Electronic Ink Addresses Growing Demand for End-to-End Design and Usability Services by Launching New Strategy Practice

Monday, November 03, 2008

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Electronic Ink, a design consultancy dedicated to improving the way people interact with technology, environments and one another, today announced that it has launched a new strategy practice to address the growing demand for end-to-end user-experience design and usability services.

"This new practice adds to our existing core competencies," said Harold Hambrose, CEO and founder of Electronic Ink. "It further strengthens our ability to provide services, from Business Strategy, through Design Research, Design and Technology that many companies now seek when looking to optimize business systems that guarantee higher productivity, ensure improvements in user experience and improve customer satisfaction. Effective Design Research lays the foundation for any well conceived strategy," added Hambrose.

Strategy, when combined with our Design & Usability Assessment, helps organizations determine what works, what doesn't, how to get the most out of their mission-critical applications, lower costs for application development, training and support, and enhance Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Electronic Ink has developed a hybrid method of requirements gathering, solution identification, planning and implementation of business-critical applications. Best-of-breed requirements analysis combined with Electronic Ink's proprietary Design Research methods, produce human-centered business models. Business strategies are defined through a balanced understanding of business processes and their human participants and activities.

Highlights of this methodology are clearly defined models of business processes that incorporate knowledge of human participants and their contexts, flexibility for software solutions of different sizes and types, traceable requirements and shared artifacts that both Business and IT team members find effective.

Strategists assist clients in evaluating their current business and information technology situation, comparing it with their business goals, and developing a strategic plan for attaining those goals. Rounding out Electronic Ink's strategy team includes:

Brian McElaney, Principal Design Strategist, whose recent projects include Willis.com for Willis Insurance, the Matrix CRM solution for Merrill Lynch as well as several internal and client facing projects for Penske Trucking. Prior to Electronic Ink, McElaney served as Public Affairs Chief for the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn in Africa. He developed a system that distributed multimedia material to local media outlets in the Middle East and Africa. McElaney began his career designing technologies for the Public Affairs Department and conducted reviews of digital properties to identify security vulnerabilities and measure effectiveness. Brian is a graduate of Midland College in Texas.

James Morris, Principal Design Strategist, whose recent projects include a major corporate consolidation and redesign project for Lincoln Financial Group, a complete redesign for Bryn Mawr College, and a series of strategic requirements discovery and prioritization projects for Mercer. Prior to working at Electronic Ink, Morris worked at Refinery, now G2, where he was a Senior Experience Architect, designing applications and web sites ranging from the Philadelphia Parking Authority to Sotheby's International Real Estate. James earned two simultaneous undergraduate degrees in Operations Management (BS) and Asian Studies (BA) at Penn State University and a Masters in Information Systems at Drexel University.

Matt Wakeman, Principal Design Strategist, whose most recent projects include leading client strategy for Penske Truck Leasing and Sungard Higher Education, two of Electronic Ink's most forward-thinking clients. Prior to Electronic Ink, Matt was Strategy Director of Commerce 360 and Principal of MW Consulting, a company he started in 2005. He also worked at Refinery, now G2, where he was Manager of Strategy. He was Senior Research Manager at PeopleMetrics, Research Manager at NOP World, which is now GFK, and Research Manager at Cozint, which was previously owned by NOP World. He started his career as a Research Associate at Forrester Research. Matt is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

About Electronic Ink:

Electronic Ink improves the design and usability of software applications, enterprise software and browser-based applications. The company's staff of nearly 80 experts is dedicated to conducting groundbreaking work in data visualization, user interface design, usability and human factors, and business process analytics for an elite client roster. For more than 18 years, the company's solutions have earned superior results for the world's most notable brands in energy, financial services, health care, media and government. Across all categories, clients continue to select Electronic Ink for its proven ability to impact efficiency and maximize productivity. Electronic Ink is based in Philadelphia, Pa. and is privately held. For more information about the company, visit www.electronicink.com.