The Mid-Market Gap
Generic coaching lacks the depth. Big-firm consulting adds the bloat. RLK is the third option.
of middle market companies operate without a formal strategic plan
Nat'l Center for the Middle Market
organizations fail to fully execute their strategic priorities
Kaplan & Norton / HBR
minimum engagement ROI: the threshold every RLK engagement is built to clear
RLK Engagement Standard
Every engagement is built to clear that bar. If the math doesn't work for your situation, I'll tell you in the first conversation, and we won't start.
Who You're Working With
Ryan L. King
Founder, RLK Consulting
Over fifteen years advising CIOs, CTOs, and senior technology leaders responsible for enterprise-scale systems, large portfolios, and board-level accountability. First at McKinsey and Deloitte, then at RLK.
I work with technology leaders in transition: stepping into a new role, stabilizing under scrutiny, navigating cost pressure, modernizing delivery, or preparing for a transaction moment. The work is about repositioning technology as a front-office enabler, a function that creates value the business can underwrite.
Start the conversation →Why Leaders Choose RLK
Background
Client Work
Work completed at McKinsey, Deloitte, and through RLK.
Fortune 500 Insurance CIO
Result
Board embraced the framework on first presentation
A Fortune 500 insurance CIO needed a board-facing technology scorecard. Existing reporting was nonexistent and immature at best: no coherent framework, no financial translation, nothing the board could use to assess technology value. RLK designed 13 board-facing metrics and 30 underpinning IT health metrics for IT leadership, including custom indices calibrated against insurance industry peers. IT became the first function in the organization with reporting that mature. Technology went from a cost center narrative to a value creation story in a single presentation.
Global Logistics Operator
Result
Board approved multi-year program on first reading
A global logistics operator carried five inherited ERPs across acquired entities and had no commercial case the CFO could take to the board. RLK built the consolidation case across twelve workstreams (finance close, inventory, planning, procurement, HR) with sequencing that ran the lowest-risk workstreams first. The board approved the multi-year program on the first reading.
IRS CIO
Result
$4B in modernization capital deployed against named outcomes
The IRS CIO received substantial Inflation Reduction Act funding with no prioritization framework. Capital availability was not the problem; deployment discipline was. RLK built the investment prioritization framework tied to specific taxpayer experience outcomes and tranche-level accountability. Approximately $4 billion in modernization capital was deployed against named outcomes, and the program was nationally recognized with industry awards.
Regional Healthcare Organization
Result
11% technology spend reduction, zero capability reduction
A regional healthcare organization faced a board mandate to cut $3M in annual technology spend without impacting operations. Spend analysis identified the savings by restructuring two major vendor relationships and eliminating redundant licensing. Full savings realized within 90 days, at zero capability reduction.
PE-Backed Technology Services Firm
Result
Board-ready growth plan cleared in a single session
A PE-backed technology services firm ($220M ARR) needed a board-ready growth plan ahead of a recapitalization. RLK mapped three underserved segments with quantified revenue upside, sequenced the sprint plan, and built the supporting financial model. The plan cleared the board in a single session.
Financial Services Firm
Result
Three pilots moved to production within a single quarter
A financial services firm with 14 active AI pilots and zero production deployments. Structural diagnostic identified a governance bottleneck: every AI rollout required a compliance committee cycle averaging 8 months. Redesigned approval framework cut cycle time to 6 weeks. Three pilots moved to production within the next quarter.
Offerings
Not a scope that expands until the budget runs out. A focused sprint that produces decision-ready output and clears a defined ROI threshold.
Teams identify key growth drivers and sequence them into executable plans, without overwhelming the organization. Most engagements wrap in six weeks with clear decisions in hand.
Identifying where value is lost across the customer journey, aligning product priorities to lifetime value drivers, and enabling realistic execution across organizational silos.
Define the metrics that matter, connect them to financial outcomes, and build the narrative that earns alignment from boards, investors, and senior stakeholders.
Cost reduction is only useful if it creates room to grow. Identify wasteful spending and redirect capital toward performance-improving initiatives, without sacrificing what works.
C-suite partnership navigating strategy, board dynamics, major investments, and the high-stakes decisions that don't wait for the next quarterly planning cycle.
Define where AI creates real value, then redesign the decisions and workflows required for organizational absorption and scaling past the pilot stage.
Other scopes
These are the engagements where I go deepest and clients see the most repeatable results. Other scopes are possible. If your situation doesn't fit a category, start a conversation.
Thinking Out Loud
Topical strategy and AI perspectives written with the same rigor applied in client engagements. Specific enough to be useful, direct enough to share with your team.
The simplest way to make sense of Sam Altman: he is a large language model from ~2034, fine-tuned on the complete works of Y Combinator, and instructed to build the very thing he keeps warning us about. The evidence is in the outputs.
7 min readThe MIT finding on AI pilot failure is not a verdict on the technology. It is a verdict on procurement. The 5 percent that worked share a structural posture toward scope and accountability; it is teachable.
7 min readThe Gates Foundation's malaria intervention points to a deeper lesson: philanthropic capital creates far greater impact when deployed with analytical discipline: the same rigor that governs effective investment capital.
5 min readNew · AI Diagnostic · $397
61 questions. Scored across 5 dimensions. Specific findings and priority actions, delivered instantly. See a sample report before you buy.
Why Now
AI can draft the framework, synthesize the research, and generate the analysis. What it cannot do is sit in front of your board and defend the recommendation. It cannot read the room, tell you which assumptions are wrong, or push back when the strategy misreads the organization.
The consultants being replaced are the ones who charged for research, benchmarking, and deck assembly. That arbitrage is gone. What remains irreplaceable is pattern recognition built from doing this work across real organizations under real pressure: knowing which of your five AI initiatives are real and which three are theater, reading what isn't being said in a leadership meeting, pushing back on a CEO when the plan is wrong, and sequencing moves correctly when every stakeholder has a different priority.
In practice: I use AI tools to compress the analytical groundwork that used to take weeks. Spend analysis that once took two weeks now takes two days. Market benchmarking happens in hours, not cycles. That efficiency goes back to the client in the form of faster timelines and lower engagement cost. The judgment calls, the organizational read, and the work in the room are still mine.
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A strategic guide for executives navigating AI adoption without losing the organizational judgment that creates competitive advantage.
