In today’s rapidly evolving world, there’s an increasing need for a more intuitive approach to strategic planning. The more intuitive approach must go beyond traditional
We named our company, Waterloo Intuition & Technology Corporation Some People Believe… “Gut Feel” is when you have a strong feeling that isn’t backed by
Client’s Challenging Situation: 20 years ago, in the early days of Canadian electricity deregulation, pricing data for the Hourly Ontario Electricity Price [HOEP] was difficult
Client’s Challenging Situation: Ontario Hydro, the Canada legacy that delivered electricity from Ontario’s Niagara hydro-electric generation for so many years, was dismantled as the 21st
It is remarkable to look in the rear view mirror to see how far things have changed, and it’s even more exciting to plan forward.
Client’s Challenging Situation: A friend who owned a family business, in the energy sector, needed CEO-level help during a particularly challenging time. Scope of the
Client’s Challenging Situation: One of our software clients, in the energy sector, was losing money providing core energy management services. Core energy management services included:
Client’s Challenging Situation: A family business friend was planning annual strategic planning sessions. She wanted to hold a special workshop to initiate discussion of annual
Client’s Challenging Situation: While touring a family-business friend’s manufacturing operation, we learned that the company was paying large electricity power factor penalties. Scope of the
Client’s Challenging Situation: We invested in a start-up energy appliance company. When we arrived, the company had a great vision but was in a crisis.
Client’s Challenging Situation: A local tech start-up built a prototype device to perform assembly line measurements. While the prototype functioned properly at slow assembly line
Client’s Challenging Situation: Representatives of a Northern Ontario municipality approached us to see if we would respond to an RFP. The government of Ontario was
Client’s Challenging Situation: Our client, a high-market-share manufacturing organization, wanted to inspire its employees. Scope of the Problem: The culture at our client’s workplace was
Client’s Challenging Situation: We were providing strategic planning services to one of our clients. During our SWOT discussions, we learned that our client had entered
Client’s Challenging Situation: Our client, a manufacturer, had a specialized bottling process. They required a custom-built automated bottling assembly line. They decided to build rather
Client’s Challenging Situation: The stakeholders of our predecessor company, Spirited Investors Corporation, wanted a user-friendly repository to contain and report on details of successful and
Client’s Challenging Situation: A major Canadian oil & gas producer, headquartered in Alberta, experienced high turnover of its natural gas sales and marketing staff in
Client’s Challenging Situation: Our client wanted a customized web app that would allow its clients to understand whether pickup and delivery of precious packages were
Client’s Challenging Situation: Our client has a large fleet of vehicles. The drivers of the vehicles must report the details of their daily trips. Reporting
Client’s Challenging Situation: We received a message confirming that a virus had somehow arrived in a friend’s business operating software and encrypted several months of
Client’s Challenging Situation: A driver of a large vehicle caused an accident that knocked down a hydro pole, taking down internet service. It took 3
Client’s Challenging Situation: A long-term employee suddenly retired. The person had been responsible for leading IT enhancements, automating the processing of information, and the generation
Client’s Challenging Situation: An Ontario manufacturer of custom equipment wanted to automate their family-business operations. Scope of the Problem: Over the years, our client’s clients
Client’s Challenging Situation: A high-tech entrepreneur was building a very novel, new product and wanted us to create custom software for that project. The entrepreneur
Client’s Challenging Situation: An Eastern Canadian energy retailer had considerable expertise in electricity retailing and commodity management. However, it had little expertise in natural gas
Client’s Challenging Situation: An Eastern Canadian retail energy marketer was frustrated because efforts to procure natural gas supply were not taken seriously by major energy
Client’s Challenging Situation: A family business was taking steps toward succession planning and business growth. They wanted to hold a special, invigorating strategic planning session.
Client’s Challenging Situation: A software client sent a note to us at 9:00PM on a summer evening. The note described a strange occurrence that could
Client’s Challenging Situation: A distressed leader of a SME contacted us to see if we could fix problems tied to an “abandoned” online software app.
Client’s Challenging Situation: A family business client wanted us to oversee [be the project manager for] the upgrading of their project management software when its
Client’s Challenging Situation: Engineered projects present complications. For example, to perform a comprehensive review of a hospital’s energy-consuming equipment and build software to automate the
Client’s Challenging Situation: A successful family business provides onsite testing and servicing of equipment, protecting our environment. As the business grew, the amount of data
Client’s Challenging Situation: A consulting client asked us to provide interim CEO services. The client was a family business, delivering engineering services to municipalities and
Client’s Challenging Situation: A local manufacturing company, nearing the end of its “start-up stage”, engaged us to assist them to prepare their business to either
Client’s Challenging Situation: One of our family-business friends called us. She was distressed because her laptop had been invaded and taken over by an attacker.
