When an organization realizes something needs to change, the hardest part is often figuring out what actually needs to change.
Sometimes the problem is obvious. A service desk is overwhelmed, processes are inconsistent, employees are working around broken procedures, or a major project is in trouble. Other times, leadership knows the outcome it wants—a more reliable IT operation, better visibility into service performance, or a team that can manage its own systems—but doesn’t know how to bridge the gap.
That is where consulting helps.
At Ashford Global, consulting ranges from a few hours of targeted advice to formal assessments, IT service management (ITSM) initiatives, process improvement, governance, project recovery, and long-term organizational transformation.
The size and shape of the engagement depend entirely on the problem, your resources, and how much hands-on support you actually need.
It Starts With an Initial Consultation
Most potential engagements begin with an initial consultation at no charge. It typically takes about an hour, but can run longer when the situation requires more discussion or preparation.
The purpose isn’t to deliver a high-pressure sales pitch. It is an honest discussion to understand what you are trying to accomplish, what has already been attempted, what information is available, and whether Ashford is the right partner for the job.
Clients typically arrive in one of two ways:
- A specific request:“We need help designing our incident management process.”
- A general problem or outcome:“Our IT support operation isn’t working, and we aren’t sure where to start.”
We work with both. You don’t need a perfectly defined statement of work before calling us—part of our job is helping you determine the actual root cause. Conversely, if you know exactly what you want, we will evaluate the scope, clarify requirements, and confirm whether it aligns with your objectives.
The initial conversation is also where we determine if a project is not a good fit. If the request falls outside our core expertise, requires a niche specialist, or cannot be delivered responsibly within your budget or timeline, we will tell you upfront. Knowing that before a contract is signed protects everyone involved.
Understanding Reality: Assessments, Findings, and Roadmaps
A good consulting engagement starts with understanding the current reality, not relying on assumptions.
Depending on the engagement, this can include formal ITSM or ITIL assessments, process assessments, current-state analysis, gap analysis, readiness assessments, and written findings with actionable recommendations. This involves interviewing stakeholders, reviewing existing documentation, examining system data, and observing how work actually gets done.
There is often a significant gap between documented policy and daily practice:
- The policy no one follows: A beautifully written process manual that employees bypass because it slows them down.
- The undocumented process: An effective workflow that exists entirely in the heads of a few senior staff members, creating immense operational risk.
Our assessments produce clear findings and structured roadmaps. A roadmap outlines immediate quick wins, process adjustments, governance, technology requirements, training needs, and long-term milestones. However, not every client needs a massive transformation roadmap; sometimes the right answer is several hours of expert guidance, a documented recommendation, or a single process redesign.
Core Consulting Capabilities
IT Service Management (ITSM) and ITIL 5
IT Service Management is central to our consulting practice. Ashford consults across ITIL 5 practices and IT service management, from individual practice improvement and process design to broader ITSM operating models, governance, measurement, and continual improvement.
We help translate framework concepts into practical daily operations so your team can make better decisions, establish clear value streams, and execute work consistently.
Process Design and Improvement
Processes break down over time due to unclear ownership, duplicated steps, unnecessary approvals, undocumented procedures, or missing handoffs. We analyze where workflows stall, redesign them for efficiency, establish clear documentation, build supporting procedures, and help your staff understand how to operate the new way.
Governance, Leadership, and Organizational Structure
Many operational failures are decision-making failures, not technology failures. We help establish clear governance—defining decision rights, RACI models, roles and responsibilities, policies, workforce requirements, management structures, and accountability frameworks.
We also work directly with executives and leaders through leadership coaching, workshops, strategic planning, business case development, cost/benefit analysis, and risk management to ensure initiatives align with business objectives.
Performance Measurement, Metrics, and Dashboards
Organizations need a way to determine whether operational changes are producing real results. We help design and refine:
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Operational Level Agreements (OLAs)
- Service metrics and dashboards
- Management reporting and continual improvement measurements
A dashboard full of numbers doesn’t automatically create useful management information. We focus on metrics that help leaders understand performance and make better decisions.
Technology, Services, and Specialized Support
Vendor-Neutral ITSM Tool Selection
Choosing an ITSM platform is an expensive decision. Ashford is vendor-neutral and has no financial stake in the platform you select. This allows us to help you evaluate competing platforms, review RFPs/RFQs, and determine which capabilities actually match your technical requirements, operating model, and budget.
(Note: While our primary focus is advisory, tool selection, and requirements design, we also provide specialized technical project work—such as workflow configuration, integrations, and data migration—when appropriate.)
