---
title: "Kadence Group"
description: "Kadence Group removes the operational, political, and technology bottleneck in stalled enterprise programs and gets them back to green. Led by Mike Sommer."
url: https://www.thekadencegroup.com/
site: Kadence Group
---

# We remove the bottleneck. You get back to green.

Stalled programs carry three problems at once: operational, political, and technology. Nobody inside can name all three out loud. We do. Then we fix them in the right order, with your team.

*Twenty years inside programs at*

IBM, Coca-Cola, TD Ameritrade, Medtronic, BlueCross, AmerisourceBergen, GORE, CenturyLink, AbbVie, Allergan

- **$1.6M to $2.4M**: Annual drag found inside one MedTech Salesforce org

- **$4.5M**: Savings from a Salesforce center of excellence Mike led for a national telecom carrier

- **75+**: Enterprise engagements over 20 years


_Client names withheld. Findings on file._

*Point of view*

## Every stalled program has three problems tangled together.

Most firms fix the one they sell. Technology firms fix technology. Change firms fix process. The program stays yellow because the other two problems are still there.
**The operational bottleneck** is how the work really runs. Teams keep their own version of the truth. Handoffs have no owner. The system of record isn't one.
**The political bottleneck** is who is pulling which way. The sponsor and the integrator want different outcomes. Nobody says so in the steering meeting, so the status slide stays yellow.
**The technology bottleneck** is what the platform can carry. It can usually carry the plan. Two or three overdue changes are holding up everything built on top.
Somebody has to name all three out loud, put a dollar figure on each, and fix them in the order that unblocks the rest. That is the work.

*When leaders call us*

## Three moments when the truth can't wait

### Something just broke in public. (Incident)

A system incident exposed what nobody could see. Leadership needs to know how deep it goes before the next one.

### You just inherited it. (New leader)

New role, or a deal just closed. Risk you didn't create. You need a read before you own the outcome.

### The AI or platform rollout stalled. (Stalled rollout)

The pilot looked good. Production did not. You need forensics, not another roadmap.

*How to work with us*

## Three ways in. One goal.

Start where the program is. Every engagement begins with a read, and every read ends with an order of fixes.

### The read (4 to 8 weeks)

We name the three bottlenecks, put a dollar figure on each, and hand you the Fix-First Sequence. It runs on Business MRI, the method Mike built from 75+ engagements.

[How Business MRI works](https://www.thekadencegroup.com/business-mri)

### Forward deployed architecture (Embedded term)

A senior architect inside your program. Makes the calls, unblocks the integrator, and builds with your team until it's green.

[See the work](https://www.thekadencegroup.com/work)

### Build and enablement (After the read)

We run the fixes with your people, set the operating rhythm, and leave your team able to own it.

[See the work](https://www.thekadencegroup.com/work)

*Why now*

> Usual frame: AI is the problem.
>
> AI is the pressure surfacing the problem. The problem is older than AI, and so is the work of fixing it.

The companies that slow down to retool will multiply with AI. The ones that don't will stall. We help the ones who decide to slow down.

*Who does the work*

## Mike Sommer, Founder and Managing Partner

Credentials: 20 years, 75+ engagements, Former Senior Director, IBM, CGEIT, Stanford GSB

**The person you meet does the work.**

Kadence Group is my advisory and build firm. I've spent twenty years inside large enterprise programs, most of them in regulated industries. Diagnosis first, always. Then the build, in the right order.

[More about Mike](https://www.thekadencegroup.com/about)

## See what's real. Build what's next.

If a program is stuck, start with one conversation.

[Book a conversation](https://calendly.com/mike-sommer/1-hr-meeting-block)