Consulting
Engage one of the world’s top futurists and strategic consultants to help your company navigate through massive technology and society changes
In March 2020, Shara was named by Forbes as one of the World’s Top 50 Female Futurists, and is also the Founder and CEO of Market Clarity, an award-winning technology analyst firm that provides insight, intelligence and advice on all aspects of emerging technologies.
Shara also founded Telsyte (which she sold to publicly listed UXC, now part of DXC Technology), and has been providing innovative research and strategic consulting on telecoms and emerging technologies throughout her successful career, as well as serving on Advisory Boards for organisations such as CSIRO.
Right now – more than ever – corporate, government, and non-profit Boards of Directors and Executive Management teams need to embrace out-of-the-box thinking to navigate their way through the post COVID economic crisis, and beyond.
Shara’s Future Tech research covers a very wide range of topics, such as: artificial intelligence, robots, cyber security and privacy, sustainability, alternative energy, climate change, augmented and virtual reality, smart cities, the Internet of Things, Jobs of the Future, cutting edge medical technologies (including implantables, stem cells, bio-printing, nanotech and genetic engineering), COVID-19 and society impacts, the future of humanity, driverless vehicles, drones, hyperloops, space travel, 3D printing, FinTech, home automation, the next wave of innovation, and much more.
Shara leverages this vast array of intellectual property and deep vertical industry knowledge in all of her consulting assignments.
Popular topics and areas where Shara has been doing a lot of research in 2023 include:
- Artificial Intelligence, Robots and Automation – incredible advancements since late 2022!
- The Future of Cybersecurity + Privacy
- What Will the World Look Like in 10 Years (and Beyond)?
- Investing for the Future
- Advanced Healthcare
- Sustainability: Climate Change + Alternative Energy Sources
- The Future of Humanity – Exploring the key technologies and events that will shape what it means to be human
- The Future of Work
- Life in the post COVID-19 World
- Deep dives into many different vertical industries for client assignments
Future service opportunities are already unfolding, you just need to know where to look.
One way to do so comes from spotting technologies and trends early, and translating them into viable business strategies. Areas where Futurist Shara Evans can assist your management team as a consultant include:
Strategy Facilitation
Understanding the impact of a wide range of technologies on your industry in the short, near and longer-term horizons, and in particular the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic will have on your business (opportunities and disruptions). This can’t be done in a silo. The best strategies require strong endorsement from executive leaders, but also include members from across your organization. Enaging an external expert is an essential ingredient in helping your team think outside the box of their day-to-day experiences and vertical industry knowledge. Strategic facilitation is available on a virtual and onsite basis (subject to COVID-19 quarantine restrictions), and can consist of Shara providing a keynote presentation followed by Q&A, to much more comprehensive consulting assignments.
Understanding Advanced Technologies
How can emerging technologies be applied to your industry / business? Shara provides education, business case development, market research, due diligence on specific products, pilot projects, tender management and project implementation. The first step in the process is to understand what’s new in the fast-moving world of technology, how the post COVID economic crisis is likely to impact your business in the near and longer term, then help your team brainstorm how all of these factors can be applied to your industry or business. Shara can help guide your business into ways that can help you to save money, open up new lines of business, and solve problems using cutting edge technologies.
Scenario Planning
When it comes to the future, nothing is fixed. Shara is adept at helping teams understand how multiple future scenarios may pan out, