Our Background
Azof Consulting provide independent, practical advice and execution on Risk & Finance Data Transformation programmes, whether they are new programmes or situations requiring intervention and recovery. Our consultants have an average of 20+ years’ experience working in large Global FI’s and provide tailored solutions to Client problems while working in partnership with the Clients existing teams and providers.
What Problem Are We Solving?
Years of outsourcing have left many businesses struggling with a “brain drain,” making it harder to assess their own challenges and goals. In contrast, the Regulatory obligations have consistently grown since 2010 leaving many Clients with a fragile, labour intensive, risk prone “solution” that cannot meet the future needs.
How do we help?
Our expertise spans the entire transformation lifecycle and includes:
- Situation Assessment
- Strategy
- Architecture
- Vendor Selection
- Delivery Oversight
- Governance
- Build-operate-transfer (BOT)
What is our USP?
Data programmes in FI’s usually include significant amounts of heritage technology and processes, which is often beyond the generic skills offered by Services and Consulting companies. Our Consultants are comfortable working in such environments given their early careers often involved building system now categorised as “legacy”.
Leadership Team
John McCarthy
Strategic Leadership & Transformation
Experience: 25+ years
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Education: BSc Computer Science
Professional Background
- People centric, accomplished leader with a track record of developing high performance organisations and trusted executive level partnerships.
- 25+ years technology leadership experience across Consulting and Financial Services IT.
- Transformation specialist with a track record of successfully delivering new “visionary” transitions in addition to recovering “problem” programmes.
- Deep expertise in all aspects of Financial Services / Capital Markets / Investment banking technology / Finance Transformation.
- 25+ years leading data centric organisations in Financial services in Retail banking & Capital Markets across Trading, Risk, Regulatory & Finance.
- Proven track record in delivering Finance SAP & Data Transformations in a systematic manner, leaving an enduring legacy in a number of firms.
Rob MacDermott
Strategic Leadership & Transformation
Experience: 25+ years
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Education: BSc Computer Science
Professional Background
- Accomplished technical professional with notable success in delivering robust solutions & processes for complex business problems.
- 25+ years in a broad range of leadership and delivery roles in Investment & Retail Banking, Consulting & Startups.
- Delivery specialist with a track record of reducing operating costs through punctual, targeted program delivery.
- Extensive experience in all phases of SDLC, from initial requirements through to platform support in a variety of Capital Markets, Trading, Risk & Insurance domains.
- Demonstrable success with hands-on leadership in a diverse range of client engagements, leading on and near-shore teams of business analysts, engineers and architects.
Sasha Diakonova
Business Strategy & Governance
Experience: 13+ years
Location: Madrid, Spain
Education: MSc Economics
Professional Background
- Dynamic and Results-Driven Professional with Expertise in Project Management, Business Operations and Human Resources.
- 12+ years of diverse experience in both startup and large corporate settings with a track record of optimizing processes, delivering impactful results, and fostering strong client and stakeholder relationships.
- Collaborative leader with a people-first approach, exceling at aligning teams with organizational goals, navigating complexity, and delivering impactful results that drive success and long-term value.
- Deep expertise leading and overseeing the COO function across large 1k+ Global consulting organisations.
Our Services
Data & Transformation Strategy
“Unlock the power of your data to drive transformation”
We collaborate with your teams to craft practical, data-driven strategies that support your business transformation. Our focus enables Risk & Finance teams to evolve from “data scavenging” to streamlined, BCBS239 complaint data driven decision making.
Financial Services Data Advisory
“Maximize the value of your financial data”
We support financial institutions in getting the most from their data, ensuring compliance, improving decision-making, and driving efficiency. Our advisory services help bridge the gap between strategy and action, making sure your data delivers real benefits in a fast-changing financial world.
Vendor Selection / Strategy
“Enable your business using outsourcing partnerships”
We provide independent advice to clients who are new to outsourcing or wishing to evaluate their current approach. We advise on all aspects from target operating models and locations to pricing, execution and accountability models.
Project & Program Delivery
“Transform and manage your business”
We partner with your staff and existing providers to recover and deliver transformations. We have worked with many of the global vendors and consultancies on behalf of clients to deliver transformations.
How do we do all this?
Case Studies
Tier 1 Global Investment Bank.
CHALLENGE
Business was struggling to consolidate data for regulatory compliance while managing digital transformation, facing obstacles such as outdated legacy systems, inconsistent data standards, loss of institutional knowledge, and limited execution expertise. Ensuring long-term intellectual property retention and developing sustainable in-house capabilities remain key priorities.
SOLUTION
We deployed experts with relevant experience to assess the client’s technology and delivery goals, creating a clear strategy, roadmap, and execution plan. We worked with a number of external vendors in addition to the Client’s internal IT to create a multi-year programme team, with a safe exit in mind.
By adopting an agile approach, we delivered value quickly despite uncertainties in the legacy landscape while evolving towards BCBS239 compliance. Our strategy decoupled legacy platforms from strategic systems, enabling multiple parallel execution streams for efficient transformation.
RESULT
By balancing immediate priorities with long-term objectives, we enabled sustainable transformation, ensured continuous knowledge transfer, and established robust operational support for long-term data quality and business-as-usual operations. After 2 years a number of external resources transitioned to the Client via a pre-agreed BOT, enabling the Client to protect and grow their internal knowledge base.
European Retail Bank.
CHALLENGE
The client faced critical regulatory reporting breaches, misalignment between Risk & Finance, and an overreliance on fragmented, tactical compliance solutions. Persistent data delivery issues, high defect rates, and unsustainable costs further compounded their challenges, creating significant operational and regulatory risks.
SOLUTION
We partnered with the Client and a number of other Partner firms to propose and initiate a multi-year Finance Transformation Programme that was to enable, accelerate and future proof regulatory compliance. The programme was also designed to reduce TCO and retire a legacy SAP based infrastructure.
RESULT
We navigated numerous Client challenges to transform data delivery from a 2-year unreliable waterfall-based approach to a continuous agile based approach that delivered data ever 12 weeks. Furthermore, we initiated a number of parallel streams to enable BCBS239 compliance across Governance, Lineaging, Accuracy etc.
Tier 1 European investment bank.
CHALLENGE
The client’s Global Markets team relied on a fragmented mix of legacy CRM systems, outdated technology, and multiple vendor platforms, leading to rising costs and expensive changes. With client data scattered across different systems, it was difficult to get a clear view of a customer’s legal status required for various global trading KYC related obligations.
SOLUTION
We took full oversight of seven legacy systems and implementing a managed service to reduce costs and enhance stability. Partnering across key business areas we designed a strategic solution while proactively addressing migration and adoption challenges from the outset.
RESULT
We implemented a unified SAAS based CRM platform with integrated mobile tools, delivering value through an agile, phased approach. By partnering with key vendors, we ensured a smooth migration, seamlessly transitioning development to the client’s team and support to an offshore provider.
Contact Us
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Locations
Dublin, London, Spain
Email
info@azofconsulting.com
Call Us
IRL: +353 (85) 864 6477
UK: +44 (0) 779 693 7273