Success

Expert by Big Village thought leaders understand that disgruntled patients, right or wrong, often create problems for attorneys in the form of contentious lawsuits. In one recent case, an expert in our panel was asked to evaluate the appropriateness of an aggressive, uncommon treatment plan for a patient with an advanced stage of cancer. The analysis revealed that the plan demonstrated scientific merit and proved beneficial to the patient. The treating physician was then encouraged to manage other patients similarly.

Avoiding or ignoring safety parameters can cause devastating consequences. In one recent case, our Expert by Big Village thought leader reviewed the safety requirements in place for a machine operator who lost his arm in a saw accident. Following our expert’s thorough evaluation of the machine design and the guards supplied by the manufacturer, our Expert by Big Village consultant demonstrated that the machine was unnecessarily dangerous and defective. The case was settled out of court and helped the injured man receive a settlement to compensate him for his loss. The subject matter experts in our longstanding panel understand industry requirements for all kinds of specific client needs.

As a designer, it’s tough to get an intimate understanding of your B2B target audience when those audience members are hard to reach and when interviews or ethnography don’t offer practical solutions. In these B2B situations, industry experts can serve as proxies for your hard-to-reach targets. Recently, an Expert by Big Village thought leader was invited to speak to designers at a major packaging manufacturer regarding food service custom packaging opportunities. Our expert delivered an overview of the food service industry, specifically addressing restaurant operations from receipt of ingredients to delivery of finished menu items to the customer. The expert then led a brainstorming session with the design group, which company management used as the basis for the development and launch of several new packaging products for selected food service companies. Our experts to are prepared to stimulate new developments in your business through a variety of types of collaboration with you.

Surveying a broad swath of customers in a variety of industries is costly — and, in B2B, often impractical. In this case, experts can serve as proxies for hard-to-reach B2B customers. One of our clients developed an IoT monitoring solution for lab environments that they were convinced had applicability elsewhere. We created a brief explaining the features, benefits, and advantages of the technology and provided it, along with an open-ended survey, to our expert panel. Using our experts’ feedback, we prioritized the top 10 markets based on frequency of expert recommendation, application areas, comparisons to existing solutions, and perceptions of appeal. Our client was able to pursue the new markets with knowledge and confidence.

Our client, a major insurance provider, needed to understand how their target audience of human resource (HR) decision-makers sourced, consumed, perceived, and used thought leadership.

To help our client, Expert by Big Village’s team connected them with five HR decision-makers to conduct in-depth interviews regarding multiple, specific aspects of human resources. In addition to their industry knowledge (a must for our client), each expert held a critical, executive role at a leading HR organization.

The experts were:

• The current EVP of Human Resources for a household name in consumer electronics retail
• The former SVP of a health and risk consultancy
• A consultant with 10 years’ experience as VP of Human Resources for a supermarket chain
• The former Manager of Learning and Talent Development for a leader and household name in business consulting
• A consultant at a human resources advisory firm

Aided by executive thought leadership and a variation of specialized insight that can only be provided by multiple experts, our client was afforded a focused, firsthand vision of how their target audience sees the world. Equipped with an authentic sense of their audience’s viewpoint, our client walked away from these interviews ready to win.

Our client, a retail bank, needed to understand the future of ATM’s. To keep business growing, to stay ahead of their competitors, and to maintain awareness of the rapidly changing technology in their industry, they needed to develop a deeper knowledge of new ATM innovation. They also wanted to understand external factors driving consumers’ usage behaviors.

To help our client, the Expert by Big Village team connected our colleagues with three expert thought leaders in retail banking and innovation to conduct in-depth interviews regarding the future, nature, and resources of the industry. The first expert, a trend spotter and analyst, had longstanding and overlapping expertise in finance, technology, and a wide variety of sub-fields. The second expert leveraged 40 years’ experience in corporate finance and management consulting, as well as his thought leadership in banking industry standards. The third, a futurist with specialized knowledge in the technology and financial services industry, afforded our client valuable insight based on 35 years’ experience working in all segments of financial services.

Armed with specialized expertise — and a variety of consultative insight provided by multiple experts — our colleagues were able to help their client understand new ATM features and services, as well as how consumers spend and access money (physically and digitally). With this valuable knowledge, our client was able to keep pace with the quickly developing tools specific to the finance and technology industries.

A few months ago, our client — an insurance leader — approached us seeking expert insight on a litigation case. At the outset of the case, our account executive received preliminary documents from the attorney and held a brief discussion regarding the merits of the case. Our account executive provided our expert’s résumé to the attorney — which, after being discussed with the opposing counsel, settled the case almost immediately.

Sometimes an expert witness’s qualifications are so strong that a review of their résumé is the final step in the engagement. If you’re looking to connect with experts like this, look no further.

The owner of a tilt trailer died when the trailer bed fell. Our client, an attorney, represented one of the defendants in the case — a company that manufactured the hydraulic power unit that actuated the trailer bed. Our expert provided a mechanical engineering analysis of the trailer design, helping to identify a loose ground wire for a solenoid actuator on the hydraulic control valve as the cause of the accident. Our expert determined that this loose connection was not due to negligence or design defect on the part of the client. In our experience, fruitful cases often depend on an expert’s analysis of a problem.

The outcome of a case often depends on an expert teaching an attorney the underpinnings of a technical issue. In a recent case, one of the experts in our network accomplished that goal by helping an attorney navigate the improper repair of a tour bus engine.

Specifically, the engine did not start in time due to the improper installation of an idler gear in the gear train. One of our experts taught the attorney the functions of the engine timing gears — including the way they caused the engine’s ultimate failure — and demonstrated the mechanic’s failure to install components in accordance with the OEM’s technical documentation. Two engine inspections were conducted for the case alongside new photos. Our expert prepared a brief report outlining the failures and the case settled in favor of our client shortly after.