"The
ISIS Summit approach links a technical or operational concept
to the market, helping to establish value, as well as gaining
commitment from potential customers. Besides the greatly
improved validation of the concept's value, the development
time of the project is greatly reduced, with its focus on
driving to a clear understanding of what is really unique and
valuable to potential customers. We get account penetration
like we do not ever get unless we do ISIS. They manage to line
up the senior decision makers, not just from purchasing, but
from sales and marketing and research, so that when you
actually go in for the first time to meet them, ISIS has the
team there that can make the decision. Consequently, we've been
able to launch products into the marketplace much more quickly,
with a much higher success rate."
- Kurt
Swogger
- Vice
President R&D, Performance Plastics &
Chemicals
- The
Dow Chemical Company
"I learned a lot
from the techniques you brought to us. It became quite clear that
listening to key decision makers is the way to go for identifying
strategic needs."
- E. E. (Eddie) Kennedy
- Director, Business Intelligence
- The
Dow Chemical Company
"ISIS
expertise is in helping clients resolve strategic issues
surrounding business growth and technology. In particular
commercialization of new technology is a key strength. They
also "reverse engineer" the process where a product concept is
defined to meet the consumer (customer) need and technologies
are defined to bring the concept to market. They also have
plenty of capability for quick turn around efforts to define
market applications or acceptance. They are rigorous in their
proprietary approach... an organization that retains them will
find themselves stretched to keep up. My personal analogy in
working with them was it was something like sticking your
finger in an electric socket with the resulting shock giving
you clear insight and resolve about what to do/where to go --
with urgency. As a result, cost of commercialization and speed
to market greatly benefited."
- John
Metz
- former
President, Professional Health Care
- Kimberly-Clark
Corporation
Commenting
on ISIS client Dow Chemical's receipt of the International PDMA
2003 Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award, Summit System
Panelist and plastics expert Mr. Spaendonck
commented:
"I fully agree
with the statement that these new developments only can be
successful with the cooperation and feedback of customers, and
in my opinion, ISIS played a crucial role in this process."
10-03
- C.M.M.
van Spaendonck
- Tooling
Manager, Consumer Electronics
- PHILIPS
Electronics Hong Kong Ltd.
- Royal
Philips Electronics
"I
want to make certain that you know how much I appreciated your
leadership during our (4-day Internal Summit) conference in
Galveston. Without your guidance we would have accomplished
nothing. With seemingly no effort, you continually managed to
nudge 18 strong willed individuals in a forward direction. We
had so much to do in what seemed like so little time and you
made it happen.
I believe
(Shell) Solvents moved a long way toward success in Galveston
and that someday we will look back at Galveston as the start of
the New Solvents and you can truly take a great deal of credit
for that. You guys were outstanding."
- T. E.
Cattarin
- former
Business Center Manager - Solvents
- Director,
Intermediates Strategy Center
- Solvents,
EO/Glycols & Higher Olefins &
Derivatives
- Shell
Chemicals
"ISIS
is a good front-end marketing tool. It's the way it should be
done, whether or not the client likes what is learned. It's the
right perspective from the right people. I don't know if any
client could do it better. And, congratulations and accolades
(on the BusinessWeek
July 5, 2004 article),
your organization deserves it - you have done a great job!!!!
There is no substitute for a total understanding of the
consumers' needs. With this knowledge one can 'Ready, Aim and
Fire' vs. most companies it's 'Ready, Fire, Fire, Fire, Reload,
Fire, Aim'!! "
- Kenneth
Morris
- Chief
Operating Officer
- Heller
Incorporated
- (formerly
Vice President Technology, Rubbermaid Commercial
Products,
Newell
Rubbermaid)
"We
were already working on something similar with the chemical
division of a major oil company, when we learned about the Dow
innovation. We liked its properties better, plus the fact that
Dow was interested in working with us to develop the polymers
for specific applications. If I had not attended that summit,
we surely would have gone with the other product and, most
likely, one of our competitors would have developed the Dow
polymer, to our disadvantage."
- John
Greenzweig
- Window
Industry Technical Manager
- H.B.
Fuller Company
"There
are consultants and there are consultants. Most just come in,
throw books on the table and then they're gone. What ISIS does
is much more valuable. They're more like a partner than a
consulting company. Their level of involvement and facilitation
skills make sure you get to the bottom line.
The ISIS
process gave us wide prospects of potential customers,
application possibilities and other business opportunities that
were then investigated in detail. The process guided us to the
directions that potential customer industries were seeing as
important. The final outcome was to form a spin-off company
Panipol Oy in Finland that is further developing the business
and manufacturing the polyaniline based Intrinsically
Conductive Polymer products for a wide range of applications
with customers world wide."
- Jyrki
S. Hakola
- General
Manager
- Dynea
Chemicals
(formerly Neste Chemical)
"The
ISIS program is a very unique and enjoyable process to find the
intersection of 'what could be' and 'what should
be.'"
- Scott
Merkle
- Director
Commercial & International Design
Engineering
- Maytag
Appliances division of Maytag
Corporation
"If
I had a chance to attend another Summit in the future, I would.
I appreciated the opportunity to describe our needs directly to
the material producer and to understand the needs of both our
suppliers and companies in completely different
industries."
