Guide
Vanguard
“I want to move forward”
A shift is reaching you and you have to decide what to do about it before committing budget. What comes out is a criterion you can defend the decision with, not a presentation.
23 concrete situations
The three doors are not three kinds of client: they are the cycle the same client goes through. How the full cycle fits together.
The services of Vanguard
By their name, the way the market looks for them.
AI strategy
Deciding what to do with artificial intelligence before committing budget: where it applies, how much it returns and what gets ruled out.
12 in Vanguard→AI governance and compliance
Being able to answer the regulator, the auditor and the board with evidence, not with confidence.
3 in Vanguard→Data and analytics
Making the data hold what is going to be built on top of it and making the report change a decision.
2 in Vanguard→Critical operations and crisis
Regaining control of an operation that is going down and holding it while it gets fixed properly.
1 in Vanguard→Mergers, separation and diligence
Buying, selling or separating without technology being what breaks the transaction.
4 in Vanguard→Cost of AI and software
Knowing what already runs and what it actually costs, where it is better off running and what to stop paying for.
1 in Vanguard→Infrastructure and platform
Knowing the real state of the platform everything else runs on, and what to do about it before committing budget.
3 in Vanguard→Should I approve what is on my desk?
- The business case was built by the person selling it to me.See→
- My team signs service agreements we cannot enforce afterwards.See→
- I have a call to make this week and almost everyone with an opinion has something to gain from the answer.See→
- The financial diligence is done. Nobody looked at whether the operation survives the day after.See→
- The vendor's dashboard shows green and the operation keeps going down.See→
- The integrator says it works and I am the one who signs.See→
- The licensing model changed and we have to decide whether we stay.See→
Where do I put the budget?
- I have fifteen ideas and budget for two.See→
- The assessments people bring me talk about the company. I run operations.See→
- Upstairs they want to bring it in-house and I am the one who will have to operate whatever they decide.See→
- They are pushing us to put AI into recruiting and I am the one who signs off on whatever comes out.See→
- The forecast does not hold and we do not know why a deal falls until it has already fallen.See→
- They bring us ideas from other industries and ours does not work the same way.See→
How do I fix the way we decide?
- The committee wants a position and I do not know what is real and what is noise.See→
- The committee gets forty pages every month and leaves without deciding anything.See→
- The decisions that weigh most, I make without an independent peer in the room.See→
- In the committee nobody contradicts the person presenting, and the people who know work for him.See→
- Last year's session was useful, but it was a snapshot and the map has already changed.See→
How do I build something that later runs on its own?
What do I say when they ask?
What comes next
An engagement rarely ends where it started.
What is the decision you have in front of you this week?