Services
No company is digitally transformed at once. Instead, smart digital transformation is the sum of its digital initiatives. Each digital initiative is selected based on its potential to create organic alpha through revenue growth, margin improvement or multiple expansion. Our consulting services identify, plan and execute the digital initiatives throughout the deal cycle. We use our deep functional expertise in smart digital (AI-driven) and our proprietary value discovery process to identify untapped value invisible to other value creation methods.
OUR FIRM PROVIDES THE FOLLOWING SERVICES:
CASE STUDIES
What’s the digital investment thesis?
The magic behind every engagement is our Digital Investment Thesis… and it always starts with “smart”.
Contact us for details on our case studies or to schedule a free 30-minute consultation:
For each case study we can discuss:
- The digital investment thesis
- What we did
- The value drivers employed
- How smart tech was used
- The return on capital employed
- Future growth opportunities
Smart Mouse Trap
INDUSTRIALS
A family-owned consumer and business pest control company wanted to expand into the highly regulated commercial food production (baking) market. Manual trap monitoring and paper documentation made it too costly to enter new market.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Inventory Control
INDUSTRIALS
A sponsor-owned OEM of oil & gas equipment wanted to reduce customer downtime by having the right replacement parts available and stored at the right maintenance and repair shop – each serving a different customer region.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Remote Service
INDUSTRIALS
A sponsor-owned OEM of oil & gas equipment was losing vital service and parts business because competitors had more qualified service personnel closer to the broken OEM equipment than the OEM was.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Streetlamp
TECHNOLOGY | INFRASTRUCTURE
A founder-owned streetlamp ecommerce company selling to school and business campuses wanted to leverage a large incandescent-to-LED conversion contract to expand business by becoming the OEM of a smart lighting product line.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Factory Worker
TECHNOLOGY | MANUFACTURING
A sponsor-owned manufacturer of factory safety equipment and components wanted to improve current equipment and expand product line. Needed a vision and approach to differentiate themselves.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN EXPANSION
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITTAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Farming
TECHNOLOGY | AGRICULTURE
A venture-backed producer of vertical farms wanted to increase the competitiveness of their product and expand into adjacent markets to deliver on growth expectations. Knew data was key but didn’t know where to start.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITTAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Medical Device
TECHNOLOGY | HEALTHCARE
A venture-backed orthopedic surgery device manufacturer wanted to expand product line into additional medical devices for knee and hip replacement surgery. Needed to differentiate their product to gain traction in this competitive market.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITTAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Factory Worker
MANUFACTURING | TECHNOLOGY
A sponsor-owned manufacturer of factory safety equipment and components wanted to improve current equipment and expand product line. Needed a vision and approach to differentiate themselves.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN EXPANSION
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITTAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Predictive Maintenance
MANUFACTURING
A founder-owned software development house wanted to grow their business but had a difficult time ramping up due to lumpy and inconsistent revenue. Knew they wanted to get into data science but didn’t know how.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Factory Performance
MANUFACTURING | AEROSPACE
A sponsor-owned precision manufacturer of special purpose parts for the aerospace industry had a difficult time meeting demand. To compensate they were buying more equipment and were outsourcing business.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN EXPANSION
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITTAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Factory OEE
MANUFACTURING
A sponsored-owned manufacturer of highly engineered manufacturing equipment was receiving customer complaints for throttling, production increasing downtime and material wastage. At that time all adjustments were made by wrench.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Streetlamp
INFRASTRUCTURE | TECHNOLOGY
A founder-owned streetlamp ecommerce company selling to school and business campuses wanted to leverage a large incandescent-to-LED conversion contract to expand business by becoming the OEM of a smart lighting product line.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Medical Device
HEALTHCARE | TECHNOLOGY
A venture-backed orthopedic surgery device manufacturer wanted to expand product line into additional medical devices for knee and hip replacement surgery. Needed to differentiate their product to gain traction in this competitive market.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITTAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Factory Performance
AEROSPACE | MANUFACTURING
A sponsor-owned precision manufacturer of special purpose parts for the aerospace industry had a difficult time meeting demand. To compensate they were buying more equipment and were outsourcing business.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN EXPANSION
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITTAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Farming
AGRICULTURE | TECHNOLOGY
A venture-backed producer of vertical farms wanted to increase the competitiveness of their product and expand into adjacent markets to deliver on growth expectations. Knew data was key but didn’t know where to start.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITTAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
Smart Predictive Maintenance
SOFTWARE | MANUFACTURING
A founder-owned software development house wanted to grow their business but had a difficult time ramping up due to lumpy and inconsistent revenue. Knew they wanted to get into data science but didn’t know how.
VALUE DRIVERS
CUSTOMER RETENTION
MARKET SHARE EXPAN
CUSTOMER EXPANSION
PRODUCT EXPANSION
MARKET EXPANSION
PRICING OPTIMIZATION
MARGIN IMPROVEMENT
BUILD & BUY BOOSTING
DEBT MANAGEMENT
MULTIPLE EXPANSION
SMART TECH
AI & ANALYTICS
DIGITAL TWIN
INTERNET OF THINGS
SENSOR FUSION
AUGMENTED REALITY
FAQ
WORKING WITH DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS (DOPS)
1. How does DOPs add value?
We add value by identifying, planning and executing smart digital initiatives on behalf of our clients and providing them with a different (smart digital) perspective that results in proprietary angles to deals and unlocking value invisible to other value creation levers.
2. Who does DOPs work with?
Our clients are predominantly middle-market buyout firms and their portfolio companies.
3. What does an engagement look like?
All engagements are some combination of our 8 services listed above, applied at different stages in the deal, company and fund lifecycle. Post deal, we start with a 2-day smart digital value creation workshop to map the big picture of opportunities. After more discovery and strategizing the digital investment thesis is developed. If green lit, a custom team is assembled to execute the smart digital transformation and transfer the new intellectual property to the asset.
4. What’s your process?
We follow our proven playbook that utilizes proprietary frameworks, tools, financial models and past case studies.
5. How does working with DOPs differ from working with the big consulting firms?
Progress is faster, the talent is more qualified and the costs are lower. This is a result of the big consulting firms’ business model. Since smart digital transformation is bespoke, highly specialized talent is needed and it’s not possible to effectively leverage junior staff.
6. What’s Bruce Sinclair’s background?
Bruce started his career as a mathematician and then went on to be a programmer, vice president of marketing and a tech CEO. Since 2015 he has helped companies digitally transform, first as an independent consultant and then as a full-time operating partner for a large middle-market buyout firm.
7. What does the team look like?
For execution a movie production approach is used. A custom team is assembled, works together to complete the smart digital transformation and is then disbanded, leaving in its place a digital team within the portfolio company that continues to develop the digital intellectual property and the transformation. Consultants (if needed) and technical partners are sourced from our proprietary network based on fit, sector experience and budget.
8. What’s the DOPs-client interaction?
We can work autonomously, requiring only a contact at the client and portfolio company. Our reporting mechanism will match the client’s reporting needs.
9. What’s the DOPs’ business model?
We work on a retainer or hourly basis. Post acquisition activities generally start with a 2-day fixed-fee workshop.
10. Where is DOPs located?
We are based in San Francisco and DOPs’ proprietary network is predominantly based in North America and the UK.
FOR MORE DETAILS ON OUR SERVICES OR TO SCHEDULE A FREE 30-MINUTE CONSULTATION …
