Key takeaways
- Rationalized 170+ initiatives into a focused 2-year transformation roadmap anchored by ~20 initiatives across people, client-first processes, and platform modernization – delivered in 3 weeks and ready for board presentation.
- Secured board approval for investments in fiscal 2026, enabling the organization to move beyond stabilization and toward a competitive, client-first organization.
- Achieved alignment across top stakeholders, including the CEO, CFO, and CHRO, establishing shared momentum and clear accountability structures to drive a multi-year transformation journey.
The Situation
A mid-sized Canadian financial services company specializing in commercial lending, deposit products, and innovative payments solutions engaged Burnie Group to develop a board-ready transformation roadmap. Over the prior 18 months, market volatility, regulatory pressures, and rapid organizational change had forced the leadership team to re-focus on risk management and operational stabilization, adding a significant number of net new employees to address new challenges.
Having navigated through this stabilization phase, the organization reached an inflection point. Core operations across Payments and Cards, Lending, and Deposits remained behind competition: onboarding cycles were way too long months, lending technology was fragmented, and the deposit platform was approaching end-of-life. To move from stabilization to growth, the organization needed a credible, board-ready transformation strategy and roadmap that could secure leadership alignment and the investment required to build a competitive, client-first organization.
The approach and solution
We worked with the organization over an intensive 3-week engagement to translate a complex set of internal plans and competing leadership perspectives into a focused, executable transformation roadmap. Our approach combined structured stakeholder engagement with rigorous analytical work across multiple dimensions: People, Processes, and Platforms.
We conducted interviews with senior leaders, including the CEO, CFO, and CHRO, and reviewed existing internal assessments to validate and challenge scope, timing, and feasibility against the organization’s strategic objectives.
From an initial list of 170+ initiatives, we rationalized and sequenced priorities into ~20 initiatives anchored around developing a solid foundation and building a client-centric organization. We developed the associated funding requirements and built an integrated 2-year roadmap with clear accountability, milestones, sequencing logic, and aligned senior leadership around this roadmap. The final deliverable gave leadership both an executable plan and a compelling board narrative.
The results
Our work established the strategic foundation and organizational alignment needed for the organization to shift from fix-mode to transformation-mode. Using the deliverables we prepared, the leadership team presented to the board with confidence, securing approval for the required investments for fiscal 2026.
The roadmap provided a shared framework across the senior leadership team, with clear accountability structures and a phased approach designed to deliver competitive client experience improvements by 2026 and advanced capabilities by 2027.