A fast‑growing safety consulting company engaged CME Strategies to build the internal infrastructure needed to support rapid headcount growth and increasingly complex client projects. The organization wanted to move beyond spreadsheets and ad‑hoc communication and establish a professional operational backbone that could scale. One of the outcomes was $95,000 in additional revenue.
From 2 to 20 Employees Without Losing Quality
The safety consulting firm was preparing to grow from 2 to 20 employees in just six months and knew their existing systems would not keep up. They lacked an integrated Employee Resource Planning (ERP) system, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, and a robust project management system; most work was being tracked via spreadsheets and email threads. At the same time, they needed a fractional Chief Operating Officer (COO) to provide day‑to‑day operational leadership and strategic oversight during a 12‑month engagement. Their overarching goal was clear: build internal infrastructure for expansion while maintaining quality, communication, and agility.
Strategy, Process Design, and Embedded Leadership
CME Strategies began with a structured initial strategy session to clarify growth targets, operational pain points, and resource constraints. This was followed by detailed process mapping to understand how work actually moved through the organization- from client in-take to project delivery. Leveraging this insight, CME Strategies developed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for key activities and designed an operations architecture that would support scale.
To ensure changes were grounded in reality, CME provided an embedded fractional COO who conducted onsite visits in hardhats and safety vests, observed field work, and worked directly with teams. This executive‑level resource acted as a “super user” for the company’s software stack, training staff on applicable ERP, CRM, and project management tools and serving as an extension of the C‑suite for selected business development efforts. Ongoing strategic planning sessions with the CEO aligned operational decisions with long‑term growth goals.
Over the 12‑month engagement, CME Strategies recommended and supported several foundational changes:
Investment in an ERP system with integrated CRM and project management capabilities, including alignment with the client’s invoicing system.
Standardization of hiring and onboarding processes to support rapid, high‑quality talent ramp‑up.
Creation of job aids, templates, and documented SOPs to ensure consistency across projects and teams.
These solutions transformed previously informal, manual workflows into structured, repeatable processes governed by clear documentation and tools
By the end of the engagement, the safety consulting company had tangible, measurable improvements:
Five project‑specific SOPs created to standardize critical operational activities.
A Confluence workspace built to centralize leadership team communication and knowledge sharing.
Two 12‑month strategic plans developed to guide organizational growth and operational priorities.
Onboarding time reduced from 14 days to just 5 days, enabling the company to absorb new hires quickly without sacrificing quality.
As fractional COO, CME Strategies helped land a new customer and project in under eight months, expand the company’s service offerings, and support the client in securing approximately $95,000 in additional revenue.
info@cme-strategies.com
984-400-8770
315 Hubert Street 2-GG, Raleigh, NC 27603