From project to pillar
By now, your organisation may have stood up a Value Creation Office (VCO), delivered early wins, and begun demonstrating its strategic value. But the journey doesn’t end with mobilisation. For the VCO to become a long-term asset, it must evolve into a permanent, embedded capability, woven into the fabric of how your business runs and delivers.
In this final instalment of our Value Creation Office series, we explore what long-term success looks like, and how to futureproof your VCO beyond the initial transformation push.
Making the case for permanence
The initial temptation is to treat the Value Creation Office as a time-limited transformation office, a “fix it and close it” unit. But as the organisation matures, the value of the VCO increases, not decreases.
Why? Because business priorities change. Leadership rotates. New initiatives emerge. Without a consistent capability to align, monitor, and optimise change, you risk sliding backwards.
That’s why firms need to position the VCO as a standing strategic function, just like Finance, Strategy, or HR, charged with:
- Enterprise value oversight
- Alignment of initiatives to changing priorities
- Preservation of knowledge, tools, and reporting continuity
- Cultural reinforcement of value-focused delivery
How the VCO evolves over time
| VCO Stage | Key Focus | What Changes |
| Start-Up | Quick wins & credibility | Small team, limited scope |
| Growth | Portfolio-level governance | Introduction of benefit realisation dashboards |
| Scale | Integration across departments | Consistent delivery frameworks and KPIs |
| Maturity | Strategic business enabler | Embedded in planning cycles, budgeting, and talent |
At Davies, we advise our clients to review VCO maturity annually and refresh its mandate to reflect evolving business needs.
Institutionalising the capability
To embed the Value Creation Office long-term, consider the following building blocks:
1. Governance integration
Ensure VCO insights and reports are formally part of board and committee meetings. Make value reviews as routine as financial updates.
2. Role formalisation
Codify VCO roles in organisational design. Appoint permanent VCO leaders, with clear career pathways, professional development, and succession planning.
3. Budget ownership
Assign part of the transformation or strategy budget directly to the VCO. This empowers the office to act decisively and plan long-term.
4. Systems & data infrastructure
Move from manual spreadsheets to integrated tooling that connects strategy, delivery, and outcomes. Many Davies clients adopt or extend enterprise-wide platforms to include VCO dashboards.
5. Culture & mindset
Embed the language of value across the business. Train delivery teams on how value is defined, measured, and protected. Make every programme accountable for benefits, not just outputs.
Reimagining the VCO as a strategic partner
By positioning the VCO as a neutral arbiter of value, it can advise executive leaders, shape future strategy, and act as a risk buffer against underperforming investments. Done well, it becomes a:
- Challenge function: Holding delivery to account
- Insight hub: Bringing clarity to complexity
- Orchestration layer: Uniting silos behind a common purpose
- Guardian of value: Ensuring what matters gets done
The organisations that thrive in the next decade won’t be the ones with the boldest vision, but those with the most disciplined execution.
The Value Creation Office is not a trend. It’s a necessity.
At Davies, we partner with clients to design, launch, and operate high-performing VCOs. and in many cases, we act as the VCO itself through our VCO-as-a-Service model.
If you’d like to explore what a long-term VCO journey could look like for your organisation, we’d love to talk. Get in touch to speak to our experts.
