Why the Consulting Playbook No Longer Works for the Mid-Market
The traditional consulting model wasn’t built for speed. It was built for certainty, in a world that no longer exists.
Over the past decade, firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Bain have industrialised digital transformation into structured, sequential programmes. The method is precise: strategy comes first, roadmaps follow, and execution rolls out over 12–36 months. It works if you have the time, budget, and change infrastructure to absorb it. But most companies don’t.
If you're a €30 – €200M Portco with pressure to scale fast, modernise operations, and increase enterprise value within a tight investment window, you’re not looking for 300-page slide decks, multiyear rollouts and investment in the millions. You’re looking for outcomes.
The Big Model: Still Too Slow, Still Too Heavy
To its credit, the traditional model has evolved. McKinsey now says transformation should “start with the problem, not the technology.” They advocate focus, resilience, cross-functional collaboration, and high-impact journeys.
But the structure is still there:
Inventory your systems and data.
Align C-suite ambitions.
Map dependencies.
Lock in governance.
Then, finally, begin the work.
Even when AI and GenAI are introduced, they’re positioned as tools to enhance the old model, not to reshape how transformation is done. It’s transformation theatre. Strategy first, value later. Everything must be ordered, staged, and governed before anything changes.
The GAPx Shift: Outcome-First, Strategy-Through-Doing
At GAPx, we don’t start with 16-week diagnostics or pre-baked frameworks. We start with a simple orientation: what outcomes actually matter here – and what’s stopping them?
Our work doesn’t begin with an answer. It begins with a direction of travel. And we use what’s already inside the business – data, people, experience, ambition – to shape the path forward in a way that’s responsive, not rigid.
We describe this as a kind of “vibe strategy”, not because it’s loose or unstructured, but because it reflects how modern businesses really evolve: organically, interactively and looking for real outcomes.
How It Works in Practice
Rather than separating strategy from delivery, GAPx treats them as the same thing – fused and fluid.
We engage every business function, not just the leadership team. From Sales and Ops to HR and Finance, we work to uncover constraints, misalignments, and latent opportunities. This breaks the cycle of transformation by silo, where each team runs their own change initiative in isolation.
By integrating real-world data – operational, financial, behavioural, we help the organisation see itself more clearly, and shape solutions around outcomes that matter across teams, not just within them.
Data as Enabler, Not Gatekeeper
In many traditional models, transformation is gated by data: first you inventory it, clean it, centralise it – and only then do you begin to use it. GAPx takes a more pragmatic view. We treat data as a strategic asset in motion. Something to use early and often, not perfect first.
This mindset allows us to move faster. But more importantly, it allows organisations to learn faster, spotting patterns, testing assumptions, and evolving priorities based on evidence, not just instinct.
AI plays a role here – helping us surface insights, accelerate discovery, and power decision-making. But we don’t view AI as the hero. It’s part of the team. A helpful co-pilot, not a silver bullet.
From Governance to Co-Ownership
Too often, transformation becomes an exercise in governance: committees, steering groups, programme boards. The work gets abstracted upwards and away from those who actually need to change how they operate.
GAPx flips this. We focus on co-ownership at every level. We help businesses organise themselves around real, tangible outcomes and align on what “better” looks like for each function, and the organisation as a whole.
There’s no rigid roadmap. There’s a direction. There’s clarity. And there’s momentum.
What This Means for PE Investors
For PE firms, the traditional model can feel like a hedge: pick a global name, fund the playbook, and expect results.
But more often than not, these programmes stall under their own complexity. The impact comes too late – or not at all. GAPx offers a different route.
We don’t position transformation as a product. We position it as a capability the organisation builds, with us alongside, helping it move faster, smarter, and more collaboratively.
We’re outcome-first, data-supported, and designed to get real work done from day one.
The Bottom Line
Transformation doesn’t have to be slow, siloed, or top-heavy. It can be fast. Fluid. Cross-functional. Human. Outcome-led. And driven by a mix of curiosity, pragmatism, and collaborative intelligence, not just frameworks and playbooks.
