Case Studies
These case studies analyze the strategic decisions, governance tensions, transformation programs, private equity transactions, AI platform shifts, audit failures, and operating model changes reshaping the professional services industry. Each case study combines deep research, public sources, and board-level analysis to examine what happened, why it happened, and what it may mean for the future of professional services firms.
Case Study 6: How Revlon Got Sued by Its Own Shareholders Because of a Failed Sap Implementation
4. August 2019
Cosmetics company Revlon’s roots stretch back to its 1932 nail polish launch by Charles Lachman and brothers Charles and Joseph Revson. Since its early days, much has changed. The company’s products have found their way into the everyday lives of individual customers and onto the shelves (digital or physical) of major retailers across the world.
Case Study 5: Workday Did Not Work for Sacramento Public Schools
19. Juli 2019
California’s Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) thought they were getting a good deal when they hired software as a service (SaaS) provider Workday and their service partner Sierra-Cedar for a program intended to improve the management of the district’s finances, payroll, and human resources (HR). Unfortunately, SCUSD’s high hopes of cutting costs and increasing
Case Study 4: The $440 Million Software Error at Knight Capital
5. Juni 2019
On the morning of August 1, 2012, Knight Capital Group opened its systems for what should have been a routine trading day, yet within minutes the firm began sending a flood of unintended orders into the U.S. equity market, buying high and selling low across dozens of stocks in a pattern that made no economic
Case Study 3: How a Screwed-Up SAP Implementation Almost Brought Down National Grid
9. April 2019
National Grid USA (NGUSA), which is part of the UK-based National Grid Ltd., supplies electricity and gas in Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island. It is one of the largest investor-owned power distribution companies in the U.S. In October 2012 the company faced a very difficult decision. The SAP project that was three years in
Case Study 2: The Epic Meltdown of TSB Bank
13. März 2019
With clients locked out of their bank accounts, mortgage accounts vanishing, small businesses reporting that they could not pay their staff and reports of debit cards ceasing to work, the TSB Bank computer crisis of April 2018 has been one of the worst in recent memory. The bank’s CEO, Paul Pester, admitted in public that
Case Study 1: The £10 Billion IT Disaster at the NHS
20. Januar 2019
When the UK government launched the National Programme for IT in 2002, it did so with a level of ambition rarely seen in public sector technology initiatives, aiming to digitize large parts of the National Health Service through a centrally coordinated effort that would connect hospitals, general practitioners, and patients across the country. The vision