Project Rescue

When a project goes off course, Guidacent offers a fresh perspective to guide our clients to the highest ascent: a successful outcome. Our highly experienced team will help you determine how a project lost direction, and then quickly create a clear, attainable turnaround plan to get you to the summit.

Guidacent’s Project Rescue services are built upon the collective leadership experiences that our consultants have gained by successfully delivering countless projects for our clients. In addition, Guidacent’s extensive partner network allows us to quickly access resources when deep subject matter expertise is needed.

Thorough Assessment
We begin by reviewing the project’s original objectives and scope. Then, we quickly assess stakeholder alignment, business readiness, and technical readiness to determine any gaps in delivery fundamentals. Finally, we complete operational, systems, and data analyses to capture a complete, fact-based picture.
Realistic Plan
Guidacent delivers a plan that is clear, attainable, and biased towards action. Our turn-around plans focus on achieving quick wins while keeping the project team marching towards long term success. In parallel, we work with executive leadership to set realistic expectations and communicate progress.
Collaborative Approach
Our seasoned consultants understand that relationships and collaboration are vital to the success of a project. We gain total buy-in from all stakeholders and project team members by driving results that build trust across teams. We work hand-in-hand with our clients to put projects back on the path to success.
Quality Plan
Project Rescue requires the highest levels of diligence, focus, and communication. Our consultants prepare a quality plan for every engagement to identify and mitigate risks to delivering the desired outcome. Guidacent’s leadership team regularly reviews quality plans, working with our consultants and client stakeholders to execute every detail of the plan.

Success Story

Program Leadership

Turning strategic initiatives into tangible outcomes requires orchestration across business, operations, and technology. Guidacent’s experience in leading complex, cross-organizational initiatives is at the heart of our Program Leadership success. We blend the science of program management with the art of leadership to deliver results that enable your strategy. Together with our clients, we determine the road map, approach, and then execute at the program and project levels.

End to End Orientation
From the concept to delivery, our comprehensive approach will leave you feeling prepared and capable of mitigating any program risk. We adopt and offer improvements to existing client delivery methodologies. Where a methodology doesn’t exist, we tailor one that is right-sized for the engagement. Our approach encompasses an end-to-end view across business, operations, and IT organizations.
Program Management
Our consultants adeptly manage the essentials outlined by project management and business analyst industry standards. But, successful program management is more than just “checking the boxes” on deliverables. Our consultants also come with experience to know when to ask the right questions, detect early warning signs of trouble, and navigate challenging environments to keep driving towards our client’s success.
Leadership
Guidacent’s consultants are experienced and skilled leaders first and foremost. For our clients, this translates into versatile, polished resources with consistent delivery at any level of engagement within a project or program. Our consultants are critical thinkers with a “get it done” mindset.
Quality Plan
Project quality plans are prepared for every engagement. Guidacent’s executive leadership team regularly reviews plans with consultants to offer an objective perspective and to ensure execution to Guidacent’s quality standards.

I’ve been very pleased with the quality of resources provided by Guidacent. They come up to speed quickly and demonstrate confident and competent leadership to our teams.

- Jay Orum, VP Information Technology – Symetra

Success Story

Business Intelligence

Guidacent loves working with data to help inform and influence critical business outcomes. Guidacent's perspective of BI starts with the user and critical business questions and then works seamlessly across the organization to understand best way to acquire, transform, represent, and manage the data. Rooted in our project management fundamentals, Guidacent consultants bring a rigor of agile methodologies into the BI space with rapid prototyping and a determined mindset to achieve the initiative objectives.

Data Strategy and Governance
Critical to the insights that any BI solution delivers, having solid foundation and roadmap for the evolution of the data sources is critical. We will help to understand current data situation, define where you want to go, how to get there, and how to ensure that you stay on the path to get there.
Database Optimization / Normalization
Blending Cloud solutions and other data transformations is vital for making a performant BI solution. Our team works across IT to deliver the right sized and scaled solution for your business needs.
Data Visualization and Dashboarding
Tableau? PowerBI? Domo? Presenting the data and story telling in an effective way is a critical ingredient to a success BI program. Our team works to understand the true metrics that influence the business, how to best represent them, and how to integrate those insights into the decision making process.
Segmentation, Modeling & Forecasting
Using data and insights to get ahead of your business is the nirvana of a BI program. Keenly understanding your previous customer behavior is vital for predicting the future behaviors. Our team loves to dig into the details of what has happened to predict what will happen next.

