TMNG Global Assesses Business Opportunity And Develops Action Plan For A Fortune 500 Company

Challenge

A Fortune 500 company with primary business in the mailing and document handling industry wanted to look into a new business opportunity involving the collection and remission of sales taxes, an extension of the company’s existing postage payment and funds handling process.

The company had become involved in recent state government initiatives to collect remote sales taxes, and in the process the client identified a possible commercial business opportunity in the provision of a sales tax compliance system. TMNG Global was asked to assess the viability of the opportunity and develop new products and marketing strategies to address it.

TMNG Global Solution

A two-stage approach was developed for this project with both strategic and tactical components. Phase I was an analysis of the opportunity to determine how the client might address the marketing issues and if such an effort would be profitable. Our team efforts in Phase I included:

• developing a product strategy to supply the required functions in a cost-effective manner,
• outlining a sales and marketing strategy to bring it to market, • running a high-level market survey,
• forecasting revenues,
• estimating development and marketing costs, and
• working with Finance to produce a P&L projection for the business

The outcome of Phase I was presented to management and approval to proceed was granted.

In Phase II, the client organized a team to work with the proposed partner company. The team’s goal was to develop a detailed joint plan to address the opportunity and to develop detailed financial statements. We worked with the new team members and staff from the partner company to explain the plan and related issues, develop new product and marketing plans, conduct research, and revise the forecast, estimates, and business model.

Findings obtained resulted in a detailed action plan to move forward with management approval.

This was a very complex project involving a unique application area and multiple product offerings, which required various marketing strategies to address the various market segments. Adding to the complexity of the project was the need to collaborate with external partners, while simultaneously conducting a parallel development project to demonstrate technical feasibility under a government contract.

Benefits to the Client

The client obtained a detailed analysis that enabled management to decide if the business opportunity justified the time and resources necessary to proceed. The analysis included matters that were outside the scope of the client’s normal business areas and skill sets. Initial analysis indicated that the opportunity was feasible, and Phase II produced a detailed action plan to seize the opportunity in a cost-effective manner. Final projections forecasted a $50 million a year business within five years, with significant long-term potential for leveraging government tax changes.