Zanas Mackenzie compared with traditional consultants
Why Zanas MacKenzie?
We Break Traditional Consulting
Traditional Consultants
Zanas Mackenzie
Overemphasize Industry Expertise
Clients usually feel their own knowledge of their business is ignored. Industry experts are often introduced at the wrong time during the project
Provides Industry Expertise Only When And Where Needed:
- Our focus is to provide you the key to unlock your potential
- Give you our objective understanding and our broad experience level as a basis
- Help you uncover what is remarkable and unique about your business, and fully leverage it
- When necessary, we will reach out to our network of industry experts to help you build on or develop your own skills to make your progress scalable and sustainable
Too Expensive
Big consulting company operations are based on the margin/pyramid model and have a huge overheads and utilization models they pass on to clients, sometimes with hidden costs.
Affordable Investment In Your Future Success
Our fees are either fixed price, or hourly, depending on how we agree to share risk. Agreed in advance. Open book or payable upon achieving agreed outcomes. We leverage our skills and experience to achieve our agreed outcome. We have only 3 levels of practitioners:
Directors: Patriek Zanas and Iain Hackett
Senior Consultants and Consultants: Our in-house or network of consultants and experts who we coordinate to complete and assignment as necessary
Analysts: Interns who are undergoing or have graduated our training course
Initial consultations are a cost of doing business to us. If we think we can help, we will set out a roadmap of small affordable “slices”, each with an agreed outcome or milestone. Agreeing to the roadmap commits you only to the next slice which will be contracted. The roadmap remains our intellectual property, but can be purchased for independent use by you.
Oversized Projects
An army of consultants, often disruptive to the business, with “time to benefit” too distant on the horizon
Nimble, Bite-Sized
- Everything is served up as “slices” – affordable and beneficial
- Share the risk with clients
- Commit to the outcome on a fixed fee and whatever is necessary to make that happen
- Project roadmap steps (“slices”) are clear and well bounded with measurable and agreed outcomes
- Engagements are lean with small team accessing our network of expert consultants
- We are asset light, highly virtualized, and local cost are kept to a minimum
- All engagements are anchored on an Analyst from Zanas MacKenzie resident at the client. This “beneficial attachment is free to you (in consideration of providing a learning experience for the Analyst)
Don't Invest Enough
Proof of concept work and assessments are either too short or performed by less qualified people. As a result, rpadmaps can be incomplete, unrealistic, or not actionable
Invests To Ensure Results
- Assessments are a cost of doing bussiness with us
- Our interns are assigned to the client as part of the free assessments
- Roadmaps are divided into “slices” with affordable, reasonable, materially beneficial outcomes
- Analyst work is supported by directors and our own consultants, or consultants who are part of our collaborative network.
- Roadmaps remain our intellectual property, with Zanas MacKenzie having the option to bid on any slice administered by the client
Business Strategy
Business strategy for an SME or startup is VERY different than for a large organization.
It is about strategic thinking and regularly revising it, trying new things and new ways, constantly experimenting and innovating. It is more about getting advice and input from colleagues and friends, experts, and even the competitors. Small to medium sized companies don’t have the time nor the resources to plan and monitor over the long term.
Business strategy for SMEs and startups should be nimble and flexible to react to the market and shifting trends.
Zanas MacKenzie helps your business develop and adjust your strategy with our advice and varied experiences, and through our network of partners and clients, with whom we create collegial venues to discuss new trends, ideas, and opportunities for cross-pollination.
Business Integration
Business integration for SMEs, startups and new ventures is difficult and challenging
Processes are often not well defined and optimized, and need to be flexible and dynamic to keep up with changing trends and requirements. On one hand, the size or growth stage of the company limits the choices available to automate and integrate by using established ERP systems, whether on your own or by using the ERP systems of your parent company. On the other hand, many off the shelf software solutions do not integrate well enough to provide you the full benefit, and you may not find them cost effective.
Zanas MacKenzie helps you review and automate your processes and suggest the best ways to implement software that fits your needs AND works well together. Most importantly, we focus on cloud based solutions where you can eliminate upgrade and maintenance issues and reduce costs, and have more predictable spend to budget for.
Business Transformation
Meet and exceed your key business goals and stay ahead of competition in today’s world
Business transformation is reactive to changing trends, or customer needs and wants. Essentially it touches on and impacts every single part of the organization. For small and midsize companies, this is even more important. Two trends in particular impact these businesses more than anything else, digital transformation and supply chain disintermediation. It allows tighter control over your business, and allows you to work directly with your suppliers and customers, with better, timely, and accurate data.
Zanas MacKenzie helps you assess what this can mean to you and how it can bring additional value in increased revenue, reduced cost, and enhanced customer satisfaction. We will suggest ways for you how you can realize these benefits and partner with you to successfully implement them.
Change Management and Enablement
Are your employees ready to deal with the constant reassessment and readjustment that a growing small or medium sized business faces?
It would be remiss to think that change management is only for large companies who are in the middle of a major transition or other compelling event. As a small business you also need to help guide your employees through change, as the change is constant for them, as it is for you. An effective change management plan sets realistic and achievable goals and milestones, ensures timely communication, focuses on the value and benefits of the changes. Last, but not least, it provides training and reinforcement to derive the value and benefits.
Zanas MacKenzie can help you provide your employees with the tools and the training required to be successful while going through process or technology changes, or any other transition. We will help you focus them on the value and benefits of the changes they are experiencing to maximize value and minimize resistance and disruption.
Talent Development and Enablement
How do you train and develop your future leaders? How do you retain them?
These questions pose a major problem for many small to medium sized business as they neither have the time nor resources to resolve this dilemma. Talent development has a direct impact on the growth and success of your business. You need to have a plan and tools in place to equip and enable your employees to unlock their current and future potential.
The following quote is attributed to Peter Baeklund, Leadership Guru and Coach
“CFO to CEO: What happens if we invest in people and they leave?
CEO to CFO: What happens if we don’t and they stay?”
Zanas MacKenzie helps you develop a company culture where employees feel their needs and motivations are taken into consideration by investing in career development and creating future opportunities for them. This increases motivation and productivity and has a significant positive impact on employee turnover.