Client’s Challenging Situation: Our client was selected to perform an engineering assessment of a 30,000 HP pumping system for supply of fresh water to a
Client’s Challenging Situation: With the onset of COVID-19 problems, it was difficult to arrange education, particularly education of music students who needed to practice with
Client’s Challenging Situation: From time to time peer-to-peer groups need a catalyst to boost energy levels and inspire new thoughts and actions. Scope of the
Client’s Challenging Situation: One of the businesses we invested in was creating a new video advertising & messaging service to present “local advertising” to people
Client’s Challenging Situation: Over thirty years ago, one of our clients invested in a customized software enterprise resource planning [ERP] tool. About 5 years ago,
Client’s Challenging Situation: A talented group of marketing experts needed a few million dollars to pay for expanded retail energy marketing initiatives. Without the money,
Client’s Challenging Situation: A family-business client wanted to have its corporate Values displayed in its lobby. Since they had not discussed Values for many years,
Client’s Challenging Situation: Most businesses use at least one 3rd party software product to perform their operating activity [retail sales, manufacturing, engineering, etc.] and a
Client’s Challenging Situation: A successful SME wanted to take a fresh approach to a major strategic planning initiative. Scope of the Problem: Strategic planning becomes
Client’s Challenging Situation: Three years ago, a local software-service company defaulted on obligations to serve the needs of residents in our community. A colleague contacted
Client’s Challenging Situation: A Canadian province was planning a major energy infrastructure expansion. Linked to this expansion, the province’s energy utility affiliates were creating an
Client’s Challenging Situation: Most businesses have tremendous potential, yet many are unable to make decisions and adjustments to transform that potential into business and prosperity
Client’s Challenging Situation: Most small to mid-size accounting firms use 3rd party repositories to hold their clients accounting data. Other firms that perform services on
Client’s Challenging Situation: Small and mid-size businesses [SMBs] wanted information and metrics to benchmark their businesses’ performance against the performance of competitors in their industry
Client’s Challenging Situation: A local retail business struggled to keep track of its client’s requests for service calls. We knew that from personal experience. We
Client’s Challenging Situation: A major multi-national energy supplier wanted to establish a supplier-client relationship with a large Canadian energy utility. Scope of the Problem: The
Client’s Challenging Situation: We know large organizations that take pride in fulfilling their commitments to clients and meeting project deadlines. Software departments in large organizations
Client’s Challenging Situation: Companies that thrive and survive in business of more than 100 years are special. They bring legacies of success and they have
The ABC Model by Albert Ellis from the 1950s is a key part of Rational-Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), which helped start cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). The
We often hear sayings such as “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” and stories about people screaming into pillows to relieve their
We all encounter problems. Sometimes, they’re just small speed bumps. But at other times, they can be big, sticky messes that seem impossible to solve.
Bias and groupthink significantly impact the effectiveness of team decisions. These limitations lead to poor choices and reduce creativity and innovation. That’s why finding ways
To advance business, having a strong network of trusted advisors, colleagues, and partners is essential. This network or ‘master mind’ can provide valuable insights, sound
2022 was a year marked by continued uncertainties: a lingering pandemic, escalating international strife, and economic challenges. Businesses pivoted or watched others pivoting. Some larger
The concept of “consideration” is multifaceted and plays a crucial role in various aspects of human interaction, in both personal and business relationships. The following
The Essence of Innovation: Innate or Learned? Is innovation a natural gift or a learned skill? This question often sparks intriguing debates. On one hand,
Often labeled as a negative habit, procrastination is a more complex phenomenon than it appears. Dr. Joseph Ferrari, a leading researcher in this field, offers
Interactions between people can be fleeting yet impactful. Influencing others positively is a skill that benefits not just those around us, but ourselves as well.