Success Story

Cybersecurity

Guidacent defines cybersecurity as the convergence of people, processes, and technology to protect organizations, individuals, and networks from various threats. Effective cybersecurity programs protect assets and data, and minimize the risk of business interruptions. Rapid growth of new technologies and remote working, expansion of privacy regulations, and dynamic threat actors can dramatically increase organizational risk. We work with client business and IT stakeholders to implement resilient mitigation solutions that balance risk with organizational priorities.

IT Compliance Program Establishment
Selecting appropriate compliance frameworks and creating related governance structures remain cornerstones for effective IT compliance programs. We partner with clients to establish and mature compliance programs, identifying frameworks and designing and executing IT controls.
Audit/Assessment Management
Internal and external audits/assessments help organizations understand the effectiveness of control execution and risk posture. Our team of professionals embed themselves within client teams to manage the preparation and execution of these reviews. This streamlines the management process for clients, so they can focus on key activities needed to successfully complete the activities.
Remediation Management
Audits, assessments, and internal reviews often identify cybersecurity gaps that increase client risk. We leverage risk-based decision making to help organizations prioritize remediation investments. This includes working with stakeholders to develop, execute, and track remediation work from inception through completion.
Solution Delivery
Organizations rely on a variety of internally-developed and third party tools to protect assets from theft, damage, and disruption. Many industries rely heavily on managed security service providers (MSSPs) for cybersecurity program activities. Guidacent has years of experience efficiently managing procurements to ensure organizations get the appropriate tools and services at the right price. Proper onboarding of vendors and implementation of tools means clients have the solutions when they need them.

Guidacent was a natural choice for us because of our successful history together, landing high-visibility initiatives. HITRUST was one of our long-term corporate goals, so we wanted to partner with a “can’t miss” mindset.
The approach Guidacent brings to the team expands the capabilities and instills confidence. My experience with their approach is that even the most chaotic programs are brought back to green in short order; reducing frustration, costs, and risk in program execution.

- Chief Information Security Officer, Large Healthcare Insurance Provider

Success Story

Cloud Solutions

Guidacent consultants have been delivering business critical solutions across cloud platforms since 2015. Our view of cloud transformation starts with leveraging technology to accelerate the pace and achievement of business objectives providing businesses with the technology tools, features and functions they need to move more quickly. From planning & strategy to architecture definition & delivery to leading organizational change, Guidacent consultants drive implementation of cloud technology solutions with a focus on successful business outcomes.

Planning and Strategy
Guidacent consultants have deep expertise helping define where to begin and where to go your cloud journey. Whether it's workshops to help you start cloud conversations with your organizations, defining your cloud roadmap, or working with your teams to define your implementation plans, we can help you get where you need to go.
Technology
With a focus on Cloud Migration, Modern Application and Service Layer Delivery, and Data & Analytic solutions, our consultants have worked with clients across industries to deliver client solutions to the cloud.
Governance and Cost of Ownership
Effective management and utilization of cloud resources allows businesses to achieve the full value of moving to the cloud. Guidacent helps you define your governance strategies and optimize costs.
Organizational Effectiveness
Enabling your teams to effectively operate in a cloud environment is one of the most important factors for success in the cloud. From "two pizza teams" to SAFe to DevOps, Guidacent consultants can work with your teams to guide their transformation and optimize their delivery.

Success Story

IT Solution Delivery

Guidacent employs a unique method of designing and implementing effective IT solutions. A strategic differentiator is our strong network of proven partners that we leverage to bring the best and brightest to your project. Whether you need a strong project leader, an experienced analyst, or developers and architects, we can assemble the right team to meet your needs. Our unique delivery model allows us to deliver complete IT solutions while keeping overhead low, which in turn means better rates for our clients. Leveraging our experience and our strategic partner network, we diligently build solutions that address your current challenges and provide a strong foundation for future growth.

