What changes when structure comes before knowledge.

Situation

The brief was field service efficiency. A large share of service visits was classed as non-billable, and many overdue receivables sat with customers who had an open service ticket. The two were managed by different functions.

Approach

One page showing both data series and a costed estimate of the value trapped in the loop. No fix proposed during the audit.

Result

A process programme with a projected saving of around €11m. The shared-services consolidation that followed delivered about €3.4m a year.

Situation

The centre existed, staff were hired, processes transferred, and it was barely delivering. The country managing directors supported it formally and quietly undermined it.

Approach

It was not resistance, it was their bonus plans. Joint ownership of service performance, part of the bonus tied to group-level savings, and shadow teams removed on a published date.

Result

About €3.4m in annual savings. Before the incentive change the centre had run for two quarters with almost none of it realised.

Situation

Nineteen active improvement initiatives, each defensible. Six leaders named fourteen different priorities, and two people's number one appeared on nobody else's list.

Approach

One day of alignment, three shared objectives, nine initiatives deliberately paused. The rollout was staged across two sites so the effect could be proven.

Result

First-time resolution rose from about 70 to above 90 percent and margin followed with a lag of roughly two months. Turnover improved, so the result is earned, not borrowed.

Situation

Quality data was better than the customer experience. Raising a problem in the weekly meeting meant an action plan due the next day, so problems were reported only once solved.

Approach

One rule: the first response to any problem is “thank you, what do you need?”, never “what’s your plan?”.

Result

After about two months the number of surfaced problems rose sharply. That was visibility, not decline. First-time resolution then held above 90 and NPS above 60.

Situation

The owner wanted more profit before a sale. The constraint was elsewhere: one customer above a quarter of revenue, about 80 percent project work, and a pricing logic that lived only in the owner's head.

Approach

No profit programme. Instead, service agreements with automatic renewal, a broader customer base and a documented pricing rule set applied by two other people.

Result

The largest customer fell below 20 percent. Profit stayed almost unchanged, and the business was valued materially higher.