Independent business and technology consulting

Make complex change workable.

Effigy Group provides business architecture, systems and data advice, programme delivery and organisational change support. We work with your teams to clarify decisions, agree responsibilities and put change into practice.

Explore your sector

Working in your context.

Explore how systems, responsibilities and delivery dependencies can affect change in these sectors.

Choose a building or its label to explore the sector.

An illustrative working region

The regional scene is illustrative and does not depict client sites or actual dependencies.

How the work connects.

A simplified operating view of the choices, systems, delivery and people involved in change.

Utilities · simplified operating scenario

Portfolio decisions · work dispatch · operational readiness

Business architecture in an illustrative Utilities buildingAn illustrative three-level organisation: governance above, connected work and information in the middle, teams and operational use below. Strategy shapes capabilities and value flow, supported by clear roles, decision rights and information. This is not a real facility, client or system design.Strategy + outcomesCapabilities +value flowRoles + decision rightsInformationOn-premsystemsCloud servicesGoverned exchangeAI-assisted workHuman decisionPeopleProcessSystems + dataOwned dependency+ decisionReadiness →operational handoverImpacted rolesEngage + practiseLeaders + supportEvidence + adjust
Target operating model. Strategy connected to the work.Illustrative operating scenario, not a real facility, client or system design.

Business architecture

Turn strategy into an operating model.

Start with the outcome the organisation must achieve. Define the capabilities and value flow required, then make roles, decision rights and information needs explicit so leaders can choose a target model and change priorities.

  • Capability and value-flow model
  • Roles, decision rights and information needs
  • Target operating model and roadmap
Illustrative communications network on a misty regional ridge

Systems in context

Decisions reach beyond the plan.

That wider context shapes how decisions, information and delivery need to work together.

Illustrative regional electricity substation with wind turbines beyond
Priorities and consequences

Direction

Decisions people can act on.

Agree what needs to change and give the people doing the work a clear basis for action.

Business priorities → informed choices
Illustrative planning team reviewing a model of civic infrastructure
Information and ownership

Information

Information teams can use.

Establish what people need to know, where that information comes from and who keeps it accurate.

Information and ownership → usable systems
Illustrative project and operations staff reviewing information during a plant-room handover
Delivery and operational use

Delivery

Ready for operational use.

Work through support, training and responsibilities with the people who will run the service.

Coordinated delivery → prepared people

Independent advice. Direct accountability.

Senior attention throughout the engagement. Effigy Group is an independent advisory firm led by Douglas Costello.

Douglas CostelloDirector · Effigy Group
Douglas Costello
Douglas CostelloDirector · Effigy Group

Three questions guide the work:

  1. What must the organisation achieve?

    Agree the objective, why it matters and how success will be assessed.

  2. What must change in how it operates?

    Establish what people, systems, information and responsibilities need to support, and where current arrangements fall short.

  3. How will we deliver and sustain that change?

    Set the sequence, assign ownership and coordinate delivery, readiness and ongoing support. Check operational performance against the original objective.

Each engagement starts with an agreed scope and intended result, clear responsibilities and regular reviews. Where specialist expertise is needed, Effigy Group brings in the appropriate capability.

Discuss your priorities ↗

Perspectives on change

Illustrative situations show the kinds of concerns that can surface during complex change.

Illustrative examples. Names, organisations and comments are fictional and are not client endorsements.

What needs to work better?

Tell us what needs to change, where progress is getting stuck and who is involved. The first conversation is to understand the issue and discuss whether Effigy Group can help. You do not need a finished brief.

Enquiry delivery is being connected