When Consulting Gets Practical: Operationalizing Strategy at a Saudi Bank
Client
A leading Saudi bank in the midst of a major 5-year transformation designed by a top-tier global consultancy. The strategy was there, the ambition was real, but halfway through execution, something wasn’t clicking. The Division responsible for delivering, tracking, and managing the strategy lacked the right operating model to turn vision into reality.
Faced with a choice between a traditional on-the-ground team of junior consultants or Quasar’s senior, remote-first model, the bank chose Quasar. Two partner-level advisors, our Co-Founders, with global experience, working directly with leadership. No fluff, no filler.
Problem
The strategy existed but the engine to deliver it didn’t. The Division charged with executing the bank’s transformation wasn’t set up to manage cross-functional delivery, track progress, or adapt fast enough. And like many banks, the digital tools needed to support this work weren’t fully there either.
The client didn’t need more PowerPoint; they needed objectivity, practical design, and a solution their team could actually use. Anchored in best practices? Sure, but adapted to their unique organizational and cultural context. They also wanted to avoid the usual consultant fatigue: high fees, rotating juniors, and shiny models destined for the drawer.
Approach
We worked in high-impact sprints: about 3 weeks on the ground across a 4-month engagement, with remote support in between. Every step delivered something real:
A Guiding Framework: Before doing anything else, we developed a custom framework to guide our analysis and design work. Unlike many consultants, we didn’t recycle something from a past client. We built it from scratch to reflect this bank’s specific needs.
Current State Assessment: We reviewed the existing strategy, dissected internal documents, and spoke to key stakeholders to understand how things really worked, not just how they were written down. The good, the bad, and the aspirational.
Benchmarking, but Smarter: Yes, we looked at publicly available information of other banks and spoke to local experts. But we went further, drawing from academic research at Harvard, INSEAD, and LBS to understand how strategy execution actually works in leading banks, then tailoring those insights to the Saudi market and this bank’s operating reality.
Collaborative In-Person Workshop: We brought the team together to share findings and co-create a future-state vision. Before jumping into design, we wanted to hear their internal ideas and see which benchmarked practices they would choose, and why.
Operating Model Design: Armed with context and co-creation inputs, we stepped back and built a new model for how the Division should operate, keeping what worked, improving what didn’t, and pushing the boundaries where we saw better ways forward. We also developed a clear change management plan to sequence internal buy-in and rollout.
Tech-Embedded, Too: We didn’t stop at frameworks, structures, and processes. It was clear that tech was a missing enabler, so we created wireframes for the digital solution the Division would need. Think of it as a product manager’s first sprint: mapped out, scoped, and ready to brief a tech provider.
In-Person Closing: We returned on-site to validate the model, test alignment, gather feedback, and refine it in real-time. Final tweaks were made together with the client.
Results
The new model is now being implemented. The Division has a clear structure, mandate, and roadmap for how to lead strategy execution. Not just today, but into the future.
One senior leader (usually skeptical of consultants) called it “the most practical recommendation I’ve ever seen from a consulting firm.”
Even more meaningful? The Division’s own team, the ones most affected by the change, were not just on board—they were excited. Anxious, yes. But motivated, included, and bought in.
What made it possible? Two senior people not trying to scale a cookie-cutter solution or drop in for a steering committee cameo but fully embedded from start to finish. Drawing on decades of global experience, designing something that actually works. Directly with the client.