This tool is based on Piers Steel’s Procrastination Equation, which identifies four key factors that influence motivation and procrastination: Expectancy, Value, Impulsiveness, and Delay. Piers
Definitions Strategic Planning: Strategic planning is a systematic, formally documented process for deciding the handful of key decisions that an organization, viewed as a corporate
Most people wander through the decision-making process without a proper toolkit, often relying on instinct or fragmented strategies. If you are reading this, then you
Extracting New Levels of Value from two Powerful Productivity Tools Well-planned task prioritization can dramatically enhance your productivity and reduce your stress. This guide aims
The McKinsey 9-Box Matrix (9-Box Matrix), is a tool commonly used in strategic planning to assess the performance of different business units or product lines
PESTEL is an analytical tool used for strategic business planning. It’s an acronym that stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors. It
Porter’s Five Forces is a framework developed by Michael E. Porter that helps analyze the competitive environment of an industry. It examines five key factors
Making good business decisions is a challenging process, influenced by a blend of internal motivations and external pressures. Here’s a brief guide to understanding these
The evolution of SWOT analysis since the 1960s highlights its significant role in strategic planning for businesses. Originally designed as a universal framework for assessing
The computer images series has covered pixels, lines, polygons, splines, text and anti-alias. Once you’ve made images, it’s time to store them. To do this,
The computer images series has covered pixels, lines, polygons, splines and text. When images have hard transitions between colors, it’s called an aliased image. Images
The computer images series has covered pixels, lines, polygons and splines. You need to understand these before diving into text. Text is something most people
The computer images series has covered pixels, lines and polygons. Some drawing functions are very simple. Circles and ellipses can be drawn with some basic
This continues from the previous images blog. After creating a simple set and line function, the next step is a polygon. A polygon is an
The crux of any business lies in three fundamental aspects: People, Processes, and Situations. Processes can be defined as sequences of tasks undertaken by people
Your Personal Continuous Improvement To What Extent Can You Control Your Thoughts? The principle that individuals have the ability to control their thoughts and consequently
In his classic book ‘Think and Grow Rich‘ (1937), Napoleon Hill emphasized the workshop of the mind where all great ideas are born—the Creative Imagination.
Symptoms of Software Project Failure There are several reasons why people may have trouble completing software projects. Here are some common factors that can contribute
Risk Management – a high level description Risk management is a process. The goal of the process is to understand risks and take (affordable) steps
Ever feel like you’re wrestling with an overstuffed plate of obligations? Or like you’re so caught up in the minutiae that you lose sight of
So often AI is portrayed either as a surreal robot or as a surreal circuit boardish thing. For example, Bing created these images when I
A bit about Gallup I’ve been a fan of Gallup’s StrengthsFinder [now CliftonStrengths] for over 20 years. No questions or surprise – Learner is my
Here’s Ernest Seller getting ready for work. As you can see, Ernest is a handsome fellow, with a flair for excellent-looking sales apparel. When it
Building on our previous article on library selection, we continue to explore the critical decision developers face when choosing between private-custom software and open-source software
Ten Years ago, in 2013, I wrote the following blog about creativity. Here’s a thought about creativity vis-à-vis right and wrong: creativity is not about
I decided to let AI be the judge. For well over a decade, I have talked about [argued] the need for people to be comfortable
Do you worry about staffing, supply chain, or cyber-threat problems? I ask this question because, at last month’s Centre for Family Business event, many business
Introduction to the P=2S+O approach to solving problems The P=2S+O approach is a powerful problem-solving methodology that stands for: “For every Problem, you can find
Small to Mid-Size Businesses are the Backbone of Our Economy Small to mid-size businesses (SMEs) in Canada are the backbone of the economy, and they
This blog presents thoughts about how Decision-Making, coupled with technology advancements and social trends, is likely to evolve over the next 10 to 20 years.
In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift in the way businesses view technology. What used to be seen as a tool to support
Introduction: Assessing the maturity of a business is essential in understanding its current state and making informed decisions about future growth. The maturity of a
Introduction The article “Accountability in Cybersecurity: Save Money, Reduce Cyber Risk” captures BlackBerry’s recommendation on Accountability and Cybersecurity. Based on our conversations with local business
Introduction The article “Groundhog Day? 35% of Canadian employees often ‘bored’ at work” addresses in important issue faced by many leaders of small to mid-sized
Introduction As outlined in the article “Crafting Your Digital Transformation Story” it is important to craft your digital transformation story. That will help you, your
For short periods of time, you can be comfortable while avoiding complexity. Here’s how that works – Yes, you are busy and you want to
A few years ago, while doing some holiday reading, the following caught my attention: “Wicked problems have these features: It is hard to say what