At the end of December, Phil Stewart our CEO posted a 2022 review that illustrated the positive progress Finyx Consulting had delivered over the past 12 months.

See it here.

As we get back to our desks in early January, it is my pleasure to offer some views on what our focus areas for 2023 will be.

Background Economic Environment

It looks like 2023 will be a tough year for the global economy. But one of the advantages of being one of the older members of our firm (in fact the oldest by some margin,) is that all the challenges we currently face I have seen many times before. And in many cases, we know that we came out of the other side fitter and stronger.

In my lifetime besides other blips and shocks, I have witnessed two major challenging global economic events in 1980/81 and again in 2008/2009. These were tough times for most businesses. Inflation, cost of living challenges and high interest rates were all facets of previous recessions. This year, it looks like we will continue to see all these again, further complicated by global conflicts and high energy prices.

However, businesses will continue to look at ways to expand and develop. They will need to get fitter and more efficient. They will need to ensure that they focus on getting the most bang for their buck out of their investments, and that their business operations are tuned for efficiency. Public sector entities and agencies will need to ensure they achieve the same and that their services and deliveries are achieved in the most efficient way possible. And digital technology/assured technology operations, effective processes, efficient operating models, tuned cyber security, and effective technology business management are all at the heart of achieving this.

These are all areas that we focus on, and where we deliver measurable and consistent improvements.

Finyx Staff and Continuing Development

In 2022 we continued to hire high quality/focussed/experienced and self-driven staff with a real capability to help our clients. Many of these from major technology or consulting firms that are stimulated by the challenge of being given responsibility to deliver value to the client, but also to help to develop and improve our firm. We couple that with a real focus on ensuring that all our people, existing and new, are continually developed with the skills that they need to deliver practical and effective solutions to our clients needs. This will continue in 2023. We will ramp up our knowledge sharing internally and with our clients. Many of the problems we are challenged to solve we have seen many times before (or somebody at our firm has seen it before).  A such, knowledge sharing and skills development is key to delivering effective and efficient services to our clients.

Focus on Practical Capability Delivery

Finyx Consulting has become known for high quality work that delivers real and practical value to our clients. Our clients tell us this and this is one of the most satisfying things about the years of time and effort we have put into developing the Finyx ethos. Many of our senior staff have held executive positions in major commercial firms or in the public sector. We often use the phrase ‘we have sat on your side of the desk, so we understand your challenges’. Our focus on ensuring that we deliver practical value to our clients will continue – this year more so than ever. There will be little room for ‘hobby’ projects or internal initiatives that don’t add value or operational efficiency. We will continue to inculcate all these valuable lessons and experiences to all of our staff. We will also continue to ensure that we help clients to benefit from the numerous proven tools and models we have developed to reduce time and cost of delivery.

Value/Value/Value

Practical value will continue to be our focus.

We will ensure that everything we do is measured by asking these questions:

• Is what we are being asked to do, the right thing for the client?
• Is this the most practical and efficient way of delivering?
• Can we improve delivery time and quality by using experience from elsewhere? (the answer to this in the vast majority of cases is “yes”)
• Can we use any of our tools and methods to short-cut the route to success?
• Have we got the best team member that we have available?
• And finally – are we confident that we are delivering real value, and do our clients see that being done?

Practical value will be at the heart of everything we do, just as it has always been at the heart of Finyx deliveries; but this year our clients will be more focussed than ever that this is what they need.

A happy and prosperous new year to you all.