• A group of investors asked us to sit in on their start-up discussions. We developed a technology plan, giving them several distinct advantages over their competition, and dramatically lowered their over-all costs at the same time. We then implemented that plan, acting as their technology staff. Once we got them established, we helped them hire and train their own staff, and then turned everything over to them.

• A technology-based corporation asked us to help them develop a business expansion plan, mostly centered on technology, pursuant to securing investment capital. We developed cost, timing and staffing projections for the expansion, and helped them prepare the presentation to potential investors.

• An electronics manufacturer asked us to help them with a major software implementation in 27 Locations over 17 countries. We developed the project plan, and projected timing and costs. We also helped them with significant savings in the software licensing negotiations. We then worked with the Gartner Group on project oversight.

• We have worked with most major audit and oversight companies, managing the audit process from the client side, including Gartner Group, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, KPMG Peat Marwick, as well as many company's internal audit groups. Post-audit, we have led efforts to the resolution of audit findings for many companies.

• We negotiated a major software purchase for a fortune 100 manufacturer, saving them US$860K more than the discounts they had previously negotiated.

• We restructured the software maintenance contract for one automotive corporation, saving them US$190K annually.

• We were asked to look at the technical support group for one company. We suggested restructuring the group, prepared the plan, and executed it for the company. We achieved direct savings of US$370K annually, while improving support to the organization.

• We were asked to look at the programming and support group of one company. They desperately needed to improve both the responsiveness and cost of the group. We implemented process and system improvements, however those were not enough. It was determined that staff additions were necessary. However this business was not able to endure the full expense. We added more staff in India at a fraction of the cost. We also established the process to work with that off-shore group.

• One U.S. company needed to add staff in several technology areas, each under a different organization. This company was unable to bear the expense of the staff they needed in the U.S. They had tried some off-shore projects, but were not successful. We established an Information Technology Center for them in India, interviewed and hired all staff, and established management philosophy and processes for the existing U.S. technology. This venture saved them $1.5MM annually.

• We led the Information Technology transition of a major manufacturer in moving their operations from the U.S. to Mexico. This project also included moving an aftermarket parts distribution operation from Mexico to the U.S., and consolidating two manufacturing locations into one facility.

• We have managed operating budgets of up to $4MM annually, single plants to multiple corporate groups, and multi-plant levels.

• We have assisted several companies develop staffing plans, and helped them in the recruiting process. We have also assisted in people development and retention.

• We have helped companies set-up IT controls and continual improvement of controls and processes.

• We have helped companies with disaster recovery planning, business continuance, technology resiliency and fail-over.

• One company asked us to develop a plan to restructure their ERP approach from decentralized (in-plant) to centralized (data center). We developed that plan for them, then executed it for them, successfully moving several databases, processing and staff from plants to central locations.

• One company was experiencing unacceptable down-time with their mission critical ERP servers. We developed a plan to add resiliency and disaster recovery. We carried out that plan for them, restructuring major hardware, successfully added resiliency and disaster recovery to the business, and eliminated the down-time.

• One company was experiencing inefficiencies with multiple datacenters and staff. We commonized their datacenter OS standards between US and Canada.

• Another company asked us to lead the development of a feed from their ERP systems to a data warehouse. This feed involved 32 databases in several countries. The main challenge was the differing localizations, due to individual country laws concerning invoicing and accounting practices. We managed the project expectations, programming, extracts, and interfaced with their corporate project group and each local IT staff in each country, to bring about a successful project.

• We have been called in for forensic fraud investigations, where large sums of money were missing. We investigate the security and opportunities behind the accounting users of the information systems, as well as with the IT staff. For example, in one case, we successfully cleared all the company's staff, and determined that the fraud was accomplished from outside the company.