Innovation Consulting Service Redesign
- Company
- A77 Inc.
- Duration
- Oct 2024 – Dec 2024
- Team
- Innovation Consulting Team
- Role
- Design Assistant Intern — Service Design, Strategy, Research
A77 is a Toronto multidisciplinary innovation consultancy. As the main member of its innovation consulting team, I turned five completed engagements' worth of scattered experience — plus competitor and market analysis — into a single, repeatable consulting service: an operating model, 20+ frameworks, and two strategic reports culminating in a client-facing service package.
reduction in average project turnaround time
methods and frameworks developed
completed projects analyzed for patterns and gaps
strategic reports plus a client-facing service package delivered
Designing a Scalable, Client-Centric Consulting Service
As A77's innovation consulting practice grew across sectors, each engagement had been shaped to fit its client — effective, but built fresh each time. The internship's mandate was to translate that growing body of project learnings into a consistent, scalable service model, backed by an honest look at where the market actually stood on innovation.
of companies rank innovation as a top-3 priority
say they're actually ready to deliver on it
of business leaders cite an unclear or overly broad innovation strategy as a top-3 challenge
That 83%-to-3% gap mirrored the opportunity in front of A77 itself: strong, growing client demand, and a chance to meet it with one consistent operating model instead of a fresh approach each time. The external research and the internal audit pointed at the same opening — the case for structure — which set the direction for everything that followed.
Auditing Five Projects to Find Where Structure Would Help Most
Before designing anything new, I went back through five completed projects — deliverables, decision logs, and debriefs with the project manager and cross-functional team — to find where a shared operating model would create the most value, rather than guessing.
- Turnaround varied project to project, since each engagement set its own baseline — an opportunity to give teams a shared reference for scoping and defending timelines to clients.
- Frameworks were built fresh for each engagement, so codifying what already worked meant teams could build on proven structures instead of starting over.
- Phases were named differently across teams, so a shared vocabulary would make handoffs between discovery, strategy, and delivery even smoother.
- Ownership between design and strategy shifted by project, so clearer boundaries would speed up decisions at exactly the moments that mattered most.
The talent and effort were already there — the opening was for a repeatable operating model to match. That reframed the internship from "help out on projects" to "design the system the projects run on."
Developed a Consulting Service Delivery Model
I synthesized the audit findings and market research into an operating model built around four phases, each with its own goal, methods, and client-facing deliverables — designed so any team member could pick up a project mid-phase and know exactly what came before and what's next.
- 1
Discover & Analyze
Understand the client's goals, operations, and challenges through structured questionnaires, workshops, data assessment tools, and stakeholder interviews.
- 2
Design & Plan
Co-create actionable strategy with the client using empathy mapping, journey mapping, a prioritization matrix, scenario planning, strategic framework development, and process flow mapping.
- 3
Implementation
Guide execution with pilot testing, resource allocation models, SOP development, and an onboarding program — hands-on support tailored to the client's needs.
- 4
Monitor & Support
Track progress and refine through implementation coaching, monthly/quarterly/yearly dashboard reports, feedback loops, and performance analytics tools.
| Phase | Methods & tools |
|---|---|
| Discover & Analyze | Structured questionnaires & workshops, data assessment tools, stakeholder interviews |
| Design & Plan | Empathy mapping, journey mapping, prioritization matrix, scenario planning, strategic framework development, process flow mapping |
| Implementation | Pilot testing, resource allocation models, SOP development, onboarding program |
| Monitor & Support | Implementation coaching, dashboard progress reports, feedback loops, performance analytics tools |
Why It Works — For Management and For Teams
A delivery model only sticks if both sides of a client organization buy into it. Working with the project manager and cross-functional team, I framed the value proposition separately for the two audiences that actually decide whether a consulting engagement succeeds: leadership, who need measurable outcomes, and the teams on the ground, who need to feel heard through the change.
- For management: measurable business outcomes, future-ready systems and processes, and a higher-performing team.
- For teams: a voice in the transformation process, shared ownership of the outcome, and personal development alongside the organization's growth.
Segmenting the Market: Who This Serves
Competitor and market analysis showed that "innovation consulting" meant very different things to a five-person startup versus a government client. I mapped the impact areas a project could touch, then defined what the delivery model looks like for each type of organization A77 serves — so the same operating model could flex without losing its structure.
Proof in Practice: Past Engagements
The model wasn't theoretical — it was reverse-engineered from real engagements, then validated against them. Four representative cases from the audit made it into the final report:
- Recruiting agency — streamlined operations and reduced risk by moving to digital intake and unified SOPs, laying groundwork for expansion into new markets.
- Energy startup & community college — identified market fit and an entry strategy while prototyping was underway, strengthening grant readiness and revenue diversification.
- Community organization & religious centre — mapped a long-term expansion roadmap balancing immediate impact with multi-year vision.
- Investors, government officials & town development — outlined development strategies across North America and the Middle East, aligned to market demand and next-generation interests.
Outreach Campaign Design
The operating model still needed a front door. I tailored the visual design and communication style of the final service package to A77's branding and the value proposition of its target clients, working with the project manager and cross-functional team to decide focus areas, close gaps in the deliverables, and drive the critique sessions that shaped the final version.
Delivered two strategic reports and a client-facing service package integrating design thinking and strategy into A77's consulting practice — recognized by C-suite executives as a top deliverer among all interns.
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