Experience and Examples

Executive Prep

Created market and technology briefings, analyst and new report summaries, researched key clients and gathered background for conference presentations, sales calls and board meetings for the CEOs of several IT service providers and software product providers.

Market/Technology/Competitive Research

We conduct a continuous stream of research for our client base, often performing an ongoing series of projects per client. The list below highlights a few examples to show the breadth of our work.

• NetPro Computing - researched the Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint market segments to determine growth potential, hot issues and top marketing messages
• Keane – performed market/competitive assessments for application outsourcing, e-business services and IT metrics analysis firms, researched mid-market service firm acquisition candidates as well as many other research projects
• ArcStream Solutions and Apriva – researched industry sector business opportunities for mobile and wireless technology products and services
• Large Japanese Service Provider – assessment of best practices and common service level metrics and terms used by competitors in the application service provider market
• Multiple clients – researched business opportunities and impacts of federal regulations in areas such as HIPAA, SOX regulatory compliance, outsourcing, and energy assistance and weatherization programs
• Multiple clients – identified and collected background information on potential business partners (distributors, resellers, service providers)
• Janney Montgomery - assessed the Year 2000 product and services market and presented the findings to mutual fund managers in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
• Cutter – Produced over 30 analyst briefs as well as 14 detailed research reports on the following topics: "Managing & Modernizing Legacy Applications," "Developing a Global Sourcing Strategy," "Aligning IT Delivery Options with Corporate Objectives," "Using Tools to Manage Sourcing," "Getting the Most Out of Your IT Application and Project Investments," "Improving Customer Relationships Using Wireless Technology," "Maintaining Alignment When Outsourcing," "Alignment Through Learning," "Outsourcing Development," "Developing and Implementing a Core Competence-Based Strategy," "Planning and Managing Service Levels," "Creating Outsourcing Service Agreements," "Ensuring IT is e-Business Ready" and "Making the Decision to Outsource"

Surveys

• Multiple companies – designed and conducted customer satisfaction surveys across hundreds of clients; repeated surveys over multiple years to identify trends and assess the impact of service improvements
• Keane and NetPro – designed and conducted employee satisfaction surveys and provided recommendations. The Keane surveys captured assessments from over 8,000 employees.
• Multiple companies – developed surveys to capture market and best practice information from conference attendees. See an example of the survey results from NetPro's 2006 DEC conference.
• Large software company – conducted a survey of business partner opinions on the company's partner education offerings

Due Diligence

• Keane - performed research and assisted in onsite due diligence for the company's acquisition of an Indian services firm
• Multiple clients – behind the scenes research on acquisition candidates to assess market reputation and uncover hidden considerations
• Multiple clients – evaluated suppliers, products and services prior to purchase approvals
• Multiple clients – assessed large services proposals for issues, completeness and compliance to corporate policies

Situation Assessments

Since our founding, we have performed many assessments of IT and services projects, application portfolios (for quality and as outsourcing candidates) as well as non-IT sales and organizational assessments. Some examples include:

• Large multinational insurance company – conducted separate assessments of the practices and processes of their IT sourcing and travel services organizations
• Multiple legal firms – assessed causes of complex project failures to support litigation efforts. Activities included researching issues, writing opinions, and presenting at trial.
• Large outsourcer – conducted a sales win/loss review across multiple proposed engagements
• Canadian Telecom – conducted an assessment of IT practices, processes and standards for a 700 person organization

Custom Research

These projects apply research to creatively address a specific business need. For example, capturing unique insights about a hot topic or developing a detailed understanding of a prospect's business issues provides a powerful differentiator for marketing and sales programs. The projects below are two of the many custom research projects we've performed for clients.

• Dextrys – designed and then conducted a joint project with Dextrys, an offshore services provider, to evaluate the opportunities, challenges and recommended practices for US software firms seeking to do business in China. The project included telephone interviews with 781 Chinese companies and produced the report: Marketing Business Software in China.
• Large service provider – identified a set of characteristics to describe an ideal outsourcer prospect, searched company SEC filings to identify candidates fitting the profile, conducted further web research to capture information on each company, its issues and the background of its CEO and senior executives. This information was used to create a successful letter campaign targeting company CEOs to introduce offerings and request a meeting.