Lessons in developing an Investement Logic Map from the North Pole

The Story So Far.....

ConsultantCafe has used the Christmas Digital Transformation case study to demonstrate various consulting tools, templates, techniques and insights. The story so far:

• Mrs Claus wrote to us (don't cry when you read the letter here). It started a series of consultancies to demonstrate how ConsultantCafe undertakes consulting craft.
• Customer Journey Map: We developed a CJM that revealed that the magic of Christmas is under pressure from growing global demand, rising expectations from digitally native parents, and children who now expect personalised, frictionless experiences.
• Designed and established a PMO: Consultant Café built a right sized PMO that gave Mrs Claus the governance, controls, and decision support needed to shape a credible business case and establish the foundations to manage the transformation.

Investment Decision using Investment Logic Map

Pole Enterprises now had a functioning PMO and a clear customer journey map. Yet, the Board still needed evidence to make a confident investment decision to transform Christmas for the digital age.

Consultant Café stepped in to build an Investment Logic Map (ILM) that distilled the why, what, and how of the transformation into a simple, compelling narrative the Board could trust. This ILM became the backbone of the business case and created a structured line of sight from problems to benefits to investment options. The following section walks through how we developed the Investment Logic Map using our core approach methodology.

What did ConsultantCafe do?

ConsultantCafé began by grounding Pole Enterprises in a shared understanding of the problem. Christmas had outgrown its century-old operating model, global expectations had shifted, and parents now demanded reliability, transparency and digital confidence that simply did not exist in the current system. We worked with Mrs Claus, Elven Operations, Logistics, and Digital Sleigh Engineering to articulate the real drivers for change and the risks of standing still. This created a unified narrative about why an investment decision was not optional. It was essential to protect the magic, meet modern expectations and keep the North Pole competitive in a world where children number in the billions and their parents expect real-time certainty.

With that foundation in place, we turned the complexity into a decision-ready package the Board could rely on. We gathered evidence, clarified benefits, pressure-tested assumptions, and mapped realistic approaches.

Outcome Achieved for Mrs Claus

We developed a well-structured ILM (subscribers can see it below) that enabled the Pole Enterprises Board to grasp the heart of the challenge quickly, the benefits if the problem is solved, the required strategic response and the business changes and assets needed to deliver it. By distilling a complex transformation into a single, logical narrative, the ILM gave the Board the clarity and confidence to make an informed investment decision and set Christmas on a path toward digital transformation.