Clients

Engagement: Business Plan/ Recruiting

Client: Rform Technologies

Project:

Rform Technologies is an IT start-up which has developed on-line contract management software for use in remote project management of construction or development projects. Deliverables include: creation and refinement of a strategic business plan with projected financials and milestones, coordination and attainment of third party investment, and a successful employment search for a business development director.

Date: February 2009

Engagement: Marketing Audit, and Marketing Strategy

Client: Golf PEI

Project:A complete audit of Golf PEI’s past marketing activities and a recommended marketing strategy for 2008, 2009, and 2010 was completed. Methodology involved analysis of relevant golf and tourism data, survey and communication with all Golf PEI stakeholders. The objective of the project was to increase off Island tee bookings.

Date: January 2008

Engagement: Business Plan, secure financing

Client: Mugisha Enterprises

Project:Mugisha is a digital media content provider. One on of the properties under development was “The Amazing Traveling Friendship Fair”.  This property is a n educational children’s program which encourages and teaches preschool and elementary children. A business plan and execution timetable was developed, complete with financial projections, to initiate the project and secure funding from various investment partners including Telefilm Canada.

Date: December 2007

Engagement: Market Development, Analysis and Sales

Client: Custom Electronics Manufacturer(s)

Project:In support of Atlantic Canadian firms traveling to New England with the objective of opening up new markets; Octavian Group represented several custom electronic manufacturers who operate in the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia respectively. The objective was to analyze the New England marketplace, locate appropriate prospects for these firms to meet with on the trade mission, position the benefits and value of the represented firms and confirm meetings for the trade mission.

Date: October 2007

Engagement: Strategic Plan

Client: Interactive Media Alliance

Project:The Prince Edward Island Interactive Media Alliance is a formal association of new media professionals, companies and entrepreneurs. The objective of this association is to promote and grow the interactive media sector in the province. The plan included organizational structure, bylaws, projected financials and a series of goals/ objectives.

Date: January 2007

Engagement:Application Development Implementation strategy & Business Planning engagement

Client: PharmTech

Project: A start-up on-line pharmaceutical company wanted to design an information and e-commerce portal to service the needs of a target community. Octavian Group worked with PharmTech to confirm the market, methods to reach the market and on-line portal to execute the business plan. Octavian Group designed a project implementation plan, created an RFP and selected the successful developer to design the solution. 

Date: September 2006

Engagement:Veteran Affairs Canada, modernization initiative

Client:Veteran Affairs Canada

Project: As an extension to the infrastructure modernization initiative, Octavian Group has subcontracted two resources into VAC to continue with previous engagements initiated in 2005

Date: July 2006 - ongoing

Engagement: Business Plan

Client: Study Abroad Canada

Project: Study Abroad Canada has been in business providing English as a Second Language (ESL) training for over a decade. In the late nineties they recognized the potential impact the Internet will have on their business model; as innovators and early adopters of new technologies they recognized the profound affect of distributed technologies could have to shift their competitive advantage within the market. Accepting that technology and infrastructure in foreign markets was now advanced enough to deliver the programming they wanted to Octavian Group was engaged to conducted market research and a strategic plan to advance the development and access funding for Study Abroad Canada’s foray into distance learning over the Internet.

Date: June 2006

Engagement: Business and Marketing Strategy

Client: Telos Productions

Project: Telos Productions, is a start-up video game production company located in the Atlantic Technology Center. In anticipation of a trip to E3, Telos required a business plan and marketing materials. Partnering, Telos received a revised brand including: logo, business cards, letter-head, product sell sheet and web-site. In addition to coordinating this deliverable Octavian Group also created a business plan which could be used to approach investors both in the US market at E3 but also source capital in the Atlantic region.

Date: May 2006

Engagement: Needs Assessment

Client: The PEI Association of Newcomers to Canada

Project: The PEI ANC were at a cross roads in their growth; demands were increasing but funding was not keeping pace. Octavian Group was selected to conduct a needs assessment and provide recommendation as to how the organization could continue to best serve the needs of the associations constituents and support the requirement of additional funding.

Date: May 2006

Client: confidential

Project: an industry leader in their respective sector needed to streamline and automate their processes. The most efficient method to improve service delivery was determined to be through the Internet. A work-flow and automated approval system was developed to assist clients and improve efficiencies. The system is 100% content managed and provides various stakeholders to amend content as per their approval ratings.

Date: March 2006

Engagement: Veteran Affairs Canada, modernization initiative

Client: Veteran Affairs Canada

Project: As part of the infrastructure modernization initiative, specialist resources were required external to VAC. A tender was issued looking for candidates to fill several positions as part of this initiative. The resources were very difficult to ource in the local market. Leveraging connections in the region three resources were located and deployed through VAC to support the infrastructure modernization initiatives.

Date: September 2005 – February 2006

Engagement: Market research, logistic coordination, project management

Client: Island Investment Development Inc.,
Division of PEI Business Development Inc.

