Great things are on the horizon: Proteus + Sharktower – powering a wave of change.

In February 2022, Sharktower was acquired by data-first consultancy Proteus.

Here, we give an overview of the background, the evolution and the future of our combined business.

The background – Taking control of change

Proteus was founded over 20 years ago by experienced project experts who knew they could help large organisations deliver complex change faster, better and cheaper.  

The founders identified that for organisations to survive and thrive, change as a competency needed to be owned by everybody – not just the project manager or expensive consultants. Their mission was to help organisations become sustainable in change; and transform themselves from the inside out.

As the pace of change began to accelerate, organisations faced huge challenges in terms of resources, time, and successful delivery of outcomes. They would need to build their change capability quickly – to be able to act confidently, decisively, consistently, and without bias or subjectivity. 

They’d have to do things differently.

And the difference was data. 

The evolution – From delivery to data-driven insights

Throughout these early years, as well as supporting organisations with change programmes, the team began to develop intuitive models to make sense of complexity and find a ‘Common Language of Change®’.  

These models would provide the basis for codifying the ‘Proteus approach’ – a suite of change assurance and health check diagnostic tools; underpinned by insights and capability building knowledge modules on how to shape, lead and deliver success change. 

With this approach, the Proteus team would capture more and more data on the health and performance of real change initiatives, amassing 250,000 data points from £14bn of projects. Not only did this resource cement Proteus as the antidote to traditional consultancy; it enabled the team to diversify their offering – from delivery and training into audit and assurance. 

“From the start, we invested in capturing decades of experience, knowledge and data. We have developed simple models, practical lessons, benchmarking, gap analysis and diagnostics – a Common Language of Change® that everyone can understand. And we share it with our customers.” 

The future – On board with Sharktower

When founders from Proteus and Sharktower met in Autumn 2021, they quickly realised they were chasing the same vision. Where Proteus had strived to enable its clients to deliver change decisively for themselves, Sharktower’s goal was to enable change makers to deliver outcomes as simply and consistently as possible. 

Ultimately, both teams were driven to change the way organisations deliver change. 

Bringing Sharktower’s intelligent change delivery platform on board accelerates the combined vision – to help businesses transform from the inside out. Combining Proteus expertise, knowledge and tools with Sharktower’s predictive analytics and machine learning, the platform augments Proteus consulting services and enables clients to be more self-sufficient; by giving them the tools and insights they need to ask the right questions. 

Already working with 40 brands in 27 countries, Sharktower enables Proteus to offer the only platform dedicated to continual delivery of business change outcomes. Unique software that gives everyone in the organisation the clarity and certainty they need to respond to change and deliver more successful business outcomes. 

The go-to change delivery partner

With this unmatched combination of human expertise and data-driven insights, together, Proteus and Sharktower can become the delivery and insights partner that every change leader comes to first. 

Every organisation that uses Sharktower will add to the massive volumes of data already existing from previous change and transformation projects. The project managers, the ‘doers’ delivering the work, the transformation leaders, the stakeholders, the innovators, the external suppliers, the customers – all involved in contributing to this huge data flow. 

These sizeable data sets enable Proteus and Sharktower to offer insights as a service and truly become a Change Insights leader. Insights that can predict whether a major programme is likely to be successful and identify any gaps that need to be addressed. Tools that dramatically reduce the time and cost required to carry out project assurance reviews and increase the probability of successful outcomes. A platform that provides a single source of the truth, supports consistent ways of working and promotes shared goals.

Insights to truly transform a business from the inside out. 

Read the acquisition press release here.

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