We can help you make better investment decisions

Ever needed to make an investment decision that involved getting the government minister, your board, or your management team to agree, but wondered how best to go about it?

Ever needed to value your business, your investment options, price up your services, or better understand your costs?

Ever needed to procure new services and combine them with existing services for the best possible outcomes?

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Our business case expertise is at your service

Ascent’s team of experienced and government-qualified business case experts, commercial and financial advisors provides clients with decision support, governance and assurance. Our sector experience covers central and local government, postal, banking, information and communications technology, transport and energy. We have extensive experience and a proven track record in:

Business Casing & Decision Support

This includes investment cases for property, ICT, business outsourcing, acquisitions, new services and new lines of business. We do everything from planning to delivery of business cases. We are accredited to
NZ government’s Better Business Case processes.

Financial Modelling

This includes support for business casing, product and service pricing, valuation work, merger and acquisition, and funding rounds.

Financial Risk Management

This includes quantitative risk assessments (QRA). Our risk assessment tools enable you to better understand your project risks and to assure your key stakeholders that you have thought of everything.

Outsourcing/Insourcing & Infrastructure Optimisation

We can help your organisation determine best overall total cost of ownership (TCO) by considering your infrastructure costs – how they roll up into services, and how the business consumes these services. We also assist organisations to make the critically important transition from on-premise asset and lifecycle management to cloud service and consumption management.

Commercial Management

This includes procurement and contract management. Typically linked to an investment decision being made as part of your business case, we can work with you and your prospective vendors and service providers to help you obtain the best possible value for money. We help government organisations in their procurement activities for all-of-government services. We’re experienced with the government procurement lifecycle.

Performance Framework Development, Benefit Realisation Planning & Tracking

We can help you to determine how best to measure and promote the performance of your business, your investment decisions and your service providers. These are frequently critical to the ongoing survival of your operations.

Investment case success

Te Puni Kokiri, the principal advisor on government-Maori relationships, leads Maori public policy and advises the New Zealand government on policy affecting Maori wellbeing.

In 2017, Ascent was asked to provide business case leadership and assistance to Te Puni Kokiri for the Maori Land Services Programme, which had been struggling to deliver an acceptable investment case to government.

Ascent’s team of Chris Nicholls, Peter Bonniface, and Belinda Hill provided business case delivery services to the programme team, including planning, design, and delivery of both programme and investment cases. We led the development and delivery of the business case, and in conjunction with the wider Te Puni Kokiri team, successfully guided the programme through to an acceptable investment decision outcome, made by ministers in 2018.

“Ascent acted in a professional manner and fitted well into the team. They delivered on time, and on budget into what was a complex problem space with a high level of political scrutiny and many moving parts. I would hire Ascent again.”

Ron Peake, Programme Manager, Maori Land Services Programme

Working at Ascent

We are always on the lookout for excellent client-facing consultants that are reliable, have a great delivery reputation and good personality.

If you are interested in working with Ascent please get in touch.

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