The momentum continues.
Augment at a Glance
Since my last update, we have signed 3 new clients and only one consultant engagement has come to an end. Our message is resonating with everyone I speak with and the platform of available consultants has now grown to 67. For those of you who have spent enough time in the consulting business, you will know that the toughest part is the “waiting.” As I will summarize below, there are a number of exciting opportunities on the horizon — we just have to wait.
New and Prospective Clients
As I preluded last month, we have now been engaged by a PE-backed small business lender. Our FP&A analyst helped the CFO build out their cash flow models. We helped them deliver on their aggressive mid-June timeline. At this point, while the engagement is complete, the CFO is very happy. When asked if we delivered for them, his response was:
“Definitely. And thanks for the services and attention. Will keep you on speed dial if something comes up.”
Next, we signed a multi-year agreement with a global hospitality company. We already have one analyst supporting marketing and loyalty analytics. In addition, we are consulting with their head of global analytics on several other large problem statements and will be meeting with some of their business executives in coming weeks. This client represents a big step for us. All of our other clients are financial services clients so it is exciting to see that the skillset of our team members can translate into new industries. I am sure there will be much more to come!
Thirdly, we signed a credit analytics consulting firm that engages with fintech clients to help them solve core business challenges. Our resources will help augment the client’s capabilities as they engage new clients themselves. I hope to have updates on our first engagements with this new client in an upcoming Augment Update!
We have a number of prospective client conversations underway. In the insurance space, we proposed a number of resources to support a medium-size insurance company who wants to expand analytics within all of their business and operational units. The chief of staff has confirmed that the project has been greenlighted on their end and now they need to coordinate with division leaders to begin interviewing for job fits. We are also in discussions with a rapidly growing digital bank to provide fraud analytics expertise to them. And, while slow, our conversations with the InsurTech and the technology company continue.
What Clients Tell Us
While my focus has largely been discussing new/prospective clients, I would like to highlight another testimonial from an existing client:
“She’s been an amazing add to our team. I’m personally getting a ton of leverage out of her, I can see where she’s planning on taking us, and I can see her lifting up the existing folks. Very glad to have her on board!”
It’s these quotes that tell me that we are doing something right!
The Economy
Moving on to other matters, the economy continues to slow and the Fed is beginning to indicate that the first rate cut is coming. There is now a high level of confidence that the first cut will occur in September. It will be really amazing if the Fed is able to successfully navigate the inflation challenges while also sticking a soft landing. Of course, that remains to be seen.
Our First Webinar: The Future of Professional Workers
On July 31, Augment hosted its first webinar, “The Future of Professional Workers,” on why financial services employers struggle to hire full-time talent. Consultant Alek demonstrated real-world uses of generative AI across several job families.
Speaking Engagements
Finally, in June, we presented to the 175-member Data & Analytics organization at a major credit bureau on the state of the mortgage industry. They enjoyed the conversation and have invited Augment to lead discussions on several more topics.