Develop the road map
The first few steps of the process are the most critical. Together, we will confirm your objectives, document requirements, develop a timeline, manage expectations with team members, get buy-in from stakeholders, and establish deliverables. Agreement on the main IT platform and associated methodology are also key.
Finalize the approach
Understanding the intricacies of each industry and establishing a comprehensive set of requirements, verifying roles, managing project dates, and capturing key milestones are integral pieces to finalizing the approach of each IT Solutions Delivery project. We have helped numerous clients through “build vs. buy” analysis and the vendor selection process
Execute the plan
Whether you need a customized on-line application, a new mobile platform, an assessment of your IT team’s capabilities, or a database and reporting platform implemented, our broad range of experience and variety of clients is proof of IT Solution Delivery success. We design and implement sound solutions with a long term goal of scale and stability.
Launch
A successful go-live is accomplished through comprehensive planning, collaboration with the business to validate needs are met, and rigorous testing to eliminate future surprises. A key part of the process often missed is paying critical attention to change management by preparing your organization for new systems and processes. The last few steps of the project can be the most rewarding when they are done on time and on budget.

Guidacent came in with a real sense of urgency. Their team jumped in, developed a plan, executed the plan and gave me the confidence that we can continue to serve our customers.

– Rick Hermanson, CEO Hermanson, LLP

Success Story

Operations Effectiveness

Guidacent solution delivery has been effectively and efficiently implemented for hundreds of clients. Leveraging our experience, we diligently work to build solution deliveries that addresses your current challenges and provides a strong foundation for future growth.

Customer Experience
Understanding where you have been, where you need to go, and finding the most effective and streamlined processes can be beneficial to both your customers and the bottom line. We will design and implement the right feedback systems to track how your customers are doing and where you have risks.
Competitive Analysis
Understanding and comparing what your competition is doing in the marketplace will often show you the right path to take as well as the wrong one. We provide the tools and analysis you need to make decisions on where you need to improve your service and product delivery.
Process Improvement
There is no boiler plate solution for how an organization can be more effective. You need trusted experts to help you determine what can be automated, what can be eliminated, and what needs to be redesigned to make your company operations perform at an optimal level. And we will create the plans and timelines to guide you each step of the way.
Employee Engagement
Navigating change is often a difficult journey and you will need a highly motivated workforce that is focused on the right activities. We will design and help you execute plans to engage your employees so the new business practices achieve the desired results and are sustainable.

Guidacent did an excellent job helping us pull together our company’s annual business plan in support of our long range strategic plan. Their consultant collaborated very well with my executive team and their direct reports to pull together all the initiatives across each functional area and prioritize them down to a focused set of high impact projects aligned to our key business goals. The planning tools and templates created were easy to use and administer and Guidacent ensured the plan was handed-off in a smooth manner to the business teams.

- Ken Alterman, CEO - Savers, Inc.

Success Story

M&A Integration

We have decades of experience guiding companies through the complicated maze of company mergers and acquisitions. Whether it is a multi-million dollar regional organization or a billion dollar international purchase, we know how to effectively bring together separate entities and make them into a strong, resilient organization.

Discovery
We diligently get to know all the organizations involved in a merger or acquisition. The outcome is to decide the most direct and cost-effective path to a smooth transition and the metrics that define success.
Assessment
After analyzing the baseline of both organizations, we identify the best way to maximize value and overcome obstacles. Our approach includes open dialogue with employees with the intent to eliminate uncertainty and motivate the teams to work as a cohesive unit.
Implementation
Integration done right is transparent. Our outreach programs for both the customer and employee are designed to ease the fear and uncertainty by explaining the how, why, and impact along the way.
Completion
Success is achieved when both employees and customers feel valued and grounded and the company is on a steady ascent to realize its goals. Change is never easy, but with Guidacent’s proven expertise, it can be done efficiently and everybody wins.

Success Story

Services

Project Rescue

Program Leadership

Business Intelligence

Cybersecurity

Cloud Solutions

IT Solution Delivery

Operations Effectiveness

M&A Integration