Business Management Services
Giving Businesses the INSIGHT to help them succeed
Insight Consulting specialises in the provision of the full suite of business management services, largely to the SME and not-for-profit sectors. We work with Boards and leadership teams to assist organisations and businesses to be the best they can be.
Our Specialisation
Insight Consulting was established in early 2024 by long term business colleagues, Derek Robertson and David Dewhurst. Both have enjoyed successful careers in the private and public sectors and have accumulated in excess of 70 years’ experience of leadership and management roles between them at Chief Executive, Executive Director and Chief Officer levels.
Derek and David have lived experience of the challenges that face leaders and Boards and can tailor their services and support to fit with organisational needs.
They have consequential executive level experience that includes: organisational review, delivering complex change management projects, repositioning of organisations that are financially stressed, restructuring cross functional teams, managing constitutional change, Board recruitment and development, strategic planning, visioning, interim management and business mergers.
We can help with:
Insight Consulting is a not-for-profit business, with an ethical focus to ensure its services are affordable to most businesses and organisations. This status is fundamentally important to Derek and David as they understand how out of reach professional management services can be in these fiscally challenging times.
Insight Consulting operates across all of Scotland and has offices in Edinburgh and Perthshire.
It is acknowledged that progressive and successful organisations take time to review, reflect, and assess that they continue to be fit-for-purpose to meet the needs of their customers and the emerging challenges that are brought as a consequence of ongoing change.
It can often be beneficial to engage specialists to assist senior management and Boards manage the complexity and processes associated with Organisational Review. Insight Consulting can provide clients with independent perspective and assessment of the following:
- Vision, mission and purpose
- Services portfolio
- Position and reputation in the market
- Financial health and prospects
- Approach to business planning and setting objectives
- Measuring impact and effectiveness
- Legislative compliance
- Organisational structure
- Leadership and Management, Roles and Responsibilities
- Systems and processes
- Policy and Procedural Review
- Governance Review
It is vital that a business has the correct approach to fiscal management to protect it against financial risk. Not only is it important to employ appropriate financial practices, but it is also imperative to adopt a pricing methodology to ensure that the costs of delivering services are met, and that surplus/profit can be achieved, appropriate to the requirement of the business. Insight Consulting can help clients with:
- Financial Review
- Departmental Review
- Systems Analysis
- Review of Financial Standing Orders
- Regulatory Compliance
- Budgeting, Forecasting and Financial Planning
- Statutory Accounting
- Preparation of Management Accounts
- Financial Modelling
- Project Costing
- Implementation of Full Cost Recovery Principles
- Treasury Management
- Interim support
- Shadowing and Mentoring
Overall responsibility and accountability for the safe and secure operation of any business lies with its Governing body. Boards can become stale and lose sight of their purpose and relevance in relation to their duties and responsibilities. In the not-for-profit sector recruiting and retaining Board members can be challenging with many candidates opting to select only those organisations that have clear and robust frameworks for governance.
This is an area of significant experience for Insight Consulting, where we provide assistance with:
- Reviewing of Mission and Purpose
- Reviewing of Organisational Constitution and Articles of Association
- Reviewing of Governance Frameworks
- Policy and Procedural Review
- Assessment of Legislative compliance
- Strategic Planning
- Change to organisational status (eg SCIO conversion)
- Board Development and Training
- Board Recruitment
- CEO/MD Performance Review
The skills, knowledge and experience required to deliver transformational change are not necessarily commonplace and the process can often place stress in an organisation if not implemented effectively. Organisations are known to benefit from engaging appropriate expertise when undertaking change and this is an area that Insight Consulting specialises in.
We offer clients a comprehensive approach to the planning, development and deployment of organisational changes in an organisation, to help leaders achieve smooth transitions with minimal disruption. We know how to transform the business successfully, by paying particular attention to those who will be affected by the changes, ensuring management involvement and by minimising the organisational risks. Our services include:
- Leading the process of Organisational Review
- Establishing an agreed process, timeline and set of outcomes
- Developing the rationale for the required changes
- Reviewing the Roles and Responsibilities of Leadership and Management teams
- Developing associated Change Management Plans
- Integrating Change Management Plans into the forward development strategies and workload of senior management
- Developing Staff Engagement Plans
- Developing Stakeholder Engagement Plans
For a variety of reasons, organisations often turn to an experienced Interim Executive to fill a gap in the leadership or management structures, usually for a temporary period. The need can arise at a time of change, crisis and/or capacity gap caused by long term absence. This is usually at Chief Executive and Director levels and follows a period of consultation at Board level about how to manage through. Interim Executives can also complement existing leadership teams and provide additional capacity and fresh thinking.
Insight Consulting can provide a comprehensive service across the following thematic areas:
- Interim Executive Management Services associated with Chief Executive, Chief Financial Officer, Finance Director and Operational Director roles
- Team Development and Support
- Human Resources and application of Employment Law
- Operational Management and Leadership
- Strategic Planning and Organisational Review
- Client and Stakeholder Engagement
- Cross-functional Staff Development
- Crisis Management
- Organisational Development
- Business/Office Relocation
- Board Development and Governance Support
- Mergers
- Organisational closure and wind up
Ensuring your brand and reputation remain strong can be the difference between success and failure. In a highly competitive world, Insight Consulting can assist you with the promotion of your brand and services targeted appropriately across sectors. We have considerable experience in:
Public Affairs
Political Engagement
Media Interface
Communications
Marketing
Social Media
Brand review
About us
Derek A. Robertson
His career has included working in the USA, Sweden and Romania, and he has spoken extensively across Europe. He has also held a number of Non-Executive and Government advisory roles, and was President of the Clean Europe Network, a pan-European NGO based in Brussels.
Derek has significant experience in business development and organisational development, particularly assisting charities and not-for-profit businesses tackle the challenges of transformational change. He is highly effective in shaping forward development, inward investment and service redesign strategies. He has led charity mergers and successfully re-positioned three organisations following brand review.
Derek has seasoned experience in assisting Boards to restructure, modernise and refresh company policies and procedures, as appropriate. He has provided direct leadership and guidance of a political, environmental, social, legislative and economic nature to NEDs and has drafted a variety of frameworks for governance, based on best practice. He demonstrates confidence in providing strategic, tactical and political advice/support to boards and their sub-committees setting out how to build up effective working structures across the business.
Derek is a Chartered Manager and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
David Dewhurst
In 2021, he established his own consultancy business, through which he has provided a mixture of interim FD type services and one-off project advisory consultancy to a mix of clients, including Scotland’s National Academy, a large industrial supplies company, a housing association, an arts charitable company, a world class earth science centre and museum, a privately owned training company and a property management business.
David has utilised his finance background, having worked for more than 20 years at the heart of the finance function of Scotland’s leading merchant banking group, to assist boards and project partners on key strategic areas, including financial planning, business plans, governance, due diligence and developing growth strategies, utilising his extensive knowledge and experience of financial accounting, financial modelling, charity accounting, treasury management, investment accounting, taxation management, due diligence (audit), and IT.
He brings a wealth of experience together with hands-on experience, clarity of thought and a sound understanding of operational matters and exec and non-exec strategic matters.