Services

You can be clear on your purpose and can better focus on what you want to achieve, when you want it done, how you are going to go about it and who needs to be involved. Strategy cuts through the complexity of daily business. It gives your teams a unity of purpose and an understanding of where they belong in achieving it. It gives life to your story; one you can share with your people, clients and your community.

Arkhart can help you find that clarity, through our business knowledge, market analytics, sector understanding and our ability to engage with anyone and everyone.

The character of your organisation plays a big part in the formulation of strategy. We design a new one every time. We will use your history, culture, the ways business takes place, the people you do it for, your aspirations, your community, and staff as important elements of a sustainable strategy.

Planning also needs context. Existing strategic documents can provide important insights as will an appreciation of various external factors that impact on the organisation; or will in future. Policies and practices that are fundamental to the way the business operates will also need to be identified and taken into account as the plan is developed.

As with all strategic planning the value is in the journey, the exploration, the understanding and the shared vision for the future that forms. It’s important to consult widely and to gather perspectives to ensure that something valuable can be created.

A needs analysis is a systematic information gathering process. It should be objective and any conclusions supported by evidence. This might include assessments of facilities and programs, the analysis of existing and projected demographic data and social research through public roundtables, focus groups and surveys to understand the views of the community.

It is also useful in some cases to look at what others in the sector are doing, to share knowledge and insights, and to explore opportunities to extend connections to the community.

A needs analysis must be informed by an understanding of your short and long-term business goals, will identify the desired performance outcomes, and provide options for consideration. The needs analysis report usually occurs as a precursor to a feasibility study, where options are further assessed for cost and benefits and to establish that an outcome is achievable within specific constraints.

A feasibility study is used to analyse a project or idea to assess what the likely outcomes will be. It usually weighs up the cost of the project against the expected benefits and is undertaken as the first step in the development process.

Arkhart can help answer that question in all sorts of circumstances whether it’s evaluating a new business concept, deciding whether to expand or amalgamate operating facilities, developing new capital projects or introducing a new service or entering a new market.

Creative thinking is good, but in business the number of ideas that actually come to reality and are successful is somewhere between one in fifty to one in a hundred – either way, there are a lot more failures than successes. This suggests that undertaking a feasibility study in the pre-planning stage is a good idea before committing a lot of funds.

In most cases, the feasibility of an idea will rest on the projected financial or service outcomes relative to the cost, however, there may be other strategic and operational issues to consider, for example, a project may be aimed at changing the market or a company’s image.

The key requirement is to clearly define what the project is and what the target outcomes are and to ensure that it fits with your business vision, purpose and goals.

To arrive at a conclusion there are a number of things that need to be considered and analysed including market research, operational issues, human resource requirements, supply chain impacts, technology requirements, regulatory requirements and a financial analysis.

The outcomes of the analysis can then be tested against the required outcomes from the project and a go / no go decision made.

While most feasibility studies are launched based on enthusiasm for a project to proceed, a recommendation to not go ahead should not necessarily be viewed as a negative. In these cases, what it has done is proved the worth of undertaking the study in the first place and saved what would have otherwise been wasted resources.

When the outcome of a feasibility study is that the project should go ahead, the next step in the planning process is to create a business case which will look at whether its also viable and sustainable and what is required to make it happen.

A robust business case is central to making informed investment or development decisions and goes a long way to ensuring the right outcomes are achieved. Essentially, it’s about whether it’s a good idea. Is the plan a good move when all the benefits and risks are taken into account, or would it be better to do something else?

Arkhart can help you answer that question, through our business knowledge, market analytics, sector understanding and our ability to engage with anyone and everyone.

An objective, robust optioneering and appraisal process ensures that all options are considered. Free from short-term operational concerns, the business case process can take a holistic view of your organisation’s objectives and any external pressures affecting it, ensuring the chosen solution achieves the desired outcomes.

The business case process is at the heart of appraising a proposed solution against alternatives and the ‘do nothing’ scenario. To accurately assess the costs and benefits of a plan, a broad, multicriteria picture must be created of the financial, economic, social and technological impacts of each option.

Business cases also typically need to consider the organisation’s capabilities. Appropriate detail needs to be applied to an examination of resources available to ensure the plan is within reach or that a development pathway accompanies the plan to enable it to be realised.

All organisations operate within a complex, interdependent network of factors that shape their business. Social, economic, political, regulatory, environmental and technological uncertainties all pose risks and offer opportunities for you and we will ensure we understand yours before we make any recommendations.

Having identified your need, a solution, proven that it is achievable, and assured yourself that the numbers stack up, where does the money come from to deliver it?

There are numerous sources of funding for capital projects including the use of retained earnings accumulated over past years for such a project, selling or repurposing surplus assets through capital recycling, accessing government grant programs, fundraising or borrowing the funds as debt capital. Funds may come from a combination of these and understanding what funds will be required and at what time throughout the development project can ensure that financing costs are minimised.

Arkhart Advisory can assist in modelling the capital requirements over the life of the project and explore with you the alternative sources of funds that might be available to determine which works best for your project. This funding plan is an essential step to ensure proper governance over your decision-making process and helps significantly in communications with your internal and external community.

If there is a grant or funding program that can provide capital for a new building or renovation, its usually quite competitive so you need to put together a winning submission. This is hard to do when you are juggling day to day issues and don’t have the resources at hand to do it.

Arkhart Advisory can help you tell your story in a most compelling way. Combining insight and the required detail in a creative informative way to give you a strong chance of success. Arkhart can undertake research to support your application establish the need and develop concepts that illustrate what you want to achieve. We can also find advocates to support it.

Of course, securing funds is just the beginning – you have to manage the capital spending throughout the project to ensure that you get the greatest benefit from it.

Arkhart Advisory can assist in managing your development projects to optimise the capital spend. Working closely with our design business, we can use our insight to identify sources of value and capture them for recurrent gains, help reduce contracting costs and avoid delays that result in overruns and eroded value.