Training, Courses, Mentoring - Project Management, Agile, Program Management, IT Outsourcing, Portfolio Management, Innovation
Consulting Overview
We take the best of industry practices and standards from agile methodologies, Scrum, PMBoK, CMMI and others and base our practical solutions on these, and our team's broad experience.
We put these to use to help our clients:
- manage projects better
- deliver products on time
- improve productivity
- improve development processes and project practices
- improve product quality
- increase profitability
- reduce time to market
- increase efficiency and reduce cost
- increase customer satisfaction
- get requirements right
- manage project risk
- select the right tools
- work more cohesively
When you might use our services ... a few examples
- There is a proposal from an outsource vendor - are their estimates realistic? How can you be sure you're not setting yourself up for a major disaster? How can you be sure you're going to get a quality system?
- An Executive level management change has occurred. Where does the new regime begin? Where are you now? Is this project under control? What can you do to reduce risk?
- You have a major project that's way over budget and months late. How can you get it back on track and convince management that you've got it right this time?
- Your internal customer wants to know - are you cost effective? What is your cycle time? Your quality level? How do you compare to peers, other divisions?
- What can you do when management is demanding that you develop a major system on a schedule you can't meet? How do you convince them to be reasonable? You know they need it now - how can you find a middle ground?
- How can you improve your cost of delivery? How do you get staff buy-in? What should you do first? How can you stretch our budget?
- How can you create a real partnership between the business units and IT? How can you manage demand and set priorities?
Why Knowledge Age?
...because we can make a real difference
We always provide qualified specialists.
We know you want consultants who are fully up to speed on the skills you need and who will perform well within your corporate culture. We carefully screen our consultants for well-honed skills and for the ability to work well in different environments. We screen each consultant carefully, do a thorough reference check, and ask the hard questions. We never use trainees or new graduates to develop material or consult with clients.
We offer a wide range of skills and experience.
We have experience working with tight budgets and tight deadlines. We understand the difficulties managers face and help find ways to make your job easier and your project a success.
We commit to your project's success.
Once your project begins, we continue to provide support and value to our clients and consultants alike. We share lessons learned, pitfalls to avoid and proven methods that have worked on similar projects. We make sure your project runs smoothly. We help keep the project on track, delivering quality work that is on time and within your budget.
We care about creating value for our clients.
We stand by our service.
We cultivate long-term relationships with clients and consultants alike. That commitment means you can count on us to be honest, thorough, and explicit in our communications. You can count on us to be there with solutions if problems arise.
We value ethics in all relationships.
Our Approach
At Knowledge Age we are rarely impressed by latest buzzwords, "hot new methodologies" or anybody's "wave of the future" marketing spin.
We realize that each company has unique issues and there is no one-size-fits all solution. We believe in a customized approach based on each client's business driven needs, people, current policies, processes and procedures.
Our approach is best described by "we learn". We constantly learn about all the latest technologies, methodologies and buzzwords. On the assignment, we learn about your organization, your business needs, your people and your problems. We harness all that knowledge, take into account the unique challenges of your project and then team up with you to create the best possible solution.
Our approach varies from case to case, but some fairly typical sample steps in our consulting approach are:
- We begin the process by qualifying and quantifying your business goals and your expectations.
- Usually, we perform an introductory meeting with all or selected members of your staff on which we introduce ourselves, present our view of the goals we are trying to achieve and explain how we plan to move forward, what they can expect from us and what we expect from the organization.
- We then interview your staff, investigate your procedures, tools and templates; review your documents and artifacts and learn about your processes. We always try to build on top of the processes actually being used because acceptance and success chances of our changes are greater if there is a commonality with the established processes in your organization.
- By comparing the current situation with the desired goals, we can make specific and detailed Action Plan.
- We publish the Action Plan, gather feedback, develop it further, approve it and start the implementation.
- We determine, develop/acquire and deliver appropriate training and mentoring and evaluate and propose tools to be procured.
- We also implement measurements and processes that will be used to track the success of the Action Plan. We constantly monitor those measurements and track risks and adjust the Action Plan accordingly.
Your guide to successful Big Data projects.
As our customers have come to realize, mature big data and predictive analytics delivery capabilities represent a significant competitive edge. Knowledge Age is a leading provider of the expertise, training, and services needed to ensure your big data project success.
About Knowledge Age
Knowledge Age is an organization of very experienced, high quality consultants, coaches, and trainers specialized in the assessment, planning and implementation of big data related solutions. The company is based in Australia and Hong Kong but operates internationally.
Our Mission
To deliver measurable results in clients' data mining and predictive analytics efforts that have real business impact.
Our Philosophy
- We work as a team with our clients to help them become more profitable and more competitive by improving their big data practices.
- We are dedicated to providing completely objective information.
- We are completely independent and vendor-neutral. We always choose the best solution for the client.
- We customize our services to meet each client's needs.
- We believe that elements of successful big data initiatives go beyond “best practices and tools.” Business and technology are inseparable. Customers and business are inseparable. A successful big data initiative must fuse customers, business and technology.
- We accomplish big data project success through practical and effective combination of consulting, training, tools and people.
Knowledge Age services go far beyond traditional consulting. Our goal is to provide the tools and knowledge that enable your staff to complete project on time and on budget using the most advanced and most appropriate practices. By equipping your staff and bringing them up to speed as quickly and efficiently as possible, we also enable you to minimize the continual use and expense of outsourced consulting services.
