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Independent Program Review

Set Up Your Business-Critical Transformation Program For Success

An experienced team to independently validate your execution plans

Clear answers on leadership, delivery capability, and external dependencies

The ability to act on insights before issues become unmanageable

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Hidden Risks Derail Strategic Initiatives 

The evidence is clear. Extensive research confirms our experiences that over 90% of business-critical programs face major setbacks within a year.*

*Flyvbjerg, “How Big Things Get Done”. Published 2023.

In nearly every case, there’s a pattern.

From the outside, everything looks on track…until it isn’t. Stakeholders get partial updates. Risks are misunderstood. Dependencies are unacknowledged.

By the time leadership realises there’s a problem, it’s already expensive – and politically explosive.

Reputations Are On The Line

These programs are high-profile.

Failure isn’t just embarrassing – it’s career-limiting. It undermines trust, dents confidence – and can destroy partnerships.

Yet most organisations don’t have a reliable mechanism to check whether the program plan is actually executable – until the damage is done.

An Independent Program Review

The Operational Equivalent of Financial Due Diligence

No spin.

No politics.

No padding.

This is where an Independent Program Review (IPR) comes in. Think of it as the operational equivalent of financial due diligence for your program.

It’s not about whether your goals are ambitious – it’s whether your plan can deliver them.

IPRs define what serious, modern assurance looks like – and help avoid the classic problems that derail even well-resourced programs:

  • Multi-month delays
  • Budget overshoots
  • Muddled accountability

The Earlier The Better

Act before delivery pressure locks in weak assumptions:

Independent view that cuts through internal assumptions

Runs in parallel - doesn’t slow delivery

Supports the team, doesn’t interrogate them

Gives early confidence to boards and sponsors

Based on real-world experience

Take action now!

How an IPR Works in Practice

Results in a matter of weeks

Brendan O’Reilly, Boldyn CEO (Europe & Asia) explains why an Independent Program Review was vital for the successful rollout of the Roma 5G program.

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A Proven Track Record Spanning Over 3 Decades

30+

years’ experience

136

programs successfully delivered

100+

complex programs

100%

client satisfaction

Across over 100 complex programs, we’ve:

✓Flagged critical delivery issues months before they became unresolvable
✓Rebuilt execution confidence after leadership shake-ups
✓Helped clients avoid regulator intervention and reputational damage

Your Mentor Team

We’re not “consultants”. We’re practitioners in execution.

We roll up our sleeves – get the job done and then move on.

We tell it as it is, helping companies manage large, complex programs they have never tackled before.

David Hilliard

David Hilliard

Chief Executive

Founder and Chief Executive of Mentor Europe.

Mike Hosie

Mike Hosie

Partner

A successful change leader focussing on the delivery of complex-transformation programs.

Aga Domel team member

Aga Domel 

Head of Growth and Marketing

An experienced executive in managing strategic program execution.

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What Our Clients Say About Us:

With Mentor you get deep and wide experience of managing change in the telecommunications industry… I was very clear I was getting the ‘A-team’. I really appreciated their ability to roll up their sleeves and work with people in the business.

Paul Donovan, Senior Advisor CPP Investments (Ex-CEO Eircom)

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Paul Donovan
Digicel Digicel
Eir Eir
Arqiva Arqiva
EE EE
Samsung Samsung
Sky Sky
lastminute.com lastminute.com
tele2 tele2
o2 o2
Vodafone Vodafone
Virgin Mobile Virgin Mobile
ERICSSON ERICSSON
DELL DELL
Boldyn Boldyn
Nuuday Nuuday
Cornerstone Cornerstone
Cellnex Cellnex
Telefonica Telefonica
Three Three

FAQs

We’ve already reviewed the program ourselves. Why do we need an external view?

Internal reviews reflect internal assumptions that may be affected by biases and political motivations. An Independent Program Review cuts through these to reveal the true state of health and fitness for purpose of any business-critical program.

Will implementing an Independent Program Review delay our program?

An IPR runs in parallel and speeds things up. Initial results can be available in a matter of days.

I trust my team. Why do I need an external Independent Program Review?

IPR validates and supports good teams by complementing their skills and resources with experts in business-critical program execution.

Will getting external people in make my people feel nervous or threatened?

We’re practitioners, not consultants. We roll up our sleeves and get down to work, building relationships and working closely with all those involved in the program. Teams usually feel relief, not threat.

Why would I want to spend even more money on this program?

The modest costs of a preventive IPR are more than offset by the potential costs involved with late delivery.

Don’t Wait Until Problems Set Like Concrete

If you’re running a business-critical transformation program and don’t have an independent view of whether it’s executable…

…you’re taking a risk you may not even see.

Let’s have a short, confidential conversation. We’ll show you what good looks like – and how to get there, fast.

Commission Your IPR Today
Program Assurance and Risk Assessment

You want to make sure your program is set up correctly from the start and potential risks are managed.

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Program Pulse Check

Your program execution is underway but you want to make sure its on the right track by checking it’s status on a regular basis.

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Program recovery

Your executive team has lost confidence in the program delivery team – the program is delayed and over budget.

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4 easy steps to program execution success

Follow our approach and we’ll guarantee your results.

2 weeks

01

Discover

Survey, review

  • Transparent, challenging, and focused ‘deep dive’ approach based on the MentorBlueprint
  • 1:2:1 interview sessions with the senior program team
  • Survey wider program team and suppliers using the Mentor Execution Index 
  • In-depth review of the program documents, for example, budgets, high-level financials, program plan, program controls, governance and communications

1 week

02

Analyse

Interpret data, diagnose

  • Expert interpretation of data collected from your team, combined with the deep learning and dashboard results from the Mentor Execution Index
  • Identifies the scale of potential challenges, highlighting areas for improvement, acceleration, and strengthening of existing processes
  • Early identification of risks and required actions to reduce those risks

1 week

3

Recommend

Right solution, right approach

  • Delivery of final recommendations and setting out the actions essential to deliver the business case
  • Comprehensive solutions are drawn from program management expertise
  • Clearly defined strategic direction with a roadmap of initiatives to implement your strategy

1 week

4

Act

Detailed plan, execute

  • Program re-focussed and adjusted to meet strategic needs and deliver benefits
  • Wider organisation re-engaged with the program – responsibilities clearly understood
  • A partner with industry technical expertise and strong execution skills, working with you to get things done

Give your program the best start. Assess its chances of success using the Mentor Healthcheck.

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Benefiting from an independent program healthcheck

men-ico-speed

Speed

Fast, cost effective, broad and deep program insight

Detailed and immediately actionable execution/recovery plan

Significantly reduced late-stage surprises

men-ico-efficiency

Efficiency

Successful program delivery, driven by focussed recommendations

Build a program-ready organisation quickly, using data and feedback collected from across the organisation

Fast and better-informed decision-making

men-ico-certainty

Certainty

Achieve results using qualitative and quantitative data

Drive successful program delivery based on insight that can’t be challenged

Early identification of program-critical risks and issues

Program execution featured articles

Read our latest blogs and insight guides on program execution. Find out more about the how a robust program execution strategy can deliver business success.

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