Today marks the end of our several-months long engagement with Cogent Analytics and, unfortunately, the end of our time with Andy on site. I do sincerely mean it when I say that our entire team will be sad to see him go; yet we remain grateful for the insights he provided, the knowledge he imparted, and the new course for the company that he has helped chart. Andy truly became part of the team and quickly became viewed by everyone in the company not as an outsider but as “one of us.” It was amazing to me how deeply Andy immersed himself into our history, culture, and people, to such a point that he was able to articulate all the strengths of Ohio Service Group and effectively pitch the opportunity to outside groups even better than most of us could have.
The last three months have been full of challenges and triumphs that no one could have foreseen. Andy guided us through a complete restructuring of the company, implementation of new processes and controls, realignment of resources, investment in new technology, personnel changes, and all the other business operation changes that were badly needed. In addition to that, Andy was with us through the chaos and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding shutdowns. The challenges that Ohio Service Group and so many others faced during that time were unprecedented, and Andy stayed with us through all of it. The fact that Andy chose to stay on site with us when everything was ordered to lock down spoke volumes to us of his commitment not only to the project, but to each of us as individuals he had come to know. We are
deeply appreciative of that conscious decision he made and the many positive benefits we have enjoyed from his time here. We all feel strongly that we were given a project director but actually received so much more – we ended up with an ally, an advocate, and a friend.
Over the last few month Andy has helped the leadership team view our roles and responsibilities a new and more productive light. He has helped us analyze the new sets of data to make better decisions and re-align key segments of the business. All throughout that process, I noted that he never pushed solutions or decisions on the executive team or in any way tried to impose anything. Rather, he ensured that he furnished the team with the necessary information and context, and in some cases provided coaching and mentorship, but then he allowed the executives room to make the calls. I believe that through this process we all have learned a great deal from him and are positioned to be self-sustaining and to continue the forward momentum well into the future.
My expectations for this engagement with Cogent Analytics have all been more than met Andy has exceeded every one of them. I do look forward to our next opportunity to work together and I would highly recommend your services.
Ohio Service Group
