The margin gap has a cause.
And a solution.
The variance report is never where the problem starts.
A series on the commercial mechanics of margin erosion in technology services deals. Each piece addresses one dimension of the same problem: margin that was forecast at signing and never materialized in delivery. The conditions that produce it follow recognizable patterns, created upstream of where the variance materializes, in commercial decisions made before the consequences were visible.
The Margin Gap
Each piece is a structured argument on one dimension of the margin problem.
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Substack builds the case. LinkedIn is the pressure test. Follow for the argument, distilled.
Follow on LinkedIn →The gap between forecasted and delivered margin originates before delivery. The series diagnoses it.
The margin projection was built to win the deal, not to survive delivery. That's not a capability problem. It's a structural condition, and it has a specific correction point. Most interventions happen after it. That's why they don't hold.
The intervention that changes outcomes isn't the delivery audit six months after signature. It's having someone with the standing and the pattern recognition to act at the point when the outcome is still determinable. Most companies don't have that combination. The margin report shows it.
When the variance report becomes a recurring conversation, the explanation doesn't recover the margin. What it does is reset the baseline for the next deal. That cycle has a source. Locating it precisely enough to address it before the next deal closes is what breaks it.