[mobis home] [previous] [next] CONSULTATION SERVICES SIN 874-1 TFI's consulting services fall into six general areas: Telecommunications, Technology Management, Strategic Planning, Forecasting, Technology Market Strategies, and Depreciation & Valuation. Telecommunications TFI provides information, forecasts, analyses, and strategic insights to support decisions involving communications technologies, including voice, video, and data applications. In terms of talent, experience, and proven track record, TFI is uniquely qualified to assist forward-thinking organizations to operate effectively in the rapidly changing telecom environment. For 15 years, TFI has conducted research for the Telecommunications Technology Forecasting Group (TTFG), an organization comprised of the major North American local exchange carriers. Recent research projects include subjects such as advanced video services, computer technology, wireless and cable voice services, migration to a ATM/IP backbone, and the adoption of fiber, HDSL, SONET, and ATM in the local exchange network. TFI's Telecommunications services assist organizations by: Identifying, forecasting, and evaluating advances in telecom technologies. Developing strategic technology, market, and financial plans. Providing outside review of plans and forecasts. Planning and supervising the set-up of advanced communications systems. Technology Management To take full advantage of both emerging and existing technologies, a carefully crafted technology management program is essential to the long-term success of any large organization. TFI's forecasting proficiency provides us with a unique capability to assist our clients in developing and implementing strong technology management programs. TFI's Technology Management services can assist in: Constructing technology development roadmaps. Promoting technology transfer within and outside the organization. Developing new technology deployment strategies. Allocating R&D resources. Ensuring a match between technology and operating strategies. Strategic Planning To be successful in today's operating environment, organizations must be able to employ their resources in the most effective way to achieve both short- and long-term objectives. To accomplish this, they must carefully analyze the available opportunities, select the ones that are most consistent with their capabilities and objectives, determine what additional resources will be needed, and develop a plan for optimal application of all available resources. This process is commonly called strategic planning, and it has been an area of particular interest to TFI since 1978. Because planning is always based on projections about the future, TFI's experience in technology, market, financial, organization development, and business environment forecasting provides us with a powerful tool to assist in strategic planning. TFI's Strategic Planning services can assist organizations to: Analyze changing technical, social, and economic factors to uncover emerging opportunities. Integrate these opportunities into strategic plans. Identify mismatches between an organization's projects, resources, and culture and its strategic goals. Initiate programs to correct these mismatches. Forecasting The rapid pace of change in today's operational environment magnifies the importance of quality forecasts. To prosper in this environment, one must be able to project future developments in an organized and timely manner. Over 20 years of forecasting experience has made TFI one of the world's premier practitioners in this field. We work closely with our clients to integrate their subject matter expertise with our forecasting capability. This ensures the forecast's relevance, validity, and acceptance, as well as enhances the client's own forecasting capabilities. TFI's Forecasting services enable clients to: Identify and evaluate new technology-based products and services. Project advances in technology. Define organizational needs for new technologies. Project adoption rates for new technologies. Formulate strategic models of future developments. Estimate economic lives for technology investments. Technology Market Strategies Technology Market Strategies assists organizations in taking advantage of fundamental shifts in technologies, markets, and client needs and desires. TFI utilizes analytical techniques, expert opinion, and customer interviews to provide a rigorous, methods-based vision of future opportunities. TFI's Technology Market Strategies services can help organizations to: Identify and evaluate emerging organizational needs. Assess potential requirements for new technologies. Project the rate at which new technologies will be adopted. Assist in developing plans for entering new areas of technology. Assist in planning new uses of existing technologies. Depreciation & Evaluation Decisions related to the deployment, acquisition, and management of technology often revolve around financial projections. Such projections will necessarily include explicit or implicit assumptions and forecasts about the future as it relates to costs, prices, demand, market share, industry structure, risk, etc. Thus, such projections boil down to a set of forecasts of technologies, markets, competitors, and their interrelationships. TFI's forecasting experience assures that financial projections–of both new and existing technology–reflect future realities and opportunities. TFI's Depreciation & Evaluation services can assist organizations in: Examining the financial implications of technology decisions. Developing forecast-based cash flow models for technology decisions. Formulating financially sound technology replacement strategies. Determining the residual value and economic lives of existing assets. Communicating technology/financial realities to key decision-makers. Copyright © Technology Futures, Inc. All rights reserved. 13740 Research Blvd., Bldg. C Austin, TX 78750-1859 Toll Free: (800) TEK-FUTR - Local & Outside USA: (512) 258-8898 FAX: (512) 258-0087 - e-mail: info@tfi.com - http://www.tfi.com