consulting

 

Implementation Consulting

Sometimes the problems relate to implementation, not just design…

Delphi can add needed hands to your important projects. We will add very senior advisors to enhance the performance of your team, and we can add help where the work gets done. If you need to get something accomplished, turn to experienced professionals that know how to execute.

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Why differentiate consulting types?

Delphi recognizes that there are different types of consulting needs – so we organize our help along our customer’s frame of reference, not just ours.

Data-related strategies and projects

At a very senior level, the issues that concern our clients tend to be strategic in nature. What types of data should be collected and stored? How should it be organized? Is a data warehouse something that is practical, and if so, how should it be managed? How should the data flow from one part of the organization to another? At what level of detail should it be made available to the different consumers of this corporate data? Then, what about an analysis strategy? What role might AI or machine learning play in our organization?

These are all high level problems that are addressed by very senior executives in an organization. These needs are best met with a consultative and advisory style consultant. Delphi groups all of this advisory-focused consulting in the term strategic consulting. This is very different from implementation-focused consulting.

As just mentioned, implementation oriented consulting is the other type of consulting that Delphi performs – that which is often required to actually do the work needed. Sometimes the work plan exceeds the employee list – so Delphi can add temporary staff for short- or long-term assignments, like on a project-oriented basis. In these assignments, Delphi provides a much-needed supplement to those tasked with the technical aspects of projects. We can magnify the capabilities of internal implementation teams and can help assure world-class execution.

The data-related projects Delphi has most often addressed at the implementation level relate to things like credit scoring – with tasks like arranging the data flows, cleaning and transforming the data stored, building and testing models and so forth. We’ve also built more general Customer Lifetime Value models (CLTV models), created and executed machine learning and other Artificial Intelligence (AI) – related implementations. This includes a lot of customer segmentation and behavior modeling.

Finance-related strategies and projects

Delphi recognizes that often a CFO and CEO will need to identify a path or a strategy for taking the financial solutions of a company to the next level. To be effective, the C-level executives need to have experienced players that know and can envisage the breadth of solutions available. Delphi, as advisor, has assisted some of largest global institutions – and also some that are not nearly so large – to identify effective financing solutions and balance-sheet strategies. We’ve happily served some of the largest global industrial and manufacturing clients, some of the largest global banks and some of the newest and smallest start-ups create and implement financial strategies.

On the implementation side, we’ve worked with ratings agencies, with regulators, with legal teams to draw up the documents; we’ve built the financial models for valuation and trading purposes and we’ve created the operating infrastructure required to manage financings. We literally have our name on many billions of dollars of financial programs all over the world. And yet, some of our projects are very small – but equally important to the clients we’ve served. We cut our teeth in the global capital markets.

With respect to these execution projects, we have supported internal bankers, internal finance teams and the technical staff that often need translation between them. Delphi team members have written many hundred thousands of lines of code, have authored many sections of prospectuses, written many, many operating manuals and reviewed many thousands of document pages. Our purpose is to help our clients execute.

Delphi’s finance projects began with long-duration structured finance instruments. But, we have found a significant niche relating to short-term instruments relating to commerce, working capital and trade.

Risk management strategies and projects

The most fundamental questions in risk management are faced in the board room and by the most senior executives. Which risks should be taken and which risks should be avoided? How can risks be mitigated and managed? At the strategic level – these are the questions that we help companies explore.

We’ve been global performers in the risk-assessment and risk-mitigation world since the 1980’s. Delphi began in the capital markets; exploring, analyzing and evaluating risks affecting banks and financial assets. From a gross, regulatory perspective the risks were neatly divided into market risks, credit risks and operational risks. But, the proliferation of financial instruments has blurred those lines completely.

With financial instruments now becoming a function of every type of commercial, weather-related and operational risk imaginable, there are no bright lines separating financial risk models from any other type of risk management concerns. So, our risk management expertise expanded to include statistical process control, model-risk (that is risks associated with your risk models!), and supply-chain risks. In fact, at the implementation level, Delphi professional’s academic credentials and globally recognized expertise has allowed us to serve some of the most demanding and prestigious government and non-government entities on the planet.

And yet, some of the most memorable and satisfying assignments have related to micro-finance and small cooperatives in the boutique- and developing-markets of Africa and Asia.