BACKGROUND:
During the 1999 holiday sales season a major national retail chain lost a significant number of ecommerce sales due to poor performance on its web site. In the spring of 2000, the company contacted Adrenaline, looking for advice on how to get ready for the next holiday sales season.

ISSUE:
The company wanted to know what fix would be required - was the site salvageable or would they need to create an entirely new site? Was the company's current technology vendor capable of the fix or would they need to contract with a new vendor?

FINDINGS:
The site had been developed approximately two years previously. It had been a strong contender as built, but now it was a legacy site with outdated technology and capabilities. Largely neglected by the company's technologists, it had languished.

BACKGROUND:
A Venture Capital firm had identified an investment opportunity in a South American based Internet Services Company. South America was a burgeoning Internet market, and the target seemed like they had a good business plan, but several other companies had recently entered this space and were struggling to meet customers' demands.

ISSUE:
The investors needed to know whether the company had a valid technology plan for their business goals. Could the company reliably execute on their technology plan? Was the company's technology strategically positioned and competitive in its space?

Also, was the company correctly preparing for the expected influx of customers in the South American Internet market as well as for the predicted ongoing operational costs?

FINDINGS:
Adrenaline traveled to South America and performed a deep technology audit, examining code, architecture, security, network layout, hosting and connectivity issues, data management and recovery strategies.

The team also assessed the company's talent and determined that the target company had a reasonable technology plan upon which they would be able to execute.

In addition, Adrenaline conducted extensive research on the South American market to understand the customer usage and traffic projections required for regional success. It was discovered that other companies in the space had failed because they had not been able to scale and faced other technological hurdles in spite of a high degree of user adoption.

RESULTS:
The barriers to entry in the space were high, but the target company was prepared and could equip itself for success with the expected investment.

Adrenaline's confirmation of the target's scaling plan and costing estimates gave the investors final confirmation that the company was a good investment opportunity.

The Venture Capital firm decided to invest. The company is doing very well and is one of the top companies in its space in South America.

BACKGROUND:
An online services company wanted to reposition its business and strengthen its position for an IPO. The company acquired several other companies in order to gain technologies and capabilities to support this initiative. Following the acquisitions, the company brought in a new vice president to refine the product strategy and combine all of the newly acquired elements in a cohesive product offering.

The new VP was in the unenviable position of having to quickly assess the exact status of software and infrastructure initiatives, and their appropriateness with respect to the company's business goals. The VP then had to create an operational product, while under great time pressure, to show positive results.

ISSUE:
The VP needed a diagnosis and cure from an objective third party who had no ongoing stake in company politics and brought in an Adrenaline team. Adrenaline set out to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each acquired operation as well as the feasibility and challenges of creating a single cohesive product and effective ongoing operations. The company's business goals needed to drive the effort.

FINDINGS:
Adrenaline identified over 50 potential risk areas and delivered detailed cure recommendations, including:

• Refinement of ad hoc processes
• Creation of strong documentation and best practices
• Definition of interfaces between the units
• Discrete assessment of product personnel with respect to the project goals
• Report on fatal issues and non-scalable components
• Assessment as to whether or not the product architecture offered a competitive advantage

RESULTS:
Adrenaline created a checklist of hot spots and a risk mitigation plan.

The VP was able to deliver the results of the report without offending his new staff. Other executives and decision makers accepted the report findings - even those people who had large time and energy investments in the flagged issues. By having all of upper management informed and in support of undertaking risk mitigation steps, the VP was able to launch a successful cross-acquisition initiative.