About us
History
Our history begins in the 1990's when a few practice leaders of the general purpose management consulting firms began discussing challenges facing the consulting industry, and the ongoing evolution of demand from our respective financial industries clients. We began to appreciate that while high quality strategic advice was always in demand, clients were increasingly seeking something more, different, and better from their advisors.
Some clients were weary of the traditional consulting model, where large teams of generally inexperienced staff spent long stretches learning the client's business, collecting and analyzing industry data, and presenting study findings to management – findings that often failed to generate results. At the same time, some clients began to employ former consultants, and thus were staffed to conduct much of their own research and consulting work in–house, often for lower costs. When we met with leading clients, we heard clearly that they were seeking more pragmatic and tangible results from their advisors.
Novantas's founders sought to form a new type of firm, with a distinctive vision and approach:
- We believe in client service first and foremost. We understand that when clients engage a consulting team they expect to work with the senior business leaders, not just newly hired staff. Thus we commit to a partner:staff ratio well below that of the traditional firms, and we insist that the "partners" don't just sell the work, they do the work.
- We believe that clients seek pragmatic solutions, not just studies. Thus we continuously invest in building integrated advisory and information solutions that become part of the client's infrastructure, and provide enduring value beyond the timetable of the engagement.
- We believe that specialization is essential to delivering value – that no firm at any size could be all things to all organizations. Thus we focused in issues of customer demand for services industry clients.
During the middle 1990's the founders sought first to bring this philosophy to the industry through affiliation with an existing consultancy, but found it necessary ultimately to found Novantas in order to achieve the vision.
Structure
Novantas is a privately held LLC, fully owned by its Managing Directors. We have no outside investors. We have no agenda to sell clients the hardware, software or services of a "parent" company. Our Managing Directors are the Firm's client service leaders, and fully dedicate themselves to the Firm's clients.
We organize as practice teams around industry sectors, such as retail banking, corporate banking, card, payments, brokerage, and insurance. This structure permits us to build centers of industry expertise that bring advanced solutions and consulting disciplines in to serve our client's requirements. We deliver integrated consulting and information services across the sectors and regions we serve, bringing a distinctive combination of industry insight, customer science discipline, and pragmatic solutions.
Novantas delivery teams are typically three to eight professionals, led by one or more Managing Directors. Managing Directors are integrally involved in all aspects of each engagement, from structuring and execution, through communication and syndication of results.
Culture
Our culture is embodied in our Statement of Values, based on a single core theme: We are a client–focused Firm:
- Client interests always come first
- Our economic and psychic rewards derive from superior client service
- Our capabilities and technologies exist for the purpose of helping our clients become and remain competitively superior
- Our clients' information is theirs alone, and is treated with discipline, respect, and confidentiality
- Our people advance in the Firm based on their ability to generate measurable value for clients
- Teamwork brings more value to client work than the sum of its parts, and is central to every engagement
- At the end, our clients judge us on our integrity and value delivered, and we prize that judgment.
Vision
We seek to be the leading provider of distinctive, pragmatic, and vital advice and solutions to the financial industries. We seek to redefine what advisors do for clients, and how clients measure the value delivered. And we seek the reward of strong client relationships that come from effective teamwork, integrity, professional excellence and entrepreneurialism.