Communications and Hi-Tech

IHS Consulting provides custom solutions that combine extensive data, analysis and forecasting to offer you products and services tailored to your business needs. From targeting emerging markets to planning for the switch from wire-line to wireless communications, we can draft reports, describe potential scenarios and offer recommendations to assist you in your business planning.

Choose from an array of services, including:

• Customer Data Forecasting and Analysis
• Market and Customer Analysis
• Network Planning 

• Evaluate market opportunities and risks in the fixed-line, mobile and broadband sectors
• Assess market size, potential and outlook
• Prepare for the impact of policy, economic and technological change
• Monitor your competitors and customers
• Stay up to date with recent industry developments
• Allocate sales and marketing resources
• Identify convergence and product substitution

Learn more about our services, or contact us for an exploratory meeting.

We provide customized market analyses to marketing executives, delivering the most consistent, detailed picture of underlying market conditions by user segment.

• Study the size and growth of each market segment by industry, business-size class, occupation, consumer cohort and geographic area
• Measure your market share for each segment and geographic area
• Investigate the substitution of wireless for wire-line services and data communications for voice communications
• Take advantage of the best market opportunities, protect vested-interest segments and mitigate the risks of market change
• Target the best sales prospects for your products and services

See Case Study #2

Target Marketing and Market Planning

We help you maximize the return on advertising, analyze trends in key market segments, identify forces of change and highlight risk and success factors.

• Efficiently allocate sales and marketing resources
• Focus your direct-mail and telephone marketing campaigns
• Yield higher returns on sales and marketing investments
• Penetrate key market segments

See Case Study #3

Business and Sales Forecasting

We combine vast sets of market data and forecasts with sophisticated quantitative methods to develop sales forecasting models that provide better forecasts, guide your decision making, help you understand key market drivers that affect your business and gauge the impacts of changes in the market drivers on your sales units and revenue.

• Quantify the relationship between market factors and sales
• Estimate price elasticity of demand for specific products and services
• Determine the effects of technological change on underlying demand by product or service
• Identify the combined impact of unspecified factors on product or service sales
• Quantify the impact of advertising expenditures on sales

See Case Studies #4 and #5

Sales Force and Channel Management

We understand the importance of effective and efficient sales force deployment and distribution channel management. To guide your resource allocation and promotion activities, we combine detailed market data and forecasts with your recent sales results.

• Identify under- and over-served segments and sales territories
• More effectively and efficiently allocate sales and marketing resources to increase sales
• More equitably set targets for all of your sales and distribution resources
• More accurately assess sales performance relative to market size and growth

See Case Studies #5 and #6

Benchmark Studies

We use our detailed market data and company financial data to develop benchmarks for your business. This detailed analysis compares your activities, processes, accomplishments, and deficits relative to major competitors, industry norms, and metrics across other industries. During a benchmark study you learn to:

• Identify processes, activities, or factors to benchmark and their primary characteristics
• Determine who or what the benchmark target is: company, organization, your industry, or functional processes across industries
• Determine specific metrics by collecting and analyzing information from surveys, interviews, industry information, direct contacts, business or trade publications, technical journals, and other sources of information
• Determine the best practice for each benchmarked item
• Implement plans, monitor results, and recalibrate internal base benchmarks

See Case Study #7

Policy Impacts and Alternative Scenarios

We build customized demand simulation models. The models provide a detailed and consistent set of information on which you can make critical decisions by enabling you to:

• Assess current and expected economic conditions that affect telecommunications usage in each market area
• Gauge the penetration of competitors into your service territory by metropolitan area, county, or wire center
• Track the substitution of wireless for wire-line services, VoIP for PSTN communications, broadband access for narrow-band access, and data for voice communications
• Position your products and services through strategic packaging and pricing

See Case Studies #8 and #9

Contact us for an exploratory meeting.

To make critical investments in telecommunications networks, you need detailed knowledge of expected market growth. We provide indispensable telecommunications market data and forecasts, industry insights and planning tools. Using an academic methodology, we develop market estimates and forecasts that yield complete and consistent views of each wire center.

• Assess current and expected economic conditions that affect growth in wireless, broadband and traditional, wire-line telecommunications services usage in each market area
• Gauge the penetration of competitors into your service territory by metropolitan area, county or wire center
• Stay current on the substitution of wireless for wire-line services, VoIP for PSTN communications, broadband access for narrow-band access and data communications for voice communications
• Identify the best market opportunities, protect your vested-interest segments and mitigate the risks associated with market change
• Position your products and services through strategic packaging and pricing

Allocate your scarce investment resources wisely. Analyze underlying demand and forecast growth before you place your bets with a detailed network expansion analysis.

Capacity Utilization Analysis

An explosion in network traffic demands a corresponding explosion in available bandwidth to support wire-line and wireless communications technologies.  The demand for speed and bandwidth appears to be insatiable and growing exponentially. We provide detailed estimates and forecasts of bandwidth usage for business and consumer segments for each geographic area.

• Quantify the pettabytes and exabytes of demand by segment and geographic area
• Determine which segments are the biggest users of bandwidth, which applications are used most and what time of day exhibits the most traffic
• Analyze the strength of high-speed fiber networks relative to mobile networks in terms of capacity and economics for very high-volume traffic
• Estimate the impact of rapidly increasing processing power in handheld and smart devices and the revolution in how information is presented on touch screens
• Calculate the cost of upgrading fixed-line networks to create 21st century high-speed broadband highways
• Analyze the economic impact of even greater efficiencies from ubiquitous high-speed data communications

Contact us for an exploratory meeting.

IHS Consulting takes database marketing to new heights by integrating databases of your business and customers with other external economic, business, demographic and market data to thoroughly analyze your customer relationship strengths and weaknesses. We combine massive amounts of data with a complete understanding of business processes and market needs “, to develop specialized targets, making your marketing efforts more effective, increase sales, and boost profitability. The ultimate goal is to make your marketing communications more focused and more effective, increase sales and boost profitability.

• Understand why you lose some customers and retain others
• Identify your most profitable customers and strive to acquire additional high-profit customers
• Target certain existing customers to increase retention and minimize outward churn
• Target certain prospective customers to add profit and reduce outward churn
• Gain more control over your customer relationships

Predictive Modeling

Predictive modeling takes the guesswork out of customer relationship management, target marketing and personnel management. This type of modeling helps predict the probability that a rare event, such as existing customer cancellations, new customer acquisitions, employee absenteeism or fraudulent workers compensation claims, will occur among certain types of customers, prospective customers or employees.

• Predict which customers will cancel or downgrade their services
• Anticipate customer defaults before they occur and take steps to reduce the impact
• Target certain prospective customers to increase the response and close rates
• Learn which types of employees perform best, which types tend to arrive late or not at all and which types file fraudulent insurance claims

Customer Retention Studies

In dynamic markets, customer retention varies over time and across segments. Changes in economic conditions, communications technologies and new competitors can affect your ability to retain and grow customers. We combine your customer data with extensive external economic, business, demographic and market data to thoroughly analyze factors that can lead to more cancellations and lower retention.

• Develop a model that predicts the likelihood of customer cancellation, based on historical experience, economic conditions and technology substitution
• Measure the effect of poor economic conditions on cancellations among certain customer groups in certain geographic areas
• Quantify the pace of new technology adoption and its effect on cancellations of other products and services (e.g., wireless for wire-line service, VoIP for traditional voice service or integrated access for multiple lines)
• Devise retention strategies for groups of high-probability defectors
• Proactively exclude high-probability defectors from new customer acquisition programs to lower marketing costs and increase retention

Customer Acquisition Studies

Today's competitive climate demands aggressive but focused marketing communications. We integrate your customer data with external data on potential customers and other external economic, business, demographic and market data to thoroughly analyze and classify your market strengths and weaknesses. The ultimate goal is to target your marketing communications acquire new customers that resemble your best current customers.

• Understand the characteristics of your customers and classify them
• Identify your best customers and strive to acquire similar new customers
• Target  prospective customers to add profit and reduce outward churn
• Gain more control over your customer relationships
• Reduce costs by focusing your marketing communications and omitting less desirable contacts

Contact us for an exploratory meeting.

Case Study #1: Aligning Resources with Segment Performance

Challenge: A large office supplies company wanted to segment ink, toner, and paper demand for selected industries in selected countries and then gauge their performance across the market segments.

Solution: IHS Consulting provided the required inputs from its core information and communications technology market segment forecast to support this client's work.

Results: The client reallocated some of its advertising, promotion, and sales resources to boost its market shares in some areas, while protecting its areas of strength in others.  The client's total sales rose and its aggregate market share increased. See Core Databases and Forecasts.

Case Study #2: Forecasting Demand for Multiple Technologies

Challenge: A major computer hardware company needed to size and forecast key markets for a dozen technologies by industry, business size, and geographic area in the United States.

Solution: IHS Consulting created a customized state-by-state segmentation model containing historical estimates and five-year revenue forecasts for each technology by industry, business size, and segment.

Results: This clearer, more accurate picture of revenue prospects allowed the client to evaluate market strength, successfully target customers in specific segments and improve revenue growth. See Market Segmentation Studies. See Market Segmentation Studies.

Case Study #3: Transforming Declining Market Shares into New Opportunities

Challenge: A large telecommunications service provider wanted to increase its share of new business customers in markets in which its shares were falling.

Solution: IHS Consulting completed a custom analysis of business births and deaths, segmented it by industry and business size, and integrated this data with its detailed telecommunications market data to estimate telecom usage by new businesses.

Results: The client aggressively pursued areas of new business growth, targeted businesses in large and growing industries and size segments, and promoted appealing product packages to attract new customers.  The company increased its shares of new business customers and profitability in the process. See Target Marketing and Market Planning.

Case Study #4: Forecasting Demand for Computer Peripherals

Challenge: A peripherals division of a major computer firm needed a more accurate way to forecast demand for a key product family that accounted for over 25% of corporate revenue.

Solution: IHS Consulting delivered a customized forecast model, based on objective business drivers.

Approach: The client gained a more accurate forecast model that consistently predicted sales of individual products and product families by geography and industry, enabling the client company to focus more attention on managing the lifecycles of multiple product generations. See Business and Sales Forecasting.

Case Study #5: Fixing an Inconsistent Ad Hoc Forecasting Process

Challenge: A leading storage vendor required an accurate forecast model, incorporating several product categories, industry sectors, and countries, so that it could efficiently allocate sales and marketing resources.

Solution: IHS Consulting developed a comprehensive forecast that integrated demand drivers and demand validation metrics across multiple product categories, industry sectors, and countries.  We combined a "corporate dashboard" with the model, which presented client-specified charts, tables, and monitoring graphics for key indicators and also served as the primary delivery vehicle for data, updates, and re-estimation.

Results: The model's consistent forecasting process allowed our client to better identify, analyze, and prioritize existing and emerging market opportunities. The client company improved the allocation of its sales and marketing resources and gained deeper insight into multiple product lifecycles across industries and geographies. See Business and Sales Forecasting as well as Sales Force and Channel Management.

Case Study #6: Forecasting Demand for Software and Allocating Regional Sales Resources

Challenge: A software company's sales managers needed a more reliable forecast for anticipating demand to help them target specific markets and allocate regional sales resources.

Solution: IHS Consulting created a customized spending forecast by industry, business size and segment, as well as state and metropolitan area, to deliver tactical and actionable metrics for US software demand.

Results: The forecast allowed sales management to identify hot and cold spots, better allocate sales and marketing resources, and establish equitable sales targets, based on volume and growth. See Sales Force and Channel Management.

Case Study #7: Determining if Fast-Growers Make Better Performers

Challenge: A large telecommunications equipment manufacturer wanted to gauge the performance of its sales teams by territory and by individual.  The question was whether or not territories and individuals with fast growth really perform better than those with slower growth.

Solution: IHS Consulting restructured its detailed ICT market data and forecasts to reflect the client's segments, regions, and territories. Next, the client's sales growth data for territories and individuals was compared to corresponding data for market growth.

Results: The analysis identified over- and under-achievers relative to the market benchmarks.  It showed indeed that some fast-growth sales territories and individuals actually increased their sales less than the market and lost market share, while some with slower sales growth actually grew more than the market and gained market share. See Benchmark Studies.

Case Study #8: Evaluating the Impact of Offshoring IT Services Mean on the US Economy and IT Industry

Challenge: An industry trade association needed to help its membership understand the full impact of offshoring IT services.

Solution: IHS Consulting conducted a comprehensive study on the impact of offshoring IT services on the US economy and IT industry.

Results: Our study allowed the association to demonstrate to its members that even though some IT worker displacement would occur, offshoring of IT services would create over 250,000 jobs and increase real GDP levels between 0.5% and 1%. See Policy Impact Analysis.

Case Study #9: Demonstrating Economic Impact

Challenge: A global hi-technology manufacturer needed to educate policymakers on its contribution to the US and EU economies arising from both its manufacturing operations and the productivity gains attributable to the widespread use of its technology.

Solution: IHS Consulting produced a comprehensive assessment by combining both traditional input/output impact models with growth economics.

Results: Our assessment enabled our client to demonstrate to policymakers that it stimulated the creation of over 820,000 jobs and influenced 1.1% of GDP in the United States as well as 330,000 jobs and 0.4% of GDP in the European Union. See Policy Impact Analysis.