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Our services focus on IT Management, IT Risk Evaluation and Mitigation, and on Technology Due Diligence, as well as on an expanding list of related concerns. Currently, our services include:
We offer our services to corporations and the investment community, and in each service, we provide an unbiased and independent view that helps clients protect their corporate or investment assets against unnecessary risk. Advisors tailor each engagement to the needs of the client, and even though our firm employs detailed methodologies, we do not force fit the engagement into a preconceived model. In fact, should we find that a client would benefit from specialized expertise that we do not possess, we can—with client approval—enlist the efforts of an affiliated company to share in the engagement. These engagements can last from a few days to a few months. For the venture and merger-and-acquisition community, engagements are usually completed in fewer than two weeks. For corporate clients, they vary significantly in duration. Interim CIO and Temporary Staff Augmentation and CIO Recruiting The interim services are offered on a fractional or full time basis and include Domain Experts for businesses in the following areas in food services, retailing/wholesaling, ecommerce, consumer goods, and manufacturing. Please visit our ancillary site at www.interimciogroup.com to learn more. We also recruit permanent CIO's for our clients. Please visit our ancillary site at www.granitebridgeitrecruiters.com to learn more. Information Technology Risk Evaluation and Mitigation These services are designed for both corporations and investors. They include an objective evaluation of the quality and viability of a company's products, people, processes, intellectual property, and partners—and of the level of its customer satisfaction. We then identify critical risks and vulnerabilities facing our client and define and recommend strategies for mitigating them. We examine selected management and technical practices in line with our client's needs: They may include: overall technology, data, systems, and project management; IT strategy planning; communications and networking; software development; hardware and software architectures and implementations; and vendor management and controls. We may also assess disaster recovery and business continuity; quality assurance and control; security; and training. Enterprise Systems Evaluation and Implementation Many companies ask us to help them with their selection and implementation of enterprise software products. These services address this need, and help our clients get the correct Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Ecommerce, Retail/wholesale, Project Management Customer Resource Management implemented in a timely and cost effective manner. Technology Due Diligence Primarily tailored to the needs of investors, our technology due diligence services help determine if the quality of a company's product(s) is high enough to ensure viability in the marketplace and if the staff is knowledgeable enough to maintain and deliver the product(s). These services also help determine if effective business practices are being used to insure long-term product maintainability, quality, and customer satisfaction. We also verify that there is clear ownership of intellectual property, as well as unequivocal documentation of rights and responsibilities in licensing agreements and other contracts. We then provide clients with a detailed enumeration of risk factors and suggested strategies for their mitigation. Information Technology Turnarounds Our IT turnaround service is for any corporation that seeks business renewal and a return to profitable operations. Whether a portfolio company or a more traditional corporation, our service can help resolve any IT problems that have caused a firm to lose traction in the marketplace. If it finds itself in the untenable position of being unable to deliver products or services as quickly and efficiently as needed—perhaps because of workaround solutions or outdated technology tools—our IT turnaround service can help. In short, we provide our clients with the opportunity to regain profitability, sharpen their competitive edge, and transform their IT operations from unwieldy liabilities into vital assets. Post-Evaluation Checkups After an investor has closed the deal or a corporation has implemented our suggested strategies for mitigating risk, we can examine and evaluate the results. On request, we can provide a scorecard that shows whether or not our recommendations have been successfully implemented. This document can reveal the presence of continued risk and provide invaluable insights into the need for further improvement. Strategic Initiative Implementation Our strategic initiative implementation service is primarily geared to the needs of clients undergoing either major business transformations—such as such as mergers, acquisitions, outsourcing, and other business model changes—or strategic incremental change. The latter typically involves new technology, new business processes and practices, new markets, new products and/or services, or any combination of these innovations. All of our projects involve either new information technology or are for information technology companies. To optimize the execution of a critical business initiative, we objectively analyze and clarify the intended results, thus reducing risk and ensuring sound project management. Because there are many ways to ensure a strategic initiative is implemented successfully, we employ varied techniques and strategies. However, we typically start with an impact analysis that details how the change is affecting the organization, its customers, and other key stakeholders. This clarifies the future state and provides a focus on key issues. We then assess the change readiness of the organization and develop a change management plan that pinpoints the requirements and critical success factors for implementing the change. We ensure a well-prepared workforce by closing existing knowledge and skill gaps. All of our strategies and techniques are designed to provide focus, collaboration, accountability, and the desired business results throughout strategy execution. Second Opinions Independent second opinions from senior IT professionals like ours can equal significant savings for our clients. We are equipped to review and evaluate recommendations from internal IT departments and outside consultants for planned technology-related implementations and expenditures. Confidential and unbiased, our service can result in significant savings. However, our mission is to serve the best interests of our clients, not necessarily to cut costs. We weigh a variety of factors in making our determinations and provide a detailed report on our findings. In effect, our report serves as a form of quality assurance and provides clients with a new perspective on their options. IT Implementation Evaluation These services are targeted at corporations or investors who are seeking unbiased evaluations to determine the status of Information Technology (IT) implementations—hardware, software, or both—that are being undertaken. Our services ascertain whether or not a project is on time, is on budget, and is being properly implemented. They also provide recommendations for any needed improvements to projects and methods, especially those that address potential risks. Since the ultimate success or failure of any IT implementation depends on both technology and business factors, its evaluation can be difficult. A clear and objective opinion from professionals who are well versed in both disciplines can be an invaluable aid in decision-making. Errors and Omissions Assessment and Intellectual Property Protection Our Errors and Omissions (E&O) Assessment service is designed specifically for insurance companies that provide technology corporations with E&O Insurance as part of their professional liability coverage. Such a policy indemnifies the insured against allegations that its products or services fail to perform as contracted—whether through error or negligence. With this service, we stand ready to assess the validity of a claim filed under the terms of an E&O policy and to provide expert opinion testimony in court should it be required. Because we meld IT expertise with business and legal acumen, our firm can also provide an expert opinion directly to the legal representatives of software companies who claim theft of intellectual property—including the misappropriation of ideas or the unauthorized use of code. Customer Satisfaction Our customer satisfaction service measures the level of satisfaction of both external and internal customers and serves the needs of both corporations and investors. It assesses customer intentions and pinpoints what is perhaps the greatest risk to a company's viability: the loss of customer loyalty, warranted or not. To avoid this risk, clients require statistically reliable decision-support information about customer satisfaction, intentions, and needs—and for its interpretation by experienced technology professionals. The purpose of this service is to improve customer satisfaction, customer retention rates, and product or service quality. It also aims at lowering customer support costs and improving investment success rates. To achieve these goals, we provide each client with a satisfaction rating, a correlation of the satisfaction rating with an importance rating, and a future intention evaluation. We also include an attrition analysis, a price-value analysis, a quantification of qualitative responses, and a prioritization of customer requirements. |
