This is my first collective update to the broader group of individuals on the Augment platform. We are proud to say that we now exceed 30 team members, across a number of job families.
Client Activity
We are currently providing support for 4 clients, primarily related to analytics and enterprise policy support. We started a new project with a state government entity in July and are already impressing them. In the first week, one of our consultants identified a solution to a problem they expected us to spend weeks resolving and were able to use automation to quickly complete the activity. I am hopeful that the client will see the potential of bringing in a broader array of talented people to help them look at opportunities across their organization through a different lens.
We have been approved by a top 30 bank’s procurement group to begin interviews for credit analytics-related needs across the bank’s consumer lending businesses. The hiring manager has preliminarily selected a handful of our consultants for interviews that will occur over the next several days. I am confident that they will broaden their interview window when they see the caliber of resources that we are able to provide. I am also having conversations with other leaders in the bank about providing support through the same approval process.
We made significant progress helping another top 50 bank complete the first draft, and socialization with the bank’s 2nd line risk stewards, of a new Enterprise Process Standard which we will be introducing to their entire Business Controls Officer corps on Thursday afternoon. The client has been impressed with the work and have told us that they know they have material needs, especially given the scope and priority of a massive process excellence program that they are in the process of standing up. I am meeting with the CRO on Thursday afternoon. It is only a matter of time before we will have a number of opportunities to put consultants forward to help them on that long-term initiative.
We are wrapping up the first phase of a modeling program for a large financial institution and conversations are beginning on what subsequent phases of that activity will look like. While the scope of the project and potential needs are unclear, I believe we will be well-positioned to offer resources that can fill their needs for that ongoing work. Separately, we are discussing some data analytics and business systems analysis needs with a large financial institution. The conversations are moving at a slow pace due to the organization’s convoluted procurement process. I believe there is a ton of untapped need within that organization if it can just get out of its own way.
A collections strategy/analytics project supporting a fast-growing fintech has been put on hold temporarily while the fintech gets its bearings on the cyclical changes that are happening in the financing arena. As you likely know, venture capital and private equity sources are quickly drying up and any fintech that does not have ample liquidity is likely going to find itself in a fire sale to the medium-to-larger sized banks (if they are lucky). It isn’t a great time to be a fintech.
Partnerships
In July, we signed a strategic partnership agreement with a consultancy that has active engagements with approximately a dozen banks and fintechs across North America. We have begun to share our resource profiles and I believe it is only a matter of time before they will identify needs that our Augment team members can fill.
Growth
In a short period of time since we formally launched the updated Augment brand, we continue to facilitate client conversations and identify strategic opportunities to support our growth.
