Problem

A sales and marketing manager for a national retail chain was spending more time on preparing reports than on driving sales. Automating his report preparation was not within the scope of the company's IT department so he had no other choice than to continue spending two days a week on reports.

Solution

We were able to automate the report preparation into a five-minute computer program and set it up to display the reports in the same format as previously done by hand.As a result of this program, the company is able to save thousands of dollars in wasted salary and gain hundreds of thousands in increased sales.

Problem

A recruiting firm was spending count less hours pulling resumes off the Internet that matched its search criteria. In addition to the resumes on the Internet, the firm had resumes received over e-mail or fax that also had to be reviewed and processed. Then there was the manual process of categorizing and storing each one in order to have the information readily available.

Solution

Our program automated the entire process into one simple step. At the click of the mouse, thousands of resumes are pulled off the Internet or e-mail and loaded into a database. These resumes are stored and categorized in the database, which is easily searchable by keywords or phrases. Just this one simple program has given that company a significant competitive advantage.

Problem

Faced with budget cutbacks, a community college needed better reporting in order to make strategic budgeting decisions. After determining what information would be crucial to their budget managers, they approached their IT department with the requirements. The school's IT department was unable to provide the complex integration of data needed for this project but was happy to work with an outside specialist to fulfill his request.

Solution

We were able to integrate the school's a internal finacial reporting with information from outside sources including performance of similar schools and departments. The end result was a one-page summary given to each budget manager consolidating profit and loss at ements with realistic income based on state reimbursement rates and benchmark school comparisons. In the end, the college was able to provide their budget managers with the information needed to make tough budget decisions and save the school money.

Problem

A higher education institution lacked clarity on specific strategies to ensure it would grow and be viable in the future. The lack of clarity caused problems with identifying which programs would grow in enrollment, where would the growth occur (physical campuses versus online classes), and what should be the focus for budgeting.

Solution

The solution required planning. Specifically , creating a strategic plan that would be the foundation for other plans. The process for creating the strategic plan involved a internal review of this educational institution, an external review of other competitors in higher education, and a literature review of higher education's future. Next, stakeholder focus groups at every level (customers, students, vendors, Board, employers, community members, etc.) answered a set of common questions. Based on the repetitive answers, the vision, mission, core purpose, and values of the institution were recommended to the executive staff and Board for review and approval. Next, the goals to complete the mission within the next five years and strategies and tasks for each goal were compiled. These were also reviewed and approved by the executive staff and Board. Upon publication of the strategic plan, other plans emerged including a facility plan, advertising plan, online instruction plan, information technology plan, etc.