Designing a business strategy is fundamental to success. We work with management of the company to build a blueprint for the next 3-5 years.
Recent contracts have resulted in new strategies such as doubling the number of $1.0 million+ financial advisors over five years, to a full due diligence and contract negotiation and advice in the aquisition of a minority interest of a private firm so as to expand into a second country.
Every strategy has a complete end-to-end plan and execution framework. This includes resource planning, project management and communications plans.
Data analysis is fundamental to many of the strategic decisions made today. We use the latest ideas in data analysis to bring insights for senior management. We work with legal and operations teams to ensure customer contracts and service level agreements contain the right terms and conditions to protect the client and the customer.
Many clients have a strong intuitive feel that a process or procedure is not working properly; we use data to help clients understand the root cause of the problem. For example, we used statistical analysis of GPS data on distance travelled to calculate tolerance thresholds on the accuracy of the data, mileage billing, and the terms of the contract that would be acceptable to clients.
Many projects involve building sophisticated financial models that give management the tools to measure the financial impact of different options. For example, a recent contract included building a lease finance model that calculated the change in interest rate risk (debt service, debt to equity, cashflow covered) for a change in market interest rates and different capex rates. This reframed the dicussion at about senior management from a strategy of "double digit growth" to a new strategy of "growth subject to approved risk ratios and target return on equity". By reframing the discussion and providing tools to do so, the client changed the strategy, including national expansion plans.
A brokerage firm wanted to change its compensation policies for advisors. It knew the overall impact on changing compensation bands, but did not have a tool to estimate secondary effects, such as changing client asset mix levels, or changes in asset types. A model was developed based on these factors. The new policy reduced financial risk to the client, a bank.
Many projects require extensive time committments and planning which are beyond the existing resources of the firm. Edgewater designs, structures and leads these inititives, reducing the demands on management time.
Edgewater has worked on projects in Canada, Mexico, Peru, England, Switzerland, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Panama, Brazil, Cayman Islands and Uruguay.