Change and Transformation affects every organisation. All change is ‘Business Change,’ irrespective of whether it’s enabled by technology, the people side of change, or regulatory requirement. However, this does not mean every organisation keeps the required resource and capability in-house to deliver their change and transformation successfully.
Project One is a leading, independent, business transformation consultancy, led by CEO James O’Sullivan, who this month has been named the ‘Most Influential Business Transformation CEO of the Year 2023 – London’. Celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2023, Project One is a challenger brand to the traditional large-scale global consultancies, with an operating model that focuses only on leading change and transformation delivery.
In this feature, we learn more about the consulting industry and how organisations benefit from partnering with boutique consultancies like Project One to make real change happen and make a real difference to their businesses and their customers.
Consulting is an industry that follows the oscillations of the global macro-economic conditions. In 2018 and 2019, the industry was impacted by the non-committal nature of the Brexit negotiations, as organisations slowed their change agenda until they had clarity around whether the UK were leaving the EU trading block. In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 impacted the industry as some organisations closed their doors, whilst others ran slower than planned with their change agenda as they negotiated the pandemic.
The impact to consultancies of such events is both positive and negative, simply by the nature of what they do for a living and the service they provide their customers, in both good times and bad. Established in 1998, Project One has 25 years of experience in observing the continuous oscillations that come with the industry. There have been significant technology developments in the last two decades, and the role of Project One is to support their customers in remaining relevant and competitive.
Chances are, if you’re a business of any significant size, you’ve encountered the need to change or transform. Every industry is constantly changing, adapting, and adopting to new developments in products, services and underlying technology solutions. The need to transform your business to suit these emerging demands can become complex and requires a clear shared vision.
Aligning all aspects of your business towards much-needed change can feel challenging. Project One looks to address this issue by making what appears complex, more simple. Large-scale, global organisations such as AstraZeneca, BAE Systems, IAG, Rolls-Royce, Unilever and VMO2, to name a few, trust Project One to help them change and transform their business.
Dedicated to making change and transformation delivery as simple as possible for their customers, Project One approaches change from the Boardroom down, building long-term, trusted relationships with their C-Suite customers. A key differentiator for Project One is that every consultant has significant change leadership experience to work at this senior level. The benefit to their customers is that they can draw on the combined experience of what is likely the largest team of change leaders in the UK, bringing this added value to every conversation.
James commented, “No person is an island, and no consultancy can be a success based on the critical few. The beating heart of Project One is our people, they are our business asset, and our continued success and growth is based upon the ‘power of the team.’ Whilst we all have our own individual roles to play, accountabilities and responsibilities to deliver upon and live up to, the collective power that we bring to bear for our customers through our collaboration is tantamount to our success and that of our customers.”
One aspect that makes Project One stand out in a competitive market is their experienced CEO, James. After working in the business change industry for nearly 30 years, he has an unwavering passion for finding a solution to complex business problems and is most at home when sat with his customers, in front of a whiteboard with a pen in his hand.
James continues to build and grow the reputation of this award-winning business, earned over the past 25 years. Taking and blending an innovative approach, alongside respecting the heritage, ensures that his team remains happy, productive and celebrate successes along the way.
Different to larger consultancies, this is consulting for grown-ups. His consulting team has no traditional performance management, balance scorecards or sales targets, just a pure focus on their customers’ change delivery agenda. This enables an astounding rate of productivity that’ll serve his customers well during their business change and transformation.
One long standing customer, Global CIO, said, “Having a small team from Project One in our business creates a community of excellence. They’re all a certain standard of capability, drawing on their experience to join the dots. This is why I repeatedly choose Project One.”
Above all else, Project One sticks to their values and has done since 1998, making the complex simple is what Project One truly excels at to stand out amongst the rest. Transforming your business doesn’t need to be complicated or intimidating, and Project One will be there to support you.
Thanks to their incredible CEO, Project One has become something truly special. With James O’Sullivan’s fantastic leadership skills and dedication to his customer’s satisfaction, Project One is a brilliant company to work alongside. No matter your challenge, or your change and transformation agenda, no transformation partner will be better for you than Project One. After all, with an award-winning CEO at the helm, there isn’t much that Project One can’t do.
