SERVICES
MOVE FROM POTENTIAL TO PERFORMANCE
The FIRE™ process is an empirical approach to value creation that bridges the gap
Drive tangible results quickly with our FIRE™ process:
Fast Iterative Responsive Experiments
Best practices of modern agile business methods custom tailored
for institutions operating in highly regulated environments
FIRE™ is an acronym for our trademark process that stands for Fast, Iterative, Responsive Experiments, and it combines the best parts of modern agile business methods into an effective and repeatable process that focuses on the things that really matter.
Best of all, it gets results fast.
Manufacturers use Lean production methods and Six Sigma programs to improve quality and reduce costs. Software developers use Agile and Scrum programs to reduce waste and improve client responsiveness. Silicon Valley startups use Lean Startup and programs like Startup Weekend to build and test ideas quickly. Google Ventures uses their own Sprint process to vet concepts for the companies they invest in. Design Thinking has revolutionized everything from app design to consumer goods to industrial products.
None of those methods alone are a perfect fit for financial services companies operating in a highly regulated environment. That’s why we created the FIRE™ process:
FAST: Shorten the gap between idea and results
Instead of measuring progress in months, quarters, or years, recalibrate your measurement to hours, days, and weeks. No complex project management meetings, and no PERT or Gantt charts required.
ITERATIVE: Process of continuous improvement
Ensure that your idea is continually developing, consistent with real market feedback, and designed for users’ changing needs.
RESPONSIVE: Data-driven decisions
Even the best strategies need to be responsive to today’s dynamic competitive landscape. Use a data-driven approach to test and learn.
EXPERIMENTS: Maximize learning
Instead of crossing your fingers that your big up-front investment doesn’t go up in smoke (or worse, throwing good money after bad in a vain attempt to rescue a doomed project), you’ll be able to quickly cut your losses on the experiments that don’t work, and double-down on the experiments that do.
The challenge is that the same 'best practices' that help us execute and manage our core business are not much help when it comes to managing innovation, where the goal is to quickly test and learn...
..But the ‘move fast and break things’ ethos of Silicon Valley doesn’t work in our highly regulated environment, and we don’t have the luxury of conducting endless experiments with vague hopes that we might stumble onto something useful someday.
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Starting or energizing an innovation program
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Understanding new threats and opportunities of fintech
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Building strategic and tactical capabilities
Create Capacity
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Governance, funding, and risk management frameworks
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Your unique Declaration of Innovation, tying your high level strategic goals to specific tactics
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Translating your objectives into actionable plans in a digital context
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Establishing clear priorities on critical strategies
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Building a culture of innovation
How FIRE™ process Adds Value
New challenges presented in this
dynamic fintech landscape:
Needs for institutions operating in
highly regulated environments:
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Cost effective way to extend internal innovation capacity
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Improve innovation effectiveness
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Balancing risks and rewards
Build Speed and Agility
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Rapid trials for quick learning and deployment
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Appropriately scaled agile risk management controls
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Option to leverage network effects to reduce risks and accelerate wins through the Alloy Labs Alliance
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Creating internal agility to move quickly in a rapidly changing competitive landscape
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Balancing the need to defend and extend the core business with exploring viable options for the future
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Rising customer expectations
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Lack of dedicated innovation team
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Backlog of catch-up spending that often lacks ability to differentiate
Move from Strategy to Execution
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Structured to emphasize tangible progress and rapid learning rather than complex project management in the early stages
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Teams reduce risk on new ventures by testing the most important elements quickly and cheaply
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External partners difficult to evaluate
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Lack of ROI for the most innovative ideas
