The Gravity Consulting team at the 2017 Consensus Software Awards where they won the Software Innovation award for StrategyDotZero. Photos: Supplied.
What if I said you never had to read another less-than-inspiring strategy report or sit through another humdrum presentation ever again?
If you’re excited by the thought, you’d be pleased to hear that the days of bland strategy documents and mundane presentations could soon become a thing of the past thanks to one Canberra consulting firm that’s making waves both locally and globally.
Having started out as a regular management consultancy firm in 2011 with a focus on organisational strategy and transformation, it didn’t take long for the team at Gravity Consulting to realise there was an enormous disconnect between the ‘thinking’ and the ‘doing’ for many of their clients.
“We saw this big gap where senior leaders and executives couldn’t quite visualise complex problems and connect how the various elements of their organisation came together to bring a strategy to life,” said Gravity Consulting founder and Chief Executive Officer, Kailash Krishnamurthi.
With most strategies typically launched and filtered through an organisation using a series of unengaging and uninspiring Word documents and PowerPoint presentations, Gravity Consulting developed a new approach to how consultancy and strategy are delivered.
“We wanted to create the next-generation in consulting, working out how to combine traditional methods with new approaches by bringing in storyboard and special effects artists, animators, software engineers and information designers to create a completely new experience around strategy and problem solving,” said Kailash.
The result was the launch of StrategyDotZero, an enterprise platform that leverages artificial intelligence, experience design and an integrated strategy execution framework to essentially take high-level visions and ideas and translate them into workable service and business models in a rapid way.
The StrategyDotZero Innovation Laboratory.
Rather than handing their clients yet another futile report filled with a bunch of ivory tower recommendations, clients are instead provided with a complete solution that systematises strategy execution into a digital way of managing organisational performance.
“When you look at traditional strategy consulting, it generally focuses on specialised domains and services but we’ve taken an interdisciplinary view of strategy. What we’ve done is adopt an approach that still retains specialist services at the core, but employs interdisciplinary skills so that you have a much more holistic product,” Kailash said.
“Instead of adopting the same old techniques, we bring in artists, experience designers and software engineers to approach problem-solving in lateral and integrated ways, which makes it much easier for the client to consume and operationalise the strategy.
“People no longer relate to unilateral forms of communication. They’re far more receptive to communication that blends multiple channels and experiences which make it easier to digest.”
As with all innovative concepts that challenge the way things have always been done, getting that initial buy-in from clients who supported and believed in their vision was one of the biggest challenges for the business while in its infancy.
With the majority of their clients coming from the public sector, being based in Canberra was critical to the early success of the business as it provided ready access to the various departments they’ve worked with on a day-to-day basis.
“The issues we’re seeing in the public sector are identical to what you’re likely to see in any other industry, but there’s a significant need for what we’re providing in Federal Government. There’s a very strong intent by Government to transform how they manage change,” said company Managing Director, Stephen Hayes.
Having already worked with leading policy and regulatory agencies to design all-of-government dashboards, built a physical operating model for a large environmental law enforcement agency to help them manage their strategy and business model digitally, and partnered with various systems scientists and professors from universities to translate academic ideas and frameworks into product platforms, it will be interesting to see where Gravity Consulting goes from here.
“We’re not really a consultancy business anymore, but more of an innovation house that envisions next-generation products and science at the intersection of design, technology and consulting,” Stephen said.
“What we do now goes far beyond simply providing advice and recommendations. The launch of StrategyDotZero has been a stellar moment for the company—it’s an internationally ground-breaking product which has been recognised by large consulting groups and technology companies including Microsoft, because of its uniqueness in the global market. In fact, we’ve already seen some significant interest coming from the UK, UAE, Singapore and the USA.
“It’s revolutionising the way large-scale organisations operate and is also playing a key role supporting the digital transformation strategy that all of government is going through. There really is no limit to where the business can go from here, particularly with the StrategyDotZero platform.”
Andrew Sykes is a partner at RSM in Canberra who have been Gravity Consulting’s accounting and taxation management partner throughout their journey to-date. He is passionate about using his knowledge and expertise to help small businesses like Gravity Consulting in Canberra to grow and prosper. All opinions expressed in this article are his own.
This is a sponsored article, though all opinions are the author’s own. For more information on paid content, see our sponsored content policy.
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