- Dr.
Rudolf Stauber
- Vice
President, Operating Strength and Materials
Development
- BMW
AG
"The
process opened up a couple of very lucrative potential markets
for us. We are currently pursuing a number of them. Had we not
worked with ISIS, I'm not sure we would have the opportunities
we now feel we have."
- Terry
Montgomery
- Vice
President of New Business Development
- Hoechst
Celanese
"We tracked two
fairly similar new technology programs, one involving the
Summit system and one in which we worked strictly internally.
While we started the Summit project a year later, it is now as
far along as the other one. We got this far spending only 20
percent as much money in 33 percent of the time. There's no
question that the system is real."
- Chuck
Swartz
- Business
Development Manager
- The
Dow Chemical Company
"The
process very quickly gives a strong indication if your project
is a go or no-go. In our case, we found out that while we had a
viable business proposition, we were still a long way from
market."
- David
Millner
- Managing
Director
- Foiltec
AG
"I continue to
be amazed and impressed with our audience [Commercial
Transition Workshop participants] and I believe that the
positive reception we have received is due largely to having
the correct people in attendance...I know first hand how
difficult it is to get an audience with this level of
management."
- Jack
Braley
- Application
Development Group Manager
- Dow
Plastics
"This
was the first time I had the opportunity to gather so many
opinion leaders in one room. In a couple of hours, we knew
where we were standing. Without them [Industry Opinion
Leaders], it would have taken years. The use of opinion
leaders is one of the best tools in the industry."
- Edward
Enjergholi
- Deputy
Director, Sulzer
International, Switzerland
- President,
Sulzer Polska Ltd.
- Sulzer
Ltd.
"The
proprietary value of the Summit process is the amount of
learning that occurs, as well as the direct access gained to
top players in the marketplace."
- Robert
L. Henn
- Chief
Technology Officer
- W.
L. Gore & Associates
"Working
with ISIS totally crystallized our thinking. We actually
reformulated our strategy on the spot. We were looking in the
wrong place. Now, we're looking in the right place. Had we used
the process sooner, we would have saved two years of going down
the wrong road."
- Tom
Stoudt
- Vice
President, Technology & Business
Assessment
- Hoechst
Celanese/Hoechst AG
"Technical
people are highly creative, but their ideas are all in the
clouds. You have to come down from the clouds and prove that
ideas have relevance. ISIS provides just such a reality check,
and they do so quickly and cost-effectively."
- Director,
Marketing & Business Development
- Multinational
Electronics Manufacturer
"The speed at
which the ISIS process operates, combined with the opportunity
to make the right decision, has saved us a tremendous amount of
time and money."
- Director,
Market Development
- Multinational
Chemical Producer
"One of the
UK-based international pharmaceuticals that participated in our
Summit placed an order for the manufacture of medication
dispensers. Success with the recently signed deal may lead to a
long partnership with this multinational company."
- President
- European
Packaging Devices Manufacturer
"ISIS gets you
focused on opportunities that are more likely to be successful.
They bypass all of the internal politics and get right to the
decision makers. They can push a customer harder than we can. I
can't imagine anyone not being satisfied."
- VP,
Technology & Business Development
- Global
Fortune 50 Company
"ISIS has
assembled exactly the right people to discuss our business
concept and define areas where we might establish a working
relationship. The positive reception we have received is due
largely to having the correct people in attendance (at the
Summit Transition Workshops)."
- Sales
Director
- Global
Industrial Products Supplier
"Your
organization has shown a unique ability to identify and recruit
key industry leaders. What is even more remarkable is how you
were able to recruit such high profile individuals without
revealing our identity. By keeping our identity confidential,
all biases toward the business concept owner were
removed."
- Business
Director
- Fortune
50 Advanced Materials Company
"These
guys get involved with the actual selling, marketing and
commercialization. You really get your money's
worth."
- Dr.
Phil Wilson
- Chief
Technologist
- Magna
International
"This
is a tremendous way for a company to find out the value of its
products, and a lot cheaper and faster than by going through
traditional sales channels."
- B. J.
Adams
- Division
Vice President of R&D
- Burlington
Industries
"There's
a tremendous incentive to participate, since you're bunched
together with lots of experts. You can apply a lot of learning
once you get back to work."
- Dr.
Ramon Llenado
- Senior
VP and Chief Scientific Officer
- Johnson
Wax Professional
"Your
concept is a winning one for companies that have technologies
available and don't know where to start with their marketing
efforts."
- Dr.
Jan de Wit
- Staff
Director, Technology
- Akzo
Nobel NV
"I did indeed
find the Summit to be of value, both to me personally and for
James River. We continue to work with (the client) on material
development for our markets. I think the Summit's success stems
largely from the effective way you obtained broad industry
feedback on this product's potential."
- Dr.
David White
- Research
Fellow
- James
River Corporation
"I
was proud to represent the lawn and garden industry in the
Summit I attended, and was in awe of many of the participants.
Here was the top R&D guy from BMW, who had flown all the
way across the Atlantic to attend this meeting, sitting next to
me. What a networking opportunity!
- Joseph
Walto
- Corporate
R&D Director
- The
Toro Company
