Q&A
The questions we actually get asked
Answered as we would answer them in the room, including the ones where the honest answer is "this is not for you".
Getting started
- How long before we see anything useful?
- The first value view for a single company is normally standing within four to six weeks, using the reporting you already produce. Comparability across the portfolio follows as more companies come on.
- Do you need a data project first?
- No, and if you did we would not start. Conspectus reads what exists. Where a feed is missing, a structured monthly form fills the gap until the feed is worth building.
- What do you need from us?
- Two hours a month from each domain owner and a standing forty-five minutes with management. In most companies that replaces meetings that already exist.
- Can we start with one company?
- We prefer it. One company, one cycle, one value call is a fairer test than any demonstration, and it tells you more about the fit than a proposal does.
How it works
- We already have a data warehouse. Is this not the same thing?
- A warehouse answers what happened. It has no opinion about what that costs you, who should act, or by when. Conspectus sits above it and adds exactly those three things.
- What is an "owner of record"?
- One named person per domain. They do not own the reporting — that is produced for them. They own the answer to: what are we doing about it, by when, and what is it worth if it works.
- What if two domains disagree about the same problem?
- Then it is one problem with two owners, which is the most common reason nothing moves. The view shows the overlap and forces a single owner to be chosen.
- How do you calculate value at stake?
- From the earnings line the finding touches, with the assumptions written next to the number. It is meant to make priority arguable, not to be precise to two decimals — and anyone can see and challenge the assumption.
- Where is AI used, and where is it not?
- Used for drafting, summarising, spotting outliers and preparing questions. Not used to set priority, approve an intervention or sign off a number. Every item carries the name of the person who accepted it.
Fit, price and data
- When is this not the right thing?
- When the company is in a turnaround that needs hands rather than visibility; when there is no appetite for naming a single owner per domain; when basic financial data is not yet reliable. Fix that first — we will say so.
- How do you charge?
- Per portfolio company, per year, with the first company at a reduced rate while the ownership map and the cadence are set up. No fee tied to outcomes: that would give us an interest in which interventions get chosen.
- Who owns the data?
- You do. It stays yours, it is held in the European Union, and it leaves with you in full if you stop.
- What happens at exit?
- The record — decisions, owners, dates, outcomes — is exported as the evidence base for the value case. It was built as you went, so nothing has to be reconstructed under time pressure.
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