Q: What does TiER 1 do?
A: TiER 1 provides Change Management, Knowledge Management, and Learning Solutions to rapidly changing organizations.

Q: So, you're a training company?
A: We do training. But, we do a great deal more than that. We have a team of Ph.D.'s and former independent consultants who are considered leaders in the field of learning and can help clients create learning strategies that are unique to their organizations. We combine these with process consultants and program managers, many from Big 5 consulting organizations, to manage large learning initiatives. These are supported by highly talented developers and designers who were hand-picked to join our organization. We go beyond training, providing more holistic knowledge services with custom, innovative strategies for performance improvement.

Q: What is unique about TiER 1, and how do you differentiate yourselves in the marketplace?
A: Our core differentiators are as follows:

Focus - Unlike many large consulting organizations, we are exclusively focused on helping customers solve problems of which knowledge is at the source. All of our services are focused on how knowledge gets used more effectively within an organization. There are many companies that will move former developers or ERP consultants into "learning" types of projects who may not have experience in that area. All of our consultants are focused on knowledge, learning and performance.

Solution Accelerators - We provide cost-effective, easy-to-use tools, products, and technologies that allow us to deliver more value in shorter time - accelerating the solution. These products can be tailored to a client's needs or implemented as is. By providing our own tools, we lower the total cost to the client, limiting the need to invest in new products and increasing the value of the solution.

100% client focus - We have no pure overhead. Many companies have large sales staffs who add very little value to their clients, but drive up the cost of service. The only people we put in front of our clients are true consultants with years of experience in the field of learning. This ensures that every interaction with our clients will be one in which value is created.

Innovative resource sources - Our tight relationships with universities gives us access to some of the brightest up-and-coming developers and designers. This gives our Network added capacity to take on large challenges when necessary.

Experience - All of our consultants have worked in the learning and knowledge management field for many years. We are very exclusive in our hiring, with many of our consultants coming from backgrounds as independents where they directly impacted the successes of many companies. Many also come from highly successful consulting organizations where they left to join a more innovative group.

Q. Do you sell products?
A: We are a solutions and services company that has developed numerous tools and technologies. We are not a product-centric company, but we have a number of tools that can be tailored or completely customized for a given situation. Because this is a bi-product of our services, we can provide tools at very competitive prices vs. prices charged by product-centric organizations.

Q. How big are you?
A: The TiER 1 network consists of over 30 developers, designers, and learning strategists. Our partnerships provide us with additional scalability in various focused areas such as technology development and high-end multimedia design.

Q: Who do you compete with?
A: We have two primary types of potential competitors. The first is large consulting systems integrators. These organizations will most often compete with us in the Change Management and Knowledge Management arenas. Our competitive advantages vs. these organizations are as follows:

Focus - Our organization is exclusively focused on knowledge and learning giving us more specialized and experienced consultants.

Innovation/Thought Leadership - We have attracted many academics and independent consultants to work with TiER 1 because of the opportunity to engage in more innovative solutions. These individuals often steer away from large systems integrators, as the environments can be stifling.

Cost - Our lean organization structure makes us very cost competitive vs. large integrators.

The second area of competition is with more traditional training organizations. Our competitive advantage vs. these organizations is:

Holistic capability - we have strategists, technologies, and process consultants to complement our training delivery capabilities. These skill sets give us a more well-rounded, business-centric approach to the services we provide.

Solution Accelerators - Our products, tools, technologies and methodology allow us to rapidly deliver comprehensive solutions in a cost-effective manner.

Sales Model - Our sales model leads with strategy consultants who constantly add value to our clients as they sell. This ability to engage with clients immediately in a value-creating manner vs. a traditional direct sales force both constantly reinforces the view that we are more innovative and capable and also causes clients to engage with us more frequently.

Q: Can you simply provide resources to help an organization?
A: Because of our deep relationships with universities and our wide network of small and independent consultants, we have numerous highly skilled resources in the areas of application development, instructional design, technical writing, and training. These resources can be provided to support organizations under a number of flexible pricing arrangements.

Q: Do you have a process or methodology?
A: Our methodology for enabling change and designing and delivering learning solutions is called the Client Centered Performance Improvement methodology. This methodology consists of well-defined stages, phases, activities and tasks and is supported by a wealth of templates and best practices for delivering various phases of the solution. The methodology is intended to be a model and is very flexible and adaptable to any situation. We use the methodology as a blueprint for executing projects; we can engage in all phases of it or simply one phase. We can also use it to help clients evaluate their existing initiatives and understand where risks and problems may arise.