Service Catalogs and Knowledge Management
Turning informal staff knowledge into structured assets is essential for scaling an operation. We consult on defining service catalogs, organizing knowledge bases, establishing documentation standards, and helping employees learn how to use and maintain these resources.
Project Recovery, Business Analysis, and Facilitation
When a critical project is behind schedule or compromised, we offer project recovery services. We conduct realistic diagnostics to identify why the initiative stalled, re-align stakeholders, and build a practical recovery plan. While additional resources can accelerate work, complex organizational issues take time to stabilize and recover.
Our business analysis and consulting work extends into strategic planning, operational performance, workforce planning, requirements gathering, leadership workshops, and facilitated planning and decision-making.
Complementary Security, Continuity, and Disaster Recovery
We can also support disaster recovery, business continuity planning, and security-related work when it is relevant to the broader engagement, including security policies, access governance, awareness, and incident response planning.
Security is most valuable when integrated into broader operational workflows. For highly specialized cybersecurity auditing or technical penetration testing, we recommend bringing in a dedicated specialist rather than treating every security challenge as a general consulting engagement.
Public and Private Sector Experience
Ashford Global works with private commercial enterprises, federal, state, and local government agencies, government contractors, and public-sector organizations.
Ashford can also support healthcare organizations with general IT, ITSM, and business consulting; when specialized healthcare expertise is required, we can work alongside or recommend an appropriate specialist.
Consulting and Training: Building Internal Capability
One of Ashford Global’s distinguishing capabilities is combining management consulting with professional training.
Sometimes an organization needs us to do the work. Sometimes it needs us to teach its employees how to do the work. Often, it needs both.
Ashford can design a new process, framework, or operating model, and then formally train the employees who will run, measure, and maintain it. Knowledge transfer is intentionally built into our engagements.
The goal is straightforward: your organization should be more capable and self-sufficient at the end of the engagement than it was when we started.
Consulting Is a Partnership
Consulting isn’t magic. Hiring a consultant does not remove the organization’s responsibility for the initiative.
Ashford can do the heavy lifting—we interview stakeholders, analyze data, write process documentation, facilitate workshops, deliver training, and build implementation roadmaps. But leadership still has to lead.
Employees take their cues from leadership. When leaders visibly support a change, communicate its importance, provide necessary access, make timely decisions, and reinforce new expectations through their actions, employees are much more likely to adopt the change successfully.
A consulting recommendation only becomes an operating reality when consultant expertise is paired with genuine leadership commitment.
Working Relationship: Timelines, Dependencies, and Scope
A successful engagement relies on a few practical realities:
- Client Participation: Whether you prefer hands-on collaboration or want us to manage most of the heavy lifting, we still need basic access to your people, systems, information, and decision-makers. Following our initial consultation, we provide structured information requests or questionnaires to keep data gathering efficient. If the organization does not know how to gather what we need, we can help break the request down, provide templates, explain what is needed, or speak directly with the people who have the information.
- Dependencies Drive Timelines: While we control how quickly our team produces deliverables, overall project schedules depend on client participation. If gathering internal feedback or decisions takes weeks, project milestones adjust accordingly.
- Scalable Scope: We scale engagements to match real budgets. We can provide high-priority recommendations and train your team to execute the rest internally, or we can provide end-to-end implementation support. If project scope shifts mid-engagement, we address those changes transparently through formal scope updates.
Ongoing Advisory and Urgent Support
Our work doesn’t have to end when a primary deliverable is complete:
- Ongoing Advisory: We offer ongoing retainer arrangements, advisory support, and post-implementation reviews to help organizations refine processes, handle operational changes, and drive continual improvement over time.
- Urgent Consulting: Urgent consulting is available when circumstances require rapid intervention. Because this type of work requires expedited scheduling and resources, it is priced accordingly.
Should You Consult Yourself or Hire a Professional?
Not every organizational problem requires hiring an outside firm. Many operational challenges can be resolved internally if your team has the time, objectivity, and information required.
For guidance on making that decision, read our companion framework:
How to Consult Yourself: When to Do It Yourself and When to Bring in a Professional
Ready to Talk Through a Consulting Need?
You do not need to have the entire project figured out before contacting Ashford Global.
If you know exactly what you need, we can discuss the specific requirement. If you know something needs to change but are not sure what the solution should be, that is a valid place to start as well.
The initial consultation is an opportunity to explain your situation, discuss desired outcomes, and decide whether Ashford Global is the right consulting partner for your team.