Strategy, Objectives and Implementation - An Overview

Objectives. Transitions, Inc., addresses complex issues affecting the entire digital media industry, including but not limited to the following issues:

1. Metadata's long-term potential to accelerate digital media workflows and monetize latent content - and its short-term challenges as disparate metadata proliferates without adequate middleware
2. The need for consistent, low-cost collaborative products and services that augment rather than hinder business processes
3. The lack of readily-available low-cost, high-speed processing and rendering for content creators involved in 3D, animation, visualization and compositing
4. A need for the AV industry in general (and the control system portion of the AV industry specifically) to lower the cost of implementation and reliance on proprietary hardware and software, focusing instead on PC and PDA open-standard, IP-centric models

Based on that belief, we work with six distinct areas of the digital media market:

1. End Users - Typical customer would be a corporation who has a business process that might benefit from emerging technologies, but are uncertain how to effectively assess and implement these technologies. Segment also includes content creators or owners searching for new distribution and tracking models.
2. Product Manufacturers - Typical customer is a manufacturer of digital media hardware or software (encompassing capture, post-production, delivery or infrastructure solutions) with a need to address revenue streams for existing or emerging products through new market assessment, product gap analysis and player/partner landscape definition.
3. Service providers - This segment encompasses infrastructure providers, such as content delivery networks (CDNs) and application hosting services. Transitions seeks out service providers that provide more than just raw infrastructure and that are attuned to joint-business opportunities with product manufacturers and end users.
4. VARs / retailers - Typical customer resells traditional media tools (such as editing or presentation systems) but is preparing to address emerging trends in the digital media industry. Companies possess a desire to understand the convergence of traditional media tools with new digital media tools, as well as convergence's impact on the manufacturer's landscape, channel relationships and customer demographics.
5. Consultants - This customer segment is consulting companies that want to augment their service offering with digital media technologies, specifically to meet their clients' compelling business needs such as shortening time to market and augmenting the decision process. Invitation at the discretion of Transitions' ongoing client base.
6. Financial stakeholders - Segment includes individuals and companies considering investments in the digital media space. Customer requires joint technical / business model due diligence to understand the current industry state, player-partner landscape and existing or emerging vertical markets for product or service under consideration.

Implementation. Our total client base is limited to 6 concurrent retainer clients. We also have a limit of no more than two clients from any of the six segments, thereby guaranteeing close interaction between Hampton-James and leaders of at least three distinct market segments.

Transitions can assist clients in a number of ways, with service requirements often overlapping the industry segments mentioned above. The list of services below is neither inclusive or exclusive, as a customer in any industry segment will require multiple types of services in an ongoing relationship.

1.    Market analysis.

• Emerging vertical markets
• Player-partner landscape
• Product or service feature set gap analysis

2.     Strategy.

• Technical and business model review
• Business needs analysis, translated into technical requirements with regard for market differentiators and barriers to entry
• Vertical market due diligence for emerging or existing products and services
• Feedback on integrated service offerings for particular market segments, including hardware, software and connectivity bundle and pricing recommendations

3.     Liaison and project management.

• Facilitator between business and technical teams
• Partner introductions between end users and potential technology partners
• Oversight of own or third-party system design integration
• Budget and project management responsibility for multiple integration vendors

4.     System design.

• Digital media capture, manipulation or distribution systems
• Kiosk conceptualization, interface and infrastructure development (end user or retailer)
• Web-based or data driven applications for particular vertical markets

5.     Educational services.

• Two day seminars for VARs on convergence of traditional video and computer markets, the unique culture of each and the impact on channel and customer demographics
• Ongoing education on new trends and partnerships (on-site, in print, remote conference)

6.     Value concepts.

• Business and technical resources to assess opportunities for and help launch joint partnerships, spin-off entities or skunk works projects that benefit industry as a whole
• Partner identification and introduction between industry segments
• Branding, identity and bridged off- and on-line marketing resources
• Technical and business model due diligence for VCs and other capital providers