PLATEAU
STRATEGY
Capital Governance
WHAT WE ARE
We help CFOs challenge in‑flight programs when the value story no longer holds—without carrying the organizational burden themselves.
Most programs don’t fail outright. They drift—pushed by vendor momentum, fragmented execution, and benefits that collapse under scrutiny. We expose that drift early, with an independent, fact‑based view that makes it easier to stop, reshape, or defend major initiatives before more capital and credibility are committed.
The result: capital, leadership attention, and organizational energy redirected to the initiatives that actually deserve it.
We don’t just diagnose the problem — we take over and fix it. We stabilize delivery, rebuild control, and put real capital governance in place so the program stops drifting.
THREE REASONS CFOs CALL PLATEAU
The Program Is Drifting — and Everyone Says It’s Fine
We don't come in to improve delivery. We start with the business case and company strategy, right-size the effort against what was actually funded, and remove what was never approved.
92.5% Aligned. 7.5% Causing All the Drift.
In one engagement, 92.5% of scope traced cleanly to the business case. The remaining 7.5% would have more than doubled time and cost — for benefits years away that didn't justify the capital. The team wanted to proceed. We stopped it.
The result is almost always a smaller, more disciplined program — and more recovered capital than the CFO thought possible.
The Dashboard Is Green — but the Value Story Isn’t
The dashboard says fine. The steering committee left reassured. You didn't.
We diagnose programs that are reporting green but drifting in reality — mapping delivery against the approved business case, surfacing what detached and when, and giving the CFO the independent basis to act before the board has to ask.
2.5 Years in — Only 30% of the Value Delivered.
One program had run nearly 2.5 years, reporting steady progress the whole way. When we mapped delivery against the actual business case, it was 30% complete. We restructured the work — and in 3.5 months it reached 80%, positioned for go-live on the original calendar.
Everyone else in that room is financially invested in the program continuing as is. We're not. That's why our answer is different.
You’re About to Commit Capital — and the Story Doesn’t Hold
Before approval. The vendor story doesn't quite add up. The ROI looks optimistic. Nobody has stress-tested the assumptions.
We validate the business case, identify where optimism bias entered the proposal, stress-test vendor claims, and define kill criteria before sunk cost makes honest assessment politically impossible.
5× the Headcount — Caught Before Approval.
We modeled the operating cost of a proposed system against the functionality it actually delivered. Headcount requirements would increase 50x for incremental functionality the business case never justified. The CFO held the line before signature — not after.
The CFO commits with clarity — or doesn't commit at all. Either outcome is the right one.
Built from the inside. Not the whiteboard.
We Didn't Study This Problem. We Lived Inside It.
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P² Governance Methodology — a four-gate framework that governs capital decisions before and during execution
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Capital Governance Best Practices — ten criteria refined across dozens of engagements. Not published. Applied.
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Capital Balance Sheet — cumulative investment visibility by function, division, and program
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Cost to Serve Model — what delivery is actually costing against what was approved
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Capital Urgency Index — how available capital will be in your sector. In development.
No other firm brought this infrastructure to capital governance. Because no other firm built it from inside the programs where capital actually goes missing.
FROM THE CFO FORUMS
Allan Salek · Plateau Strategy
Nobody Has Opened Your Business Case Since Approval
Nobody has opened your business case since approval. And the program is still reporting green. That's the part that should worry you.
The first move in a real recovery isn't to fix the plan. It's to find the business case. Then rebuild the thread from every dollar in delivery back to a line in that document...
When the board loses faith in the PMO and the sponsor story.
the question lands on you.
The Question:
Are you comfortable standing up and saying you still believe in this program?
If you're not certain — that's the conversation Plateau exists to have.
PMO 2.0:
Not an upgrade to the PMO you have. A rebuild of what sits underneath it.
Runs on your existing PMO budget — not new spend.