How We Define Success
Most transformation initiatives are evaluated by whether a project was completed, a system was implemented, or a planned change was delivered.
We believe those measures can be misleading.
The true measure of success is whether the business achieves the outcomes it set out to achieve.
Organizations rarely struggle because people are not working hard or because individual departments are underperforming. More often, they struggle because decisions, priorities, and initiatives are not aligned around a common business objective.
Our focus is helping organizations translate strategic intent into measurable business results.
Why We Founded BSO Achieve
Organizations invest in strategic initiatives, business systems, acquisitions, restructuring, AI, and process improvements to achieve measurable business outcomes. These initiatives might be successful in their own right while failing to deliver the business outcomes executives expected.
We believe the missing link is the operating model.
Successful initiatives create new capabilities. The operating model determines whether those capabilities translate into consistent business performance and lasting business success.
That's why we founded BSO Achieve.
Business Success Orchestration is the discipline of designing and aligning strategy, governance, processes, systems, and the organization into an operating model that enables organizations to consistently achieve their intended business outcomes while strengthening the business.
Every engagement begins by defining the intended business outcomes and then designing the Strategic, Functional, System, and Organization Operating Models required to make those outcomes achievable. Because successful initiatives do not automatically create successful businesses.
How We Define Success
At BSO Achieve, success begins with achieving the intended business outcomes.
Whether the objective is supporting growth, integrating an acquisition, entering new markets, improving operational performance, implementing new technology, or restructuring the organization, every engagement is measured by progress toward the outcomes the organization set out to achieve.
But achieving business outcomes is only part of the equation.
The operating model designed to achieve those outcomes should also leave the business stronger than it was before.
That is why every strategic decision, operating model design, process, system, governance structure, and organizational change is challenged through a second lens:
Will this strengthen the business?
We evaluate alternative approaches based on how effectively they help the organization become more:
Extendable — able to grow through new products, services, markets, and acquisitions.
Scalable — able to increase capacity and complexity without proportional increases in cost or effort.
Predictable — able to execute consistently and achieve reliable business results.
Durable — able to adapt to change and sustain long-term performance.
Business outcomes remain the primary objective.
Strengthening the business ensures those outcomes create capabilities that continue delivering value long after the transformation is complete.
Read our Executive Brief explaining why successful initiatives don't automatically create successful businesses.
When Do Organizations Engage BSO Achieve
Organizations engage BSO Achieve when achieving their strategic objectives requires changes to how the business operates.
The challenge is rarely a single process, system, or department.
It is ensuring the enterprise is aligned to achieve the outcomes the business is trying to create.
Why an Independent Perspective Matters
Organizations possess deep knowledge of their business, customers, and industry.
What they often lack is the ability to objectively challenge the assumptions that shaped the current operating model.
Over time, strategies, processes, organizational structures, governance models, and technology decisions become accepted as "the way we do things." As a result, transformation efforts can unintentionally reinforce existing constraints rather than address them.
An independent perspective helps organizations evaluate opportunities, challenges, and transformation initiatives objectively — ensuring that decisions are driven by desired business outcomes rather than historical assumptions.
This is one of the reasons organizations engage BSO Achieve: to provide an experienced, objective viewpoint that helps identify what should be preserved, what should be challenged, and what must change to achieve the desired results.
Why Clients Choose BSO Achieve
We Challenge Assumptions
Organizations often focus on improving what already exists. We help leaders determine whether existing strategies, operating models, processes, organizational structures, and systems are capable of supporting the outcomes they are trying to achieve.
We Focus on the Operating Model
Technology enables execution, but sustainable business outcomes depend on the operating model that guides how the business operates.
We Connect Strategy to Execution
We help organizations translate strategic objectives into the processes, governance, systems, and organizational structures required to achieve them.
We Drive Change, Not Reports
Our focus is helping organizations implement and realize value, not producing recommendations that never get executed.
We Focus on Business Outcomes
Projects, systems, and process improvements are means to an end. The objective is measurable business results and increased enterprise value.
Leadership
Ted Margison
Ted Margison is a transformation executive with more than 30 years of experience helping organizations design and execute business and digital transformations that improve performance and increase enterprise value. He has led over 150 business system selection and implementation initiatives and has extensive experience helping organizations redesign operating models, recover struggling programs, and translate strategy into measurable business outcomes. His experience spans manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, media, aerospace and defense, and professional services. He has served in leadership roles with global consulting firms, as Director of Professional Services for a SaaS provider, and in interim executive positions responsible for operations and growth.
Known for solving complex problems and delivering practical results, Ted combines business strategy, process improvement, technology, and emerging AI capabilities to help organizations achieve sustainable growth. His work has enabled clients to accelerate revenue growth, improve operational performance, reduce costs, and build organizations that are more extendable, scalable, predictable, and durable.
David Shaffer
David Shaffer is an Executive Advisor, business leader, and process improvement expert with more than 30 years of experience helping owners, CEOs, and management teams achieve growth, improve performance, and increase enterprise value. He has served as a CEO, Owner, Managing Director, Executive Vice President, Business Advisor, and Interim Executive across industries including manufacturing, distribution, professional services, healthcare, construction, engineering, information technology, and nonprofit organizations. Throughout his career, David has guided organizations through growth initiatives, operational improvements, succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, and exit strategies while helping leadership teams align around clear goals and actionable priorities.
Prior to BSO Achieve, David held leadership roles with major consulting organizations and worked extensively with private equity firms and management teams on both acquisition and exit initiatives. He is recognized for his ability to integrate strategy, operations, financial management, and technology into practical solutions that deliver measurable results. David has served on corporate and educational boards, has been a frequent speaker on leadership and value creation, and remains passionate about helping organizations build stronger businesses while enabling leaders to achieve long-term success.
Shared Perspective
Together, David and Ted bring more than 60 years of leadership and transformation experience. As founding members of the Institute of Business System Practitioners (IBSP), they share a common philosophy that successful transformation requires more than implementing systems or optimizing individual functions. It requires aligning strategy, operating models, organization, and execution to build businesses that are more extendable, scalable, predictable, and durable.
Let's Discuss Your Next Transformation
Every organization faces different challenges.
Growth, acquisitions, transformation, operational complexity, and changing markets all place new demands on the business.
We welcome the opportunity to learn about your goals, understand your challenges, and discuss how BSO Achieve can help strengthen your organization's ability to create, deliver, sustain, and expand value over time.
Design. Align. Achieve.