In 2003, Derby House was a £5m turnover SME multi-channel retailer selling everything for the horse and rider. Having evolved from small beginnings, with the hub of the business being centred on a home residence and a group of outbuildings and stables, the owners of the business decided that it was necessary to relocate the operation into premises more suited to their activities and which would enable the business to grow further
The Business Challenge:
Given the will to move, a search was started to locate appropriate premises. These were eventually found approximately 3 miles away. The objective was to relocate without impacting on ‘business as usual’ activities. Initial elapsed time estimates for the relocation, generated by the Derby House board, were in the region of 26 weeks.
The advocus approach:
The
advocus team of Mike
Beckett and Tony Bishton carried out initial interviews with key
personnel in order to determine the full objectives of the project
and to flush out high level limiting factors and client
expectations. The advocus consultants
kicked off the planning process with a workshop involving key
individuals from all areas of the business. The workshop enabled
the team to:- Describe what success would look like and how it would be measured.
- Generate activities and actions necessary to accomplish a successful relocation.
- Group and sequence the activities taking account of all dependencies.
- Agree the ownership of activities with initial time ‘guesstimating’
- Map the critical path through to a successful conclusion
Following the workshop, the advocus team held regular progress and governance meetings with the project group – primarily all of the owners of activities within the plan.
The objective of these sessions was to keep the relocation activities on plan, to identify new issues and risks, resolve issues, begin taking mitigating actions, review measures and look forward to ensure that upcoming actions within the plan were still ‘on track’
These meetings were held at shorter intervals as the project approached its conclusion.
The conclusion of the project was a successful move that had no measurable impact on ‘business as usual’ – completed in 16 weeks.
advocus?Dara O’Malley, Managing Director, explained “We used
advocus because of
their in-depth knowledge of direct retailing and also their
experience of helping organisations to achieve successful change
through rigorous planning and meticulous follow-up. Tony and Mike
are astute and professional in their approach.We would not have achieved a smooth relocation in such a short space without their invaluable help and advice. As for recommendation, we are already working with them on another major business project!”
advocus:advocus is a retail consultancy with specialist skills in strategic facilitation and change initiation. Our aim is to work with clients to establish a blueprint for a better future with robust achievement plans and stakeholder 'buy in'. At advocus we assume that every client is different and we do not operate with ‘one size fits all’ solutions. Our involvement will always be tailored specifically to your situation.
advocus contact:
Tony Bishton
Tel: 07768 500 902
Tony.Bishton@advocus.co.uk
www.advocus.co.uk