Contact Elecho Services Ltd
Email:- emily@elecho-services.com
Mobile:- +44 7930 492 306
Fax:- 0203 163 8674
Emily Trustram Eve
Director
ACMA, CGMA, CIPD,
MAPI, Prince2 Practitioner, Lean/SixSigma
Commercial Due Diligence - Financial Services
The Assignment
I was recruited as an Associate by Troika (now Navigant) as a result of being involved in some client side due diligence, to select a supplier to set up and run a Business Process Outsourcing Benchmark.
The assignment was to conduct a full commercial due diligence exercise on the Indian IT vendor that Skandia was about to appoint as its outsourced IT provider. I wrote the Executive Summary, for the Board and wider stakeholder group, which highlighted the risks and mitigations covering aspects such as Financial, Legal, Technical and HR.
Company Information
Skandia is one of the world's leading independent providers of solutions for long-term savings and investments. They offer products and services that cater for various financial needs and security.
In 2007, Troika were acquired by global consultant firm Navigant Consulting. Troika was a UK financial services consultancy providing consultancy services to the financial services industry covering operations performance improvement, product and distribution strategies, organization, people, IT effectiveness and transaction support. Troika’s UK clients include 13 of the top 15 life companies, nine of the top 15 banks and building societies and 10 of the top 15 investment management firms.
The Challenges and Solutions
The IT Vendor was already integrated into IT delivery within Skandia’s so it was important to ensure that any risks were mitigated and that senior stakeholders were aware prior to the finalising of the report.
The provider also had few established UK / European clients at the time so finding similar sized client references was critical. Gathering sufficiently validated financial data on the supplier was initially challenging along with understanding any inherent risks in their corporate governance and ownership structure. Local business experts were found to help interpret and validate findings.
The Value Add
Being a qualified management accountant, with experience selecting suppliers for HR systems and for a Business Process Outsouricing Benchmark provider, I was able to interpret both the hard and soft evidence and help find commercial and practical mitigations to any risks.
I also managed to persuade the Group IT Director from a major European IT retailer to be interviewed by the Due Diligence Team and senior Skandia stakeholders. This helped resolve a number of sensitive issues which had previously been unresolved.
Testimonials
“I have been able to see firsthand Emily's ability to identify and tackle highly complex organizational and budgetary problems. She is able to get to the nub an issue fast, and to work with individuals and teams to sort those issues, through her very engaging and personable style. She is very straight forward, straight talking, and a delight to work with.”
Alison Hill,
Director South East Public Health Observatory
Supplier / business partner
“Emily is a very bright, commercial minded and multi talented individual. Her broader business approach to transactional process challenges and ultimate solutions were creative and thought provoking. Her work ethic and dedication to the task, however mundane was invaluable. I would highly recommend Emily and hope to work with her again one day.”
Pam Whitley,
Managing Director,
Group Resourcing,
Williams Lea – Line Manager
“Emily is an excellent HR professional, who changed the whole interim recruitment process within the Identity and Passport Services. She is always looking at the detail and exploring various avenues to get the right results. Emily is extremely precise in her approach and ensures her professional objective viewpoint to ensure delivery is successful. I have no problems in recommending Emily for any business/project she may venture.”
Sonia Dhonsi,
Account Manager,
Capita – Supplier / business partner
“Emily carried out a comprehensive review of business processes, and her recommendations, including restructure, were accepted at Board level. Emily displayed excellent assessing, planning, communication and consultation skills, and made the changes a great success. Emily took enthusiastic charge implementing the changes as well as leading the team. The results were a lean operation, backed up by effective management information and improved customer service.”
Jeremie Pink,
Professional Services Manager,
Identity and Passport Service - Client
“Emily's ability to function as an HR professional, Project Manager, data migration expert and line manager combined with her limitless enthusiasm and energy was the single biggest factor in the success of this pay migration. The change lastest three months from start to finish and at all times Emily provided confidence, and the ability, to make it happen. A great character to work when pressure is on.”
David Scullion,
HR and Payroll Transition Project Manager,
Identity and Passport Service - Colleague
“Emily worked for me for about a year on a number of projects and I have no hesitation in recommending her. She has a unique blend of knowledge, skills and capabilities and always delivers excellent results. She is also great fun to work with and deals extremely well with stakeholders.”
Paul Wylie,
Deputy Director HR Operations,
Identity and Passport Service - Client
“Emily is extremely professional, tackling business problems and improving processes pragmatically and with great efficiency. She consistently receives excellent feedback for maintaining good working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders.”
Sarah Cotgreave,
Managing Director
Novos Limited - Client
“Emily was working for Williams Lea in a relationship management role. She was professional, managed a complex relationship very well and remained fair-minded throughout. A pleasure to work with”
Alan Middleton,
CEO PA Consulting
Supplier / business partner
"I have been working with Emily over the past 6 months and have been impressed by her ability to understand complex organisational and financial issues quickly, be pro-active in tackling issues and delivering timely solutions. Emily is very personable and her open and frank approach to business is refreshing. I have found her a pleasure to work with."
Clare Perkins,
Deputy Director, Centre for Public Health and North West Public Health Observatory, Liverpool John
Moores University – Supplier / business partner
