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Coherent Speed is Clarkston’s methodology for accelerating the solution definition and delivery processes that address our clients' ever-changing business needs. It combines industry knowledge, project management best practices, and intellectual capital to allow for a proven, repeatable approach that ensures accelerated delivery of business value to our clients.
Clarkston Consulting's team of senior professionals works with you to understand your need, craft a solution, and establish our relationship. These activities frame the effort to be undertaken, from a variety of perspectives, and set the stage for the next segment of the process. The Solution Definition processes are:
Understanding your needs
Most consultants are capable of assessing the current business problems that are presented to them — but this is a reactive approach rather than a proactive approach. The Clarkston team is prepared to collaborate with you to quickly and completely assess your business situation in terms of both the current environment and future events, and we work with you to develop a clear representation of all of your needs. We call this Horizon Consulting — looking farther than the “here and now” and looking “up and over the horizon” to see the bigger picture and how the future will affect your business.
Craft a solution
Instead of unilaterally solving an immediate problem, Clarkston will adapt and merge multiple strategies, techniques, and approaches into a unique solution that can help propel you beyond the immediate issue and into the forefront of your industry. Crafting a full solution results in a complete business initiative instead of a mere point solution.
Establish our relationship
Effective relationships require two sides sharing information and experience, and ensuring future success. Clarkston works side-by-side with you from the outset, walking you through the process of clarifying your true business need and defining the appropriate solution to address that need. This relationship evolves and deepens through trust, by assessing our measurable track record with you, and through mutual understanding of the benefits enjoyed as a result of solid, flexible business relations.
Upon completion of Solution Definition, Clarkston will assemble the necessary combination of resources — including strategy, business functional and technical experts experienced in your industry — in a Swarm Teaming approach. In this approach, we make sure the right people are working hand-in-hand with you to deliver the entire solution that's been defined. The Solution Delivery processes are:
Ensure
From start to finish, Clarkston performs activities to evaluate the quality of the planning and management, in addition to evaluating the quality of the results. Several of these activities comprise our SuccessCheck™, which are periodic assessments conducted by a partner or senior manager. Our project management methods ensure project performance and execution across all four phases of solution delivery to ensure Brilliant Client Service. The Project Management Methods (PMM) provide for describing and organizing the work of the project. The Project Management Methods, when integrated with the solution-specific methodologies, support the smooth transition from proposal to completion of the deliverables, the management of the project activities and contract components, and the successful completion and evaluation of the engagement.
Commence
We execute a series of specific activities designed to effectively launch the initiative and set the stage for successful delivery of the desired solution. These activities serve to create a common understanding of the environment and a common visualization of the desired end result, and form the foundation for all communications throughout the delivery effort.
Architect
We draft a written road map or blueprint by which we coordinate and schedule the initiative, taking into account your timetable and budget requirements. This structure ensures everyone on the team understands the time constraints, the tasks set before him or her, and the approach for how best to deliver the solution in the most efficient manner.
Develop
Clarkston utilizes and integrates proven methods in working with you to construct the unique solution for your business. This approach includes those activities critical to the adoption of any new processes and tools — change management and education. The success of your initiative is also a result of our commitment to knowledge sharing and transfer throughout the effort. After all, it's your intellectual capital and your opportunity to leverage your influence in the marketplace for competitive advantage.
Transition
At the conclusion of every effort comes the time to assess, understand how the project was conducted, and complete a hand-off to ensure your team will assume full ownership of the deliverables moving forward. In addition, we work with you to evaluate the original goals and objectives of the project and ensure they have been achieved. Often this involves setting future check-points where Clarkston will help assess the return on your investment over time.
Designing and delivering high quality solutions is a key component to achieving Brilliant Client Service and Operational Excellence. While the processes within Coherent Speed for defining and delivering solutions are designed to ensure a quality outcome, the execution of these processes must be reviewed periodically to ensure compliance. These reviews or SuccessCheck's are incorporated into each Clarkston solution beginning early in Solution Definition and continuing through and beyond Solution Delivery. Each SuccessCheck assesses the overall initiative based on a variety of dimensions. Input for the assessment is solicited from both the Client and Clarkston teams.
- Clarkston embarks on every client relationship with a proven methodology for ongoing success — Coherent Speed™
- Throughout the relationship, we use Coherent Speed as a road map to ensure that every project and the expected results are predictable
- SuccessCheck is integral to this relationship, ensuring success by monitoring progress before, during, and after every initiative
- SuccessCheck represents a set of defined and prescribed checkpoints for critical stages in the client engagement and relationship
Coherent Speed is not a single methodology as much as it is a framework that encompasses multiple methodologies. At the highest level, there are the Project Management Methods (PMM), which apply to all engagements that Clarkston undertakes. But the Project Management Methods cannot stand alone, without methods that are specific to the type of service Clarkston is delivering to the client. Therefore, another major component of the Coherent Speed framework is the Service Specific Methodologies. Processes and tools for specific services are bundled together and are applied along with the PMM to best address the client's needs and objectives. These methodologies are aligned with and support our Business Solutions.
For more information on our service specific solutions, visit Clarkston’s global capabilities page at www.clarkstonconsulting.com/global.
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