Consulting Services
 

What We Do
Following are some examples of successful client engagements. These are highlights of a few specific projects, not the full range of our work over the years. For virtually all of our clients we help executives, managers and professionals increase their understanding of how technology works; and conversely we help engineers and technical specialists understand the business objectives that drive organizational strategy and tactics.

Product Strategy
For NextMark.com we helped develop a five-year product development strategy that aligned internal resources, communicated to external investors, and focused marketing messages. We listened to the marketplace requirements, surveyed the broad array of possible technical solutions and guided the product development priorities to best meet customer demands. The result was a set of products that solved specific customer problems and generated initial revenue upon launch.

Organizational Alignment
For Colby-Sawyer College we helped craft a new, broad-based website communications initiative that brought senior officers together in conceptual agreement, managed faculty and staff requirements toward consensus, and satisfied the needs of the primary audience - 17 year-old high-school students. We created and worked with a diverse Web Council to field requests from the campus community, celebrated successful website sections, and raised web awareness by presenting at all-staff meetings. The result has been a clear focus of the goals for the website, strong buy-in at all levels of the organization, and individual commitments to support the organizational approach. We work closely with senior staff in communications, information resources, admissions, campus life and academic programs to fine-tune existing policies and procedures as well as craft new approaches to internal and external communications requirements.

Sales and Acquisition
For NextMark.com we also supported marketing and sales efforts to educate customers about a new Internet-based approach to direct marketing list research and management. Through presentations, demonstrations, proposals and staff coaching, we brought customers down the aisle so that sales could close deals. Our ability to explain highly technical details in relation to business goals, and to coach internal staff in technical concepts, made this an especially productive engagement.

Requirements Analysis and Vendor Evaluation
For Fluent, Inc. we worked with Gregory S. Franklin Associates to conduct an extensive internal requirements analysis for a Unix-based customer relationship management application. We conducted internal interviews that drove a consensus decision, selected vendors for further evaluation, managed the proposal process, and provided a strategic deployment roadmap. The system was chosen during years of rapid growth which included several corporate acquisitions.

Qualitative Marketing
Also for NextMark.com, we helped launch both the company in 2000 and the first products in 2001. We defined and delivered an initial marketing effort including a four-color brochure, product sheets, website, trade-show booth, and promotional email. We carefully positioned the company, wrote or co-wrote much of the marketing copy, and used extensive relationship-building to create trust in the direct marketing industry, where 15 years experience is typically required for credibility. One year later NextMark launched two advanced web applications that were well received by progressive 'lighthouse' customers, quickly bringing the company to initial revenue generation.

Strategic Custom Software
For North East Environmental Products, we created the Modeler software application. In addition to streamlining internal workflow and saving hours of manual effort, the software also positioned the company as a progressive, leading-edge supplier in their market. In a clever strategy twist, the software, which was sold for $75 to prospects and customers, engaged sales prospects to pre-engineer the products allowing the internal salespeople to simply verify the work, rather than start from scratch on each bid. In turn, this contributed to rapid revenue growth while holding down the employee count. And, icing on the cake, software sales were strong enough to break even on the development costs. This is an excellent example of using custom software as a strategic competitive tool.

Executive and Staff Training
For Colby-Sawyer College we also developed a training program and documentation for our PivotCMS product - an advanced website content management tool. We trained over 70 people, then trained the staff trainers who would continue to support the application. The outcome was a large contingent of web editors, some of who then knew more about editing web pages than about using Microsoft Word. This led to a rapid growth in web pages, each one representing the institution through the personal words of a faculty or staff member.

Technology Management
For FOOTAGE.net we provided 'feet on the street' when they relocated their moving image research application that served clients such as ABC, Reuters, Paramount, CNN and other high-profile clients. We provided technology vendor management in the role of an 'outsourced Chief Information Officer' as projects developed. We worked closely with FOOTAGE.net's founder and tuned the project scope to market requirements and internal resources. FOOTAGE.net was successfully sold to a large digital media management company.

Workflow Re-Engineering
Also for North East Environmental Products, we created the MINDY software application - an extensive multi-user, client-server, bill-of-materials database application. This software integrated workflow from engineering specification through purchasing and warehouse inventory control. The results for the company were that fewer engineers were required, decreasing costs; inventory turned at a significant multiple of the industry average, decreasing cashflow requirements; and orders moved out the door faster, increasing customer satisfaction.

Information Architecture
For Colby-Sawyer College we also provided an extensive information architecture for their website redesign. The results of this effort are a website that is very deep (over 2,100 pages) but is exceedingly easy to navigate and find what you're looking for. It has satisfied multiple constituencies including current and prospective students, faculty and staff, alumni, and college supporters. The most frequent comment on the site is, "It's so easy to use!," a sure sign of strong architecture. We also constructed the initial 600 page website in just over a month, coordinating policy creation, graphic design, content management, and custom software development.

Website Design/Build
Working within a strategic communications plan developed by Gregory S. Franklin Associates we architected, designed, and constructed consumer education websites for the State of Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control, the State of Maryland Public Service Commission, and the State of New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission. All three sites were marketed extensively, using direct mail, billboards, radio and television advertisements, and bill inserts to drive consumers to the web. The outcome has been that consumers in each of those states have a central location to visit to find accurate information about the electricity deregulation process and timeline. Although the topic is the same, the sites are vastly different, reflecting diverse approaches within each state to government information, utility regulation, and consumer requirements.

Innovation
In 1999 website content management systems were either prohibitively expensive, hard to use, or both. We designed the PivotCMS website content managment system to allow normal business people to update the content of their web pages easily, in real-time, with no muss and no fuss. We used PivotCMS to build a 600 page website for Colby-Sawyer College in just about a month, and over the past two years their 140 website editors have grown the site to over 2,100 pages with 3,300 images uploaded, representing one of the most vast and dynamic website for any college of their size. The website has attracted new students, faculty and staff to join the institution and has won rave reviews from many sources. PivotCMS is available today as a web application, requiring no hardware, no software to install or maintain, and no IT support.

In 1982 multi-channel sound was virtually non-existent. We invented and patented Tri-Ambient Synthesis based on our original psychoacoustic research into making recorded music sound as if it were live. This electro-acoustic system presents a soundfield with depth and feeling that brings listeners closer to composers. Radical at the time, this multi-channel audio system pre-dated home theater by 15 years.

Our Philosophy
Everything we do is centered on one idea: Helping our clients meet their objectives. Our primary method for success is careful listening. Rather than suggest we have all the answers, we listen to your specific and unique requirements, listen to your internal talent, listen to your customers and trading partners, and then offer our synthesis and possible paths toward improvement. Whether you engage us in a short-term intervention, or a long-term project, you will have our ear.

Can we help you or your organization? Give us a call.