an ERP selection process without getting it wrong.

Most ERP selections fail before a single vendor is contacted. This guide covers what to do first, how to write requirements vendors cannot game, and how to protect the business case.

10 min read · April 2026 Read article
Private Equity · Operations

What is a value creation plan? And how PE-backed businesses actually deliver it.

A VCP is the operational roadmap that turns an investment thesis into EBITDA. Here is what one contains, how it gets built, and where most fail in delivery.

9 min read · April 2026 Read article
M&A · Private Equity

The first 100 days after an acquisition: what actually goes wrong.

Most acquisition value is lost in the 100 days after close, not in the deal room. The mistakes are predictable. Here is how to avoid the most common ones.

9 min read · April 2026 Read article
Leadership · Operations

What is a fractional COO? When mid-market businesses need one.

A fractional COO gives you senior operational leadership without a permanent hire. This guide covers what they do, what they cost, and when it makes sense.

8 min read · April 2026 Read article
Compliance · FCA

What does Consumer Duty mean for your operations?

Consumer Duty is not a compliance project - it is an operational change program. What FCA-regulated businesses need to do operationally to genuinely meet the standard.

10 min read · April 2026 Read article
AI · Technology

How to evaluate an AI vendor: a framework for mid-market businesses.

AI vendors make ambitious claims. This framework helps leadership teams separate genuine capability from well-packaged noise - before the contract is signed.

9 min read · April 2026 Read article
Data · Strategy

What is a data strategy? A practical guide for leadership teams.

A data strategy tells you what data you need, how to trust it, and what decisions it should inform. What good looks like - and why most data strategies fail to deliver.

9 min read · April 2026 Read article
Data · MI

Why your board pack is wrong: the MI reliability problem.

Most mid-market board packs contain numbers that cannot be fully relied upon. This guide explains why MI fails - and how to fix the root cause, not the symptoms.

8 min read · April 2026 Read article
Process · Operations

Lean Six Sigma in mid-market businesses: what actually works.

Lean Six Sigma works when applied to the right problems by practitioners who have done it before. This guide covers what works, what fails, and how to start.

9 min read · April 2026 Read article
Logistics · Technology

How to get your TMS right: a guide for haulage and logistics businesses.

Most TMS implementations go wrong before the contract is signed. This guide covers Mandata, Paragon, Microlise - and the selection process that protects you.

8 min read · April 2026 Read article
Housing Associations · Governance

Preparing for an RSH inspection: what housing associations need to know.

RSH consumer standards inspections are now routine. This guide explains what inspectors look for, where associations are most exposed, and how to prepare.

10 min read · April 2026 Read article
Program Governance

Why transformation programs fail: the real causes and what to do about them.

The research is consistent and has been for thirty years. Most transformation failures are predictable and preventable. Here are the seven root causes - and the warning signs to watch for.

9 min read · May 2026 Read article
Technology · ERP

ERP failure warning signs: what to look for before and during implementation.

ERP projects go wrong in predictable ways. The warning signs appear early - in the selection process as often as in delivery. Here is what to look for and when to act.

8 min read · May 2026 Read article
Data · MI

Why management information is not trusted - and how to fix it.

When leadership stops trusting the numbers, the organization stops making data-driven decisions. The root causes are rarely in the reporting layer - they are upstream. Here is the diagnostic approach.

7 min read · May 2026 Read article
AI · Data

AI and data readiness for mid-market businesses: what you need before you start.

AI projects fail for predictable reasons - and most of them have nothing to do with the AI itself. The five readiness dimensions that determine whether your AI investment will deliver.

7 min read · May 2026 Read article
People · Change Management

Change readiness assessment: what it is and why it matters in transformation.

Half of transformation programs fail on the people side, not the technology. A change readiness assessment tells you where the organization is and what needs to change before you begin.

7 min read · May 2026 Read article
M&A · Integration

Why acquisition synergies fail to materialise - and what to do differently.

Most acquisition synergies are identified in the deal room and lost in the integration. The six reasons synergies remain unrealised - and what good integration planning actually looks like.

8 min read · May 2026 Read article
AI · Digital Transformation

AI return on investment: how mid-market leaders should assess the business case.

How to evaluate AI investments in a mid-market context, where value appears first, and which assumptions routinely distort the numbers.

5 min read · May 2026 Read article
Business Transformation · Leadership

When should a mid-market business hire a consultant instead of a permanent leader?

When external flexible capability is genuinely the better option and when a permanent hire is what the business actually needs.

5 min read · May 2026 Read article
Business Transformation · Strategy

Mid-market growth strategies that do not create operational drag.

How growing mid-market businesses can scale revenue, operations, and decision-making without adding avoidable drag at every stage.

5 min read · May 2026 Read article
Data Strategy · MI Reliability

Single source of truth: what it really means in a mid-market business.

Why most single source of truth projects fail, what good looks like, and how to restore reporting confidence without a multi-year transformation.

5 min read · May 2026 Read article
Data Strategy · Business Intelligence

When should you replace your BI platform?

Before committing to a BI platform replacement, establish whether the problem is actually the platform. In many mid-market businesses, it is not.

5 min read · May 2026 Read article
Business Diagnostics · Operations

How to run an operational health check before performance slips.

How to run a structured operational health check that finds problems before they compound - before they show up in results.

5 min read · May 2026 Read article
Business Diagnostics · Strategy

What a rapid business review tells you in the first 14 days.

What a structured 14-day business diagnostic should cover, what it should produce, and who benefits most from the output.

5 min read · May 2026 Read article
Data Strategy · Governance

Data governance framework: a practical guide for mid-market companies.

How to build a workable data governance framework that improves reporting quality without unnecessary overhead or a multi-year program.

5 min read · May 2026 Read article
Technology Strategy · Planning

How to build a technology roadmap for a mid-market business.

How to build a technology roadmap that supports business outcomes rather than documenting technical ambition and sequences investment around commercial priorities.

5 min read · May 2026 Read article
Leadership · Technology

When an interim IT director makes more sense than a permanent hire.

When interim technology leadership makes sense, what businesses get wrong when making the decision, and how to structure the engagement for maximum impact.

5 min read · June 2026 Read article
Operations · Process Improvement

What operational excellence consulting should actually improve.

What operational excellence should actually improve, where it creates commercial value, and where businesses mistake activity for improvement.

5 min read · June 2026 Read article

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Practical insight for mid-market leaders. No vendor content, no marketing fluff. Published when there is something worth saying.

All engagements are led by senior practitioners - not junior teams.