From strategy to decision velocity, by design.
Your transformation isn’t slow. It’s stuck in approval loops.
Most teams are not blocked by effort. They are blocked by decision flow.
In sales-assisted commerce, the drag is in the implementation layer, in the messy middle: pricing and terms logic, exception handling, approval rules, and cross-functional handoffs.
Stories look “done” then bounce back from UAT, integrations stall on ERP dependencies, requirements churn mid sprint, approvals arrives late, and work gets reopened because decision rights and thresholds were never explicit. Work moves forward, hits a tripwire, and gets reopened.
Who I work with
I partner with CEOs, COOs and executives in mid-market B2B organizations ($75M to $800M revenue, 200 to 3,000 employees) running sales-assisted commerce: complex pricing and terms, plus ERP, CRM, PIM, and OMS integration.
I help teams facing implementation drag: projects slowed by restarts, approvals, and unclear decision rights.
Mandates working as Strategy and Management Senior Lead Consultant:
What I do
I help leaders restore decision velocity so delivery becomes repeatable.
That means I do not sell “alignment”. I build a decision system that closes decisions instead of reopening them: clear decision rights, explicit thresholds, and a cadence that keeps work moving.
How I work
1) Diagnose the drag
We pinpoint exactly where work gets restarted, who is blocking it, and which criteria are missing.
2) Install governance that sticks
We define decision objects, decision owners, thresholds, escalation paths, and decision SLAs. The goal is to make approvals legible, fast, and consistent.
3) Convert decisions into shipped outcomes
We turn decision-ready choices into shipped outcomes and real adoption, not just another roadmap.
Entry offer
My entry offer is a fixed-scope Transformation Friction Diagnostic that pinpoints where work is being restarted.
From there, teams typically choose one of two paths:
- Governance Install (build the decision system: owners, thresholds, decision SLAs, escalation paths, operating cadence)
- Implementation Drag Reduction Accelerator (use the system immediately to ship)
Implementation Drag Reduction Accelerator
Diagnostic + Governance Install + Throughput Sprint
A focused 10 to 12 week accelerator where governance becomes outcomes: we take what the Diagnostic surfaced, install the decision mechanisms, then run a throughput sprint to remove 1 to 2 bottlenecks fast, so delivery becomes measurably faster and more repeatable.
What it includes:
- Everything in the Diagnostic, plus governance installation (decision owners, thresholds, decision SLAs, escalation)
- A focused throughput sprint to unblock 1 to 2 major bottlenecks and deliver
- Conversion of decisions into a ship-ready backlog, with adoption rules so the platform becomes the default way of selling
- Guardrails for AI and lightweight automation (when it fits) to reduce cycle time and free capacity
- Before and after measurement: cycle time, restarts, exceptions, margin slippage, adoption
Where I specialize
I specialize in sales-assisted commerce where adoption breaks at the handoffs between Sales, Finance, Operations, and IT. Pricing and terms, exception paths, approvals, and ERP/CRM/OMS integration are where the build fails in real life. I remove the friction by making those edge cases executable: clear rules, decision thresholds, escalation paths, and an operating cadence that turns the platform into the default way of selling.
What this changes
- Less rework, fewer restarts, less “alignment tax”
- Faster cycle time from decision to delivery
- More consistent execution across business, product, IT, and partners
- Reduced margin slippage caused by exceptions, overrides, and unclear ownership
About me
I’m a Strategy and Management Senior Lead Consultant at Valtech, focused on commerce strategy, business transformation and Governance. With 25 years of experience, I work at the intersection of strategy and delivery: turning ambiguous priorities into decision-ready choices and a governance framework that keeps teams moving.
Most of my work sits where momentum usually breaks: governance frameworks and operating models, end-to-end process design, decision criteria and escalation paths, KPI design, and the operating cadence that turns strategy into decision velocity.
AI and GenAI
I approach AI the same way I approach everything else: as a framework problem.
Leaders do not need more pilots. They need clear decision boundaries, ownership, and guardrails so AI use cases can scale safely and actually reduce cycle time. When it fits, I help teams set that up, and embed lightweight automation that frees capacity.
Not a fit
Not for “just exploring,” open-ended workshops, or teams without an executive sponsor willing to name decision owners, enforce decision SLAs, and commit to measured outcomes.
A different kind of proof
For a completely different arena of proof, I was inducted to the 2020 eBay Hall of Fame as “The Digital Transformer”. Same reflex: focus on signal, make decisions fast, and execute consistently.
If your bottleneck is decision flow, I can help you restore pace and make delivery repeatable.
Michel Paquin is a Strategy and Management Senior Lead Consultant at Valtech, based in Montreal. He helps executive teams increase decision velocity by fixing the system around decision-making: governance, operating model, and the translation layer between strategy and delivery. He writes about business decision flows, transformation, and what actually makes change stick.
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* Please note that I am unable to accept mandates outside of my engagement with Valtech.
Feel free to reach out on my LinkedIn.
* Please note that I am unable to accept mandates outside of my engagement with Valtech.
