Our approach

1. Getting the detailed facts with a structured approach
Our analysis and recommendations are fact based, balanced with qualitative arguments.

2. Reviewing a problem creatively from every angle
We review every aspect from a cross-functional and a global perspective, without assuming that the 'World is flat'.

3. We appreciate projects or challenging/complex projects
We believe in facts but we are diplomatic in our delivery of recommendations.

4. We validate our recommendations
With the world best experts in each field that we are reviewing. We focus on the key points, the so called 80/20 rule, of analyses and recommendations.

5. We accept responsibility for our recommendations
We share risks and rewards. We are very experienced in making recommendations happen and implementing recommendations.

We strive for the “optimal answer” that is viable and can be implemented. Some examples are described below.


Corporate strategy
To accelerate revenue growth, acquisitions of other companies are not necessarily the optimal answer. The Brannan Consulting approach is to evaluate and incorporate many other alternatives such as acceleration of new product development through better collaborating and/or hiring of new staff.

Growth accelerating should not automatically lead to mergers. Selective mergers can increase a company’s growth. If not carefully managed it can take an above proportionally share of time of the management team. Organic growth and leveraging internal competences and the existing employee base is in most cases preferable over mergers.

Restructuring
Replacing management teams and cutting staff by 20-30% before investing in new growth are not necessarily the immediate answer that turns companies around. The Brannan way is to accelerate performance by a mix of balanced measures to increase the knowledge levels and motivation of management teams and employees. There is an inherent institutional knowledge in the organization that has to be leveraged before it is lost.

Sales and marketing strategy
To increase sales and marketing effectiveness radical changes are not necessary the answers for all questions.
Loyalty marketing programs, radical re-branding, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs need to be cross functional and be integrated with other programs and functions in the organization.
Pricing programs need to balance the need for charging revenue maximizing prices with the customer’s perspective. Pricing programs should never over estimate the potential fit of pricing programs (for customers). Nor should pricing programs be too complex.

Supply chain strategy
To accelerate performance of the supply chain, closing supply chain locations and opening new other warehouses are not necessarily the only or best solution. Resolving root cause problems of supply chain issues are key. Not only looking at the supply chain from a top down perspective but also from a bottom up perspective that will create the key optimal answers. Even if this means looking at stock keeping unit (SKU) level root cause issues.
If a companies' raw material spend has increased, outsourcing more activities is not necessarily the best answer.
Reviewing root causes, material prices trends and the creating of a material pricing model is potentially the optimal answer.

Business process reengineering (BPR)
Introducing industry standard best practice processes are not necessarily the answer to becoming more competitive and accelerating performance. The Brannan way is to mix and match legacy processes, industry best practice processes and innovative creative custom processes. Legacy processes in cases where the legacy process works efficiently (if it is not broken, why fix it) should not always be replaced. Industry best practice processes don’t always provide a competitive advantage to companies, because other companies also have these “industry best practices”. Process innovation is key to stay ahead of the competition.

Outsourcing
Outsourcing of call centers and back-office operations are not necessarily the best solution. Outsourcing to off-shore and near-shore locations can generally lower the operating costs, but if not managed effectively this can also increase quality problems and even increase costs. Brannan will not only look at the near-short /off-shore low wages in the current year, but also estimate wage inflation for the subsequent 5-8 years. The Brannan way is to evaluate other alternatives that do not necessary alienate a major part of the employee base. Innovation, performance improvement projects, resolution of root-cause problems, increasing employee motivation can increase productivity and performance to justify local resources.

Information technology (IT) strategy
Solving Enterprise Architecture problems and legacy systems consolidation does not necessarily mean that SAP and/or Oracle are the optimal answer to every question. Firm wide Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) programs can become objectives by itself. ERP programs require a major part of corporate (IT) budgets. And it is often unclear what the top-line and bottom-line impacts are of these ERP programs.
We evaluate a mix of system enhancements, smart workarounds, new systems (incl. ERP programs), custom developments and BPR to accelerate company performance. We look at the IT and non-IT impact of programs. We also incorporate the latest trends such as Social Networks, Cloud Computing, Mobile centric applications, pervasive computing, big data and next generating analytics.