CASE STUDY · EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP TRUST (EOT)
From Technical Founders to Enterprise Market Leader. How DeltaXignia Built the People Infrastructure Its Transformation Demanded.
AT A GLANCE
CLIENT
DeltaXignia
SECTOR
Information Technology
Key Outcomes
SIZE
25 employees
STRUCTURE
Employee Ownership Trust (EOT)
ENGAGEMENT TYPE
Fractional CPO Leadership evolving to Embedded HR Partnership
DURATION
Ongoing, 12+ months
CONTACT
Eithne Devine-Hynes, CEO
Talent strategy developed to support the pivot from technical to market-driven business.
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Engineering capability matrix and development plans built across the team.
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Dedicated HR function established for the first time in the organisation's history.
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Embedded HR partnership in place, operating as an extension of the leadership team.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
DeltaXignia is a 25-person software company operating as an Employee Ownership Trust, navigating one of the most demanding transitions a technology company can undertake: moving from a technical, founder-led model to an enterprise, market-driven one. That shift required new leadership thinking, a fundamentally different approach to capability and talent, and the kind of people infrastructure the business had never needed to build before. Ballast entered first as fractional CPO, working alongside CEO Eithne Devine-Hynes and the leadership team on the strategic and organisational dimensions of the transformation. As that work took hold, the engagement evolved into a fuller embedded HR partnership, with dedicated resource operating as part of the team. DeltaXignia now has a people function it did not have before, shaped around where the business is going rather than where it has been.
THE ORGANISATION
A Business Remaking Itself from the Inside
DeltaXignia began life as DeltaXML: a technically led, founder-built software business with deep expertise in its domain. The transition to an Employee Ownership Trust marked a significant moment, a change in ownership structure, leadership, and strategic direction arriving simultaneously. Eithne Devine-Hynes stepped in as incoming CEO with a clear mandate: to take a business built on technical excellence and reorient it towards the enterprise software market.
That meant changing not just the strategy but the organisation itself. The capabilities that had built DeltaXML were not the same capabilities needed to compete in a market-driven enterprise model. The roles, the ways of measuring and rewarding performance, all of it needed to evolve and it needed to evolve whilst the business continued to operate and deliver without disturbing the culture that was already thriving.
THE CHALLENGE
The Starting Point
When Eithne took on the role, she understood immediately that the people dimension of the transformation would be as demanding as the commercial one. DeltaXignia had no dedicated HR function. Strategic people decisions, day-to-day HR administration, talent planning, engagement, all of it sat with leadership in an informal and fragmented way. That had been sufficient for a stable, technically-focused business. It was not sufficient for a business in the process of remaking itself.
The specific challenge centred on the engineering team. The business needed to move towards hybrid capabilities, individuals who could bridge the technical depth that had always defined DeltaXML with the commercial and client-facing orientation that the DeltaXignia enterprise market required. Defining what that looked like, finding it, and building it within the existing team was not a task that could be handled alongside everything else without dedicated support.
"I knew from the outset I needed the support of a Chief People Officer skillset. General HR support was required across our business, from strategic people decisions to administration setup and ownership."
EITHNE DEVINE-HYNES, CEO · DELTAXIGNIA
WHAT WAS AT STAKE
The risk of leaving the people dimension underdeveloped was not abstract. A business transformation of this scale depends on having the right people in the right roles, structured and supported in a way that allows them to perform differently than they have before. Without that, the strategic direction and the commercial intent would remain as intent only. The people evolution, as Eithne put it, would simply not have progressed as it did.
DeltaXignia had also built something rarer than most: a genuinely strong culture. Preserving that through a period of significant structural and strategic change was not a given. Holding the culture whilst major change happened around it required the same deliberate attention as the commercial work itself.
THE DECISION
The Right Fit from the First Conversation
Eithne did not consider a permanent hire or an alternative consultancy. The need was clear: someone with genuine Chief People Officer capability, commercially grounded, who could operate credibly at leadership team level from the start. For a 25-person business navigating transformation, the overhead of a permanent senior hire made no sense. What was needed was the capability, at the right scale, without the structure.
"From the beginning I had a good connection and understanding with Nicola. I could see she understood people."
EITHNE DEVINE-HYNES, CEO · DELTAXIGNIA
WHY BALLAST
The decision was straightforward. What Eithne needed was someone who could hold the strategic and the human dimensions simultaneously, understanding the commercial logic of the transformation whilst remaining attuned to what it meant for the individuals inside the business. That combination is not common, and Eithne recognised it quickly.
THE ENGAGEMENT
The Model That Followed the Need
PHASE ONE: FRACTIONAL CPO LEADERSHIP
The engagement began at the strategic level. Nicola worked directly with Eithne and Tejas Barhate, Head of Engineering & Service Delivery, on the people dimensions of the business transformation, which involved, how to think about capability in a business pivoting from technical to market-driven, how to approach talent within the engineering team, and how to frame and sequence the people evolution the business needed to undertake. The initial project was focused on the software engineering team, defining what hybrid capability looked like in practice, what skills the business needed to develop or acquire, and how to move the organisation forward without losing the technical depth that remained its foundation.
BUILDING THE ENGINEERING CAPABILITY FRAMEWORK
Tejas Barhate leads all engineers across the business. Working with Nicola, Tejas and the team developed a capability matrix for the engineering function alongside individual development plans for each team member. The work gave the business something it had not had before: clear visibility of where strengths sat across the team, where the gaps were, and which engineers were ready to take on greater responsibility or move into new roles.
The work extended beyond the team to Tejas himself. Alongside the capability work, Nicola coached him personally on leadership and on developing a more strategic mindset, helping him approach organisational planning and team development with greater purpose.
"Nicola was brought in to help us build a more structured approach to engineering capability and people development. Working with her was a very positive experience. She brought a pragmatic, collaborative approach and challenged us to think beyond immediate delivery needs, focusing instead on long-term capability building."
TEJAS BARHATE, HEAD OF ENGINEERING & SERVICE DELIVERY · DELTAXIGNIA
The business now has a consistent framework for development conversations, clearer and more consistent career planning, and a far more straightforward way of identifying succession candidates and growth opportunities across the engineering team, with clear evidence of how this work has contributed to both retention and attraction of talent.
PHASE TWO: EMBEDDED HR PARTNERSHIP
As the strategic groundwork took hold, it became clear that DeltaXignia needed something more sustained than senior input alone. The business required ongoing operational HR capability, resource that could drive the people agenda forward day to day, embedded within the organisation. Amber Lammas, HR & Development Advisor, joined the team in that capacity. Quarterly check-ins with the management team provided the strategic rhythm, whilst regular touchpoints with Eithne kept the senior relationship close.
RESULTS
A People Function Built for Where the Business Is Going
AREA
OUTCOME
Talent strategy
Developed to support the pivot from technical to enterprise market-driven model
Hybrid capability model
Defined and embedded within the engineering team
HR function
Established for the first time, with administration, ownership and ongoing roadmap in place
Embedded partnership
Dedicated HR resource operating as part of the DeltaXignia team
Leadership support
CEO supported at strategic level throughout, with regular touchpoints and quarterly management team reviews
People evolution
Progressed materially faster than it would have without dedicated capability in place
DeltaXignia now has a people function that is genuinely its own, shaped around the direction the business is taking rather than the one it came from. The leadership team operates with more confidence and more support than at the start. The hybrid capability work that was the original catalyst has given way to a broader, more sustained partnership, one that will underpin the business as it continues to grow into the enterprise market it is building towards.
LASTING IMPACT
The Infrastructure to Grow Into
For a business of twenty-five people navigating the kind of transformation DeltaXignia has undertaken, having dedicated HR capability is not a structural nicety, it is what allows the people agenda to move forward, rather than being absorbed into everything else leadership is already carrying. The function Ballast has helped build has become part of how the business operates offering a rhythm of support, strategic and operational, that DeltaXignia can continue to grow into as the enterprise ambition takes further shape.
"We are getting the variety of support we need without having to invest in an in-house function. Peace of mind on HR matters."
EITHNE DEVINE-HYNES, CEO · DELTAXIGNIA
THE MODEL
What Changed for DeltaXignia
Talent strategy developed to support the business pivot from technical to enterprise market-driven model.
Engineering capability matrix and individual development plans built for every member of the team, giving the business clear visibility of strengths, gaps and readiness for progression.
Consistent framework for development conversations, career planning and succession.
Personal leadership coaching for Tejas Barhate, Head of Engineering & Service Delivery, supporting a more strategic and intentional approach to organisational planning.
Dedicated HR function established for the first time, with administration, ownership and a forward-looking people roadmap in place.
Leadership team operating with greater confidence and support than at the outset of the transformation.