Layers nobody chose, and a target that has to be set before anyone can be told there is one.
Margin or covenant pressure makes the reduction unavoidable, and the scrutiny makes a defensible rationale unavoidable too. But the thinking has to happen before the organisation knows the question exists. A Brief runs entirely between you and us and produces a first business case, stated as assumptions because it is built before the diagnosis.
A confidential Brief first, then Design once the target is set.