Strategic Reform: Achieve Business Transformation

Strategic Reform is an Australian consultating firm based in Canberra; and as its nomenclature suggests, the firm works closely with organisations to make informed strategic reformations decisions. For Trent Gale, Managing Director at Strategic Reform, “technology is just the vehicle.” Gale points out that in his business, defining an architecture for an enterprise is “relatively easy.” The challenge lies in gaining stakeholder acceptance, translating the vision into an implementable plan, and enabling the business to implement the required changes. “So, the approach we adopt ensures that a client understands every facet of a solution before they ever receive a ‘final report’.”

Strategic Reform strives to build an embedded relationship; where its consultants work collaboratively with clients’ internal teams, ensuring the client has a sense of ownership over the process. It is quite common for consulting firms to deliver reports, recommendations, or solutions without considering if customers understand the final implications. However, Strategic Reform differentiates itself by helping a client understand the details of scenarios and responses and transferring knowledge, which enables the client to “own the solution moving forward.” “If they do not understand the changes we recommend, the changes will not stick,” comments Gale.

The firm focuses on providing pragmatic recommendations which are understandable and implementable.

A highlight of the company’s approach is that it focuses equally on all aspects of an enterprise’s architecture— business strategy, governance and operating models, technology and applications, data and information— and always with a strong focus on people and culture. Gale stresses on the fact that Strategic Reform is not partnered with any solution provider, and this vendor-agnostic attribute enables his firm to provide unbiased advice to any client.

To give a real-life example of his firm’s capabilities, Gale points to the instance of working with Geoscience Australia. The cost of providing ICT services was becoming unsustainable to the agency and was hindering investments in scientific-computing technologies. He states that the Strategic Reform-Geoscience Australia association has been a successful collaboration for over three years. “We’ve assisted them to move their commodity services to a Managed Services Provider, DXC Australia, and we are helping them utilize Cloud technologies by leveraging a mix of Microsoft Office 365 and Amazon Web Services. This has involved major workforce and culture changes, as well as process and technology changes.” One fact to note at this point is that Strategic Reform has been leading the Australian Government’s adoption of public cloud services, and has provided advisory services to many federal government agencies on options, costings, and implementation plans.

Founded in 2010 with the goal to provide “back-to-basics and clear-cut consulting services,” Strategic Reform adapts its culture and methodologies to offer deliverables tailor-made to satisfy specific client needs. The company’s services include strategic advice and architecture, program and project management, strategic procurement, organizational change management and information security.

To deliver on its commitment to offer the best advice to its clients, Strategic Reform remains nimble in exploring emerging technologies and service management approaches such as cloud, data analytics, and SIAM. The firm leverages its market experience and combines it with the opportunities presented by emerging technologies and methodologies to help clients fulfill organizational goals. “We are not just another technology consulting company. We are a business transformation company,” concludes Gale.