SITUATION

By 2021, HYD faced structural market pressures: offshoring-driven rate compression, post-COVID pricing pressure, in-housing trends reducing agency tenure, and saturation in the enterprise delivery market. Revenue was 71% project-dependent, new business qualification was weak, and delivery operations lacked strategic discipline. The business needed a fundamental strategic reset.

TASK

As Business Strategy Lead, I was responsible for designing and executing a multi-year transformation of HYD’s commercial model, operating structure, new business pipeline, and delivery methodology. In parallel, I managed elements of the HYD/Interbrand M&A integration, embedding strategic and digital capabilities across the combined entity.

ACTION

• Defined a new company vision — ‘Best Digital Product Partner in agility, quality and impact’ — with three transformation pillars: Higher Impact Clients, Operational Optimisation, Sustained Financial Stability
• Led a full commercial model redesign: shifted client acquisition strategy from volume to value, introducing a £60k minimum threshold with mandatory consulting workshops for qualified engagements
• Redesigned the new business operating model — fixing structural triage, partnering and orchestration failures through a qualification framework, weekly SLT pipeline reviews, and outcome-led proposal architecture
• Led the Agile Operating Model transformation: created shared internal and client-facing Agile language, defined viable engagement economics, and introduced a Sprint 0 ingestion model to reduce early project failure
• Introduced revenue diversification — targeting a shift from pure project services toward recurring CRO retainers and SaaS licensing revenue streams
• Supported HYD/Interbrand M&A integration, helping embed digital strategy capability across the combined organisation

IMPACT