Wide Range of Customers
Dr Michael J McCann provides help and practical solutions for a wide range of customers in large and small businesses by using quantified analysis, applied mathematics, chosing the tools and methods to suit the customers's problem.
Whenever better understanding of the basis for decisions is needed there is likely to be a need for quantification.
When rational decisions are needed, "If you can't put numbers to it you might just as well be waving your arms in the air and shrugging your shoulders".
Problems that can benefit from quantitative approaches arise in management, planning, & manufacturing, in R&D and scientific research, in process operations and in finance, in marketing and human resources. The problems may be different but what is apparent from years of experience is that the analytical, mathematical, statistical and computational software tools carry over between applications. A big range of different applications provides alternative and interesting views to be brought to bear.

• Marketing pharmaceutical products,
• Assessing the value of TV Advertising,
• Predicting long term Housing Demand using underlying demographics, rather than statistical correlations based on past events,
• Understanding the behaviour of the changing post war UK automobile market, where again there was no statistical basis for rational projections,
• Merging market research with long term install and renewal dynamic behaviour of a wallcoverings market,
• Comparing the reality of actual business growth, bringing together corporate cash flow and financing, with the projected benefits of capital investment on major projects.

Collaboration is Key
One of the keys to getting practical, useful results that get implimented is to work directly with the client's production, distribution and business staff and managers to get to the point where together we can not only explain logically what is going on, but can be sure enough of our understanding that we can calculate and put numbers to things; to quantify our answers.
So I don't start with preconceived ideas about what is good for a client's business. My style of working is to contribute to a project or department by acting as advisor, toolmaker and problem solver, by adding special experience and skills and by being able to give the independent view of things that is so hard to find inside many organisations.

Service to suit the client.
Being an independent practitioner, I can be very flexible. If all you want is a couple of days of help to work through a problem with a fresh look; that's OK. If you want to develop a new product or market and need someone to guide you through the quantification of the design or business prospects, develop a simulation or process model then involvement over a longer time span is fine too. If what you really need is to augment your team occasionally with an widely experienced Operations Research, simulation and modelling expert, then my years of working with people from all sort of backgrounds and disciplines will suit you well.

Remote Support.
Because a lot of the work is done to develop models and simulations that can be run on any computer (PC) anywhere, it is often possible to operate remotely, delivering models by email direct to the client's machine. There's usually, but not always, some need to visit. It's surprising what can be done using phone conversations, drawings and diagrams that can be sent electronically. So, even if you are on the other side of the world (McCann's natural home is England and the operational base is in the eastern USA), don't hesitate to make contact. We'll quickly tell you if we can help or not.

Customers
Current customers are companies, small and large (engineering, R&D or business teams) around the world.

Confidentiality
We are careful about confidentiality. Customer's names are not disclosed without consent. You won't see them listed here. We accept that confidentiality agreements may be needed but we have two simple rules:

• We don't take on new clients when there is a conflict of interest with an existing client and
• We don't talk about a client's business or technology unless we are asked to.