Drive growth by investing in change

A global professional services firm decided to pivot from general services toward deep specialization after many years as a means of achieving higher growth and wider margins. To achieve such a widescale transformation, the company needed to start with a series of individual steps to reduce waste, improve operations, increase profits, and expand opportunities for growth.

The company first sought an experienced advisor in KPMG LLP (KPMG), which offered qualifications to tackle specific challenges in addition to broad-based strategic knowledge for enterprise-wide performance improvement. Additionally, KPMG member firms provide a global network and local knowledge to design and execute a strategy across the company’s footprint.

Strategic Performance Enhancements Yield Strong Results

Impressive gains were achieved through targeted improvement efforts:

85% profit increase

>$100 million increase in EBITDA in six months

Organic and inorganic growth expanded due to improved go-to-market strategies 
Streamlined business and project portfolios, including through divestiture of non-core assets

As profitability rose, the company leveraged its improving financial buffer to help fund improvements and pursue new opportunities, including M&A. KPMG is continuing to assist the company in evaluating deals to better align its portfolio with its priorities.

85%

profit increase

>$100 million

increase in EBITDA in six months

CEOs and strategy leaders face increasing pressures to preserve margins, drive growth, and deliver lasting value. To make that happen, many are turning to performance improvement initiatives.

Let’s start a conversation about getting there Improve Your Performance With KPMG

KPMG worked with the company to understand where and how performance improvement could play a critical role in improving margins, cost structure, and working capital.

The initial focus was on cost optimization as the first source of value and one that would help enable a change mindset across the organization. This included examining roles on a granular level for productivity, efficiency, and performance across multiple categories to find value, and strengthening processes around head count and spend. Efforts included:

Consolidating and analyzing data to show exactly where value was being lost
Developing a fact-based, quantitative strategy across people, processes, systems, and culture
Creating an execution plan to fix fundamental profitability issues, restructure the business model, and align the business portfolio with objectives

KPMG ultimately helped establish more than 100 different projects, including support for geographic expansion and improvements to the company’s go-to-market program and salesforce effectiveness. Advanced technology allows data analysis that can deliver insights at speed.

A major transformation is usually enabled by numerous smaller ones that span the organizational structure, go-to-market activities, technology systems, and the people and processes that enable the business.

Sagi Abiri

Principal, Advisory, KPMG LLP

Get the whole story

For more details about this value-creating initiative, see Charting a course to new value.

CEOs and strategy leaders face increasing pressures to preserve margins, drive growth, and deliver lasting value. To make that happen, many are turning to performance improvement initiatives.

Let’s start a conversation about getting there Improve Your Performance With KPMG

Learn more about how Performance Improvement delivers value

What sets apart good from great strategy leaders? It's their ability to make better strategic decisions that reduce waste so they can efficiently grow their business.

Popular category topics