How would you measure the success of Deloitte Ascend, the platform consulting teams use to deliver engagements?

Introduction

Ascend is a Deloitte platform used by consulting teams to deliver engagements. Deloitte USI hires product owners specifically for Ascend, with job posts describing work on product strategy, feature definition and delivery of "user-centric, scalable capabilities". Public detail is limited, so I'll state my assumption clearly: Ascend gives engagement teams a shared set of methods, accelerators (reusable templates, code and tools), and a workspace to plan and track delivery for technology transformation projects such as ERP and cloud implementations. Measuring its success is a good test of internal-product thinking: the users are Deloitte practitioners, the customers are Deloitte's clients, and the value shows up in faster, higher-quality delivery rather than in direct revenue.

Step 1

Product Context (3 minutes)

Key stakeholders:

• Engagement teams (analysts, consultants, managers): use Ascend to plan work and reuse accelerators.
• Engagement leaders (senior managers, partners): accountable for delivery quality, margin and client satisfaction.
• Clients: experience faster, more predictable delivery.
• Offering and asset owners: build and maintain accelerators.
• Deloitte USI: large share of delivery capacity and of the product and engineering teams behind the platform.

User flow (assumed):

1. An engagement is set up in Ascend with its type (for example SAP S/4HANA migration).
2. The team gets a recommended delivery plan, method steps and relevant accelerators.
3. Team members use templates, tools and code assets during delivery.
4. Progress, risks and decisions are tracked in the workspace.
5. At closure, lessons and improved assets are fed back into the platform.

Lifecycle stage: growth. The platform is in use across many engagements, but adoption depth varies by team and offering.

Why it matters: Deloitte's FY2026 results showed technology and transformation consulting growing only about 2.5% while the firm committed US$3 billion through 2030 to modernise delivery with AI. Platforms like Ascend are how a consulting firm turns individual know-how into repeatable assets that improve margin and quality.