financialservices

Summary of Project Experience in the Financial Services Industries

General Studies

• Qualitative study using in-depth interviews with financial consulting firms that offer international market entry consulting services.

• Strategic information audit for a major commercial bank: designed and executed their BI/CI system and integrated competitive intelligence tracking data into the system.

• Business Intelligence Study on the impact of re-engineering and reorganizations of key U.S. firms. Analyzed case studies of consulting methods that succeeded and failed.

• Evaluation of business opportunities in the financial services and consulting sectors.

• Evaluation of firms that specialize in international consulting and business development.

• Conducted in-depth interviews to analyze the products, systems, and services offered by the Big Six in the Mutual Funds industry.

• Competitive Intelligence Study on the product offerings of offshore mutual funds.

• Evaluation of financial institutions' applications of expert systems.

• Study of market potential for activity-based costing consulting services.

• Market study of segmentation and potential for litigation support consulting services.

• Business Intelligence Study involving consumer behaviors, preferences, key requirements, and overall satisfaction levels with regard to personal finances.

• Market Intelligence Study comparing global financial centers.

Accounting Firms

• Evaluation of Big Six accounting firms offering benchmarking services.

• Evaluation of boutique benchmarking firms and their strategic position in the industry.

• Evaluation of Big Six accounting firms strategic positioning in the upscale personal finance field.

• Competitive analysis of the Big Five's position in international trade and investment firms.

• Competitive analysis of the Big Five's audit services.

• Competitive analysis of the Big Five's position in the Litigation and Forensic Services industry.

• Evaluation of the Big Five's position in the Corporate Financial Planning programs sector.

• Regulatory compliance study for one of the Big 4 firms.

• Evaluation of the Transportation industry for one of the Big 4 firms.

• Systems integration study for one of the Big 5 firms.

• Evaluation of reorganization specialists.

C-Level Interview Studies

• Interviewed CEOs of mid-size banks regarding the strategic issues facing their industry.

• Telemarketing survey of CFOs to increase enrollment in an annual conference.

• Conducted over 100 interviews with CEO's from mid-size firms ($50M - $500M) to determine the key strategic issues facing several industry segments (e.g., financial, pharmaceutical, chemicals, consumer, food, retailing, manufacturing, and high technology). The results were used to provide strategic direction into the planning process of a major non-profit organization.

Credit Cards

• Market study of attitudes and usage of credit cards in South Africa.

• Recruited and conducted focus groups for credit card users in the US.

• Quantitative study of the attitudes and usage of male and female credit card users and non-users in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and South Africa.

• Market study of consumer credit card usage.

Financial Accounting Software Market Intelligence Study of the Financial Accounting Software industry.

Insurance

• Strategic information audit for a large insurance company: evaluated the firm's information sources, the information flow, and designed a BI/CI system. Conducted over 100+ in-house executive interviews to execute the study.

• Competitive intelligence study for an insurance company to determine the profitability of an online insurance operation.

• Competitive Intelligence Study on major competitors in the insurance industry.

• Interviewed insurance executives in the US to evaluate consumer demand.

• Created a company profile for a major insurance provider.

• Market analysis of workmen's compensation managers.

• Market analysis of 401(k) services in the US.

• Competitive Intelligence Study for a major insurance provider.

• Quantitative insurance satisfaction study in the US.

• Identified Latin American insurance & reinsurance brokers.

• Competitor profiles of several large insurance companies.

International Money Transfer - Flow of Funds

• Business Intelligence Study on international money transfers.

• Competitive Intelligence website study of Big 5 Accounting firms.

• Market study on the global flow of funds and global migration for a money transfer firm.

• Global mystery shopper study for money transfer businesses

• Market and competitive analysis of the flow of funds from the US and Canada to several Asian countries.

• Asian money transfer and flow of funds study.

Risk Management

• Competitive assessment of the Assurance Product industry.

• Competitive assessment of all phases of the Risk Management industry.

• Quantitative study for short and long term disability products for workers compensation programs.

• Conducted in-depth telephone interviews with Human Resource managers regarding their assignments of employees to work on international projects.

Retirement Planning

• Conducted in-depth interviews with household decision makers for retirement planning and investment products.

• Quantitative analysis of 401(k) providers with 25 - 500 full time employees in the manufacturing, retail, wholesale, telecom, and service sectors.

SALT - State and Local Taxes

• Qualitative study involving in-depth interviews of Chief Financial Officers and transportation companies involving their SALT (state and local tax) practices.

Use of Technology in the Financial Services Sector

• Competitive Intelligence Study on technology used in commercial banking systems.

• Evaluated competitive technologies used in the Auditing industry.

Upscale Markets

• Conducted a study of upscale Hispanic clients to determine their investment patterns in Southern Florida.

• Conducted study of upscale consumers to determine their retirement and investment plans.

Sample of our Clients

• Aetna Insurance Company

• AIG

• AMA/Management Centre (Canada)

• American Express

• Bank of America

• Boston Consulting Group

• Chemical Bank

• Citibank, N.A.

• Deloitte and Touche

• Dun & Bradstreet International Ernst & Young

• First Data Corporation

• KPMG - Peat Marwick

• Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

• Mutual of New York

• The Equitable Insurance Company

• The Travelers Insurance Company

• UBS

• Western Union Financial Services

• Wyeth-Ayerst International