Higher Education
Redbank Advisors understands the unique challenges of operating an institution of higher learning. The work and goals couldn’t possibly be more important and rewarding and the fiscal and operating constraints couldn’t be more challenging. It isn’t simply a matter of bringing “business common sense” to the college and university environment as it is so often mischaracterized. One must rise to the challenge and bring solutions to bear that may be unique to the environment. Solutions that sometimes won’t even work in a commercial business environment.
The Redbank Advisors team has experience in working with small college consortiums as well as the largest universities in the world to address the unique challenges that operating a college or university presents. In many ways, this environment is like a cross section of the global economy with all the challenges presented in a microcosm. They include housing, hospitality, retail, transportation, parking, safety and law enforcement, investment and banking, healthcare, printing, regional planning, outreach, entertainment, consulting, and event management on top of the core job of actually educating students.
Here is a representative list of some of the projects that Redbank Advisors have conducted for clients in the private and public higher education sectors:
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Shared Services
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Business plan development, negotiation, operations planning and development of key performance indicators (KPIs) for implementation of shared services functions such as Information Technology, procurement etc.
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Transportation & Parking
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Complete operations reImagine including development of KPIs, performance assessment and benchmarking through development of improved processes, and organization structure all the way down to the job description level of detail
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Retail Store
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Complete new business planning effort and development of KPIs followed by management and oversight of the project including build out, merchandising and grand opening to meet the KPIs
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Outreach Function
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Strategic plan development for university extension department including performance assessment, visioning, organizational redesign and process improvement recommendations and development of KPIs
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Capital Investments
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Investment planning and decision making including scenario modeling, projections, KPIs and improvement recommendations presented board ready for decision making
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Sales
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Sales and account management training and process improvement for college operating units tasked with marketing their products and services to students, other business units and to the public at large including the marketing plan, account management strategy, sales and customer service coaching and workshops and KPIs for use in a balanced scorecard
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Redbank believes you have to approach these project and opportunities fundamentally differently than most businesses approach decision making. We look at them within the frame work of the operation being improved by establishing a business model of the status quo and always ensuring that any proposed changes result in an improvement in the business model which can then be shared with the client and if necessary, the Board of Trustees. Our clients can look their boards in the eye and with clarity explain the business reasoning behind any recommended decision and then implement those decisions with confidence knowing that the KPIs are achievable.
We do this because Redbank is committed to providing measurable improvement to all our clients.