Project: A number of small engagements were undertaken for IIDI. These included an evaluation of current program requirements and designing a new program criteria under the PNP, managing the logistics and work plan for a series of international immigration tradeshows including coordination of the four Atlantic provinces, analysis of competitive provincial PNP programs and their internet communication strategies, application to ACOA for a regional business plan supporting immigration activities across all Atlantic provinces, project management of a ‘immigration tour’ where 50 Taiwan nationals would tour PEI for a week in the hopes of recruiting migrants.
Date: January 2006

Engagement: Comparative Analysis

Client: Island Investment Development Inc.,
Division of PEI Business Development Inc.

Project: The provincial government wished to conduct an analysis of various provincial nominee program offerings and compare these to a baseline.

The main provincial programs were evaluated based on the following criterion: program types, age requirements, education, language skills, net worth, management experience, investment criteria, eligible sectors and adaptability. The outcome was a tool which would serve to refine the competitive offering of PEI to various provincial immigration strategies.

Date: December 2005

Engagement: Envisioner – providing management guidance, growth and positioning strategies, processes.

Client: Revolution Media, Summerside

Project: A small IT company was preparing for rapid growth and business development expansion. The challenge was to ensure the organization could scale when the growth occurred. Process improvement and shared experience was required across all aspects of the business. Experience in growing similarly scaled companies and avoidance of the pitfalls and challenges that accompany rapid growth was required. Responsibilities include:

• Charting strategic direction, business planning and diversification,
• Implementing internal processes and controls (project management, business process, application development, sales and engagement standardization),
• Establishing product development and life-cycle management methodologies,
• Positioning internal systems to scale as the business grows through local and export development opportunities,
• Positioning the company to receive external investment, partnering and growth.

Date: November 2004 – December 2005

Engagement: Market Research, Business Planning

Client: Shared Solutions, Charlottetown

Project: Team of highly motivated subject matter specialists uncovered an opportunity to commercialize their intellectual property. An assessment was required to calibrate the potential for this type of service, evaluate the regional competitive landscape, and appraise the local market potential for this type of service.

• Research market trends that may impact this business opportunity,
• Complete high-level market research through interviews with business leaders and prospective clients,
• Analyze competitive landscape and potential competitors,
• Comment on the state of ASPs and CRM space,
• Define strategies to identify the market and build a brand,
• Sales and marketing strategies to capture market share,
• Identify target market,
• Construct a business case to communicate to clients.

Date: October 2004

Engagement: Business planning, strategy

Client: Topline Software, Charlottetown

Project: Engagement consisted of evaluating the merit of a proposed technology start-up and creating a business plan which would serve as corporate execution road-map and create a document which could be used to raise capital from private or public investors. This project was an existing company in the formation stages of start-up. There was early penetration in the local market with ambitious plans to extend to the national stage. A rational perspective was needed to evaluate the opportunity and provide required marketing, strategic and financial documentation to support engagement.

• Establish a functional business plan,
• Complete a market assessment and calibration for the opportunity on a national basis,
• Build a marketing plan with tactical activities to get to market,
• Build robust financial statements complete with Income Statement, Balance Sheet and cash flow statement. Various worksheets feed into the master forecast; individual sheets include marketing, expenses, salaries, etc.,
• Comment on business viability,
• Generate three year financial projections.

Date: September 2004

Engagement: XML Web Services business planning, strategy

Client: Intrika

Project: Business planning for a start-up IT company. In 2003, XML Web Services were emerging as an undisputable powerful and flexible technology platform. A business plan was constructed to capitalize on this market. The plan called for the acquisition of a regional subject matter expert in the domain of ERP deployments focused on the manufacturing sector. The client base would become the market for XML web services middleware, which extracted relevant information from the ERP and connected to the supply chain for inventory management and production forecasting. The capital requirement was $1.2M, and the project was only able to raise $900k.

• Research – market research to analyze industry trends and medium term market direction
• Business planning – collaborated, created and managed a fluid business plan,
• Marketing & Sales – created, calibrated and adjusted sales and marketing activities and forecasts,
• Financing – evaluated and monitored multiple financing arrangements, including the acquisition of an existing company and public/ private investment.

Date: October 2002 - June 2003

Engagement: Distress Management

Client: Mentor Networks/ Nichent Interactive

Project: Requested as a pivotal member of an implanted management team tasked with stabilizing and turning around a failing software development company. The organization had been in receivership three times in the ten year history of the firm, challenges were enormous and resources were scarce. Senior and experienced management team was able to make strong progress in the face of daunting obstacles. Responsibilities included:

• Marketing – initiated a rebrand of the company including identity, print materials and communication messages,
• Sales management– responsible for managing an existing, but weakened sales channel.
• Channel development – identified and solicited appropriate international resellers,
• Managed and supported the channel,
• Direct Sales - generated sales leads through cold calling and demand generation,
• Shipping – managed the shipping logistics and coordination, including inventory control and product tracking,
• General management – as member of the senior management team provided advice, guidance and direction as required.

Date: August 2001 – April 2002