A major player in the energy grid sector was assessing the potential of entering the African market. A combination of interviews with market experts across 10 African countries combined with a thorough compilation and analysis of available data enabled an experienced energy markets consultant to derive clear “apples for apples” comparisons across these markets and underpin the decisions on which markets to invest in and how best to proceed.

An online listings business operated an outbound sales team – but was unsure how to optimise this channel. By engaging with businesses from around the world that sold similar products via the same channel, they were able to identify the right metrics, achievable stretch targets, the most effective technology, and a suite of ideas covering culture, pricing and incentives on how to lift their own sales:FTE ratio to new levels.

An industrial manufacturer was looking to make an acquisition of a business with deep capabilities in process automation. By blending secondary research and primary interviews, a remote consultant compiled an initial list of 300 potential targets and further narrowed these down to 15 high-potential target businesses.

A mid-sized telco was interested in acquiring a particular communications backbone asset. By leveraging interviews with operators of similar assets, they were able to build a more robust picture of the long-term operational cost projections for a future owner. Additionally, by interviewing experts who bought capacity on similar assets, they were able to validate long-term price/revenue assumptions. In all, the insights gained enabled a more confident decision.

A Silicon Valley platform provider helped its customers procure business services and needed to build a series of online questions that automated the process to create a “request for proposal” document. The services included on the platform ranged from HR, to management consultancy, to legal. By engaging experts in each field for relatively short periods of time, this client was able to validate that its RFP builder product was fit for purpose across a wide range of business services.

A professional services firm wanted to optimise its’ investment in technologies that automated various parts of their consultants’ workload. Before selecting the specific initiatives to fund, they conducted a review of best practices amongst selected competitors to ensure that their investments left them with a superior set of tools and processes and could thus deliver a return.

A multinational supplier of systems for communications and signalling on public transport networks aimed to expand into Asia. A comparison study involving 12 experts across 6 different Asian markets assessed the volume of planned public transport infrastructure projects. They also helped define the procurement processes and relationships that were needed in order to successfully enter each market. These insights around investment costs and future revenue potential enabled the client to secure investments to fund their growth into the Asian countries that showed most promise.

An IT services company was interested in developing a new product offering that would help their clients reduce CO2 outputs but increase costs. They wanted to avoid introducing these products without the right market demand. But they also didn’t want to wait too long and miss an opportunity to lead the market.

To help confirm the optimum timing for such a move, interviews with customers in their local market and in analogous overseas markets allowed them to quickly form a robust view of market readiness for new products.

A mining company wanted to understand the relative cost structure for explosives suppliers with Australian raw ingredient manufacturing vs imported raw ingredients. This was to ensure that cost savings were being fully reflected in pricing. By conducting interviews with experts from the explosives industry, a clear picture emerged along with insight on a new international supplier that had recently decided to enter the Australian market, thus creating a new, previously unknown, supply alternative.

A supermarket that produced their own brand items across a number of categories via a 3rd party manufacturing contracts was keen to understand what options existed in China for alternative suppliers. By deploying a team of in-country researchers, detailed and structured supply options were identified.

A university that recognized that their current law students would enter a legal profession set to be profoundly changed by AI and ML technologies. By tapping into the collective expertise of a panel of consultants, particularly those from the legal-tech sector, they could paint a more vivid picture of the work of lawyers in a technology-disrupted future. Evolving their law degree’s curriculum in the right direction consequently became easier.

A global conglomerate planned to incentivise cost reductions by introducing a “chargeback” model, so their operating business units would pay for IT services, rather than these services being provided from a corporate cost-centre.

By interviewing 10 businesses who had done the same thing at a similar scale, they gained a consolidated view of best practices along with a detailed view of nuanced choices such as what level of current state mapping proved necessary and what level proved to be overkill. Using these kinds of insights, they were able to sequence delivery to achieve potential cost savings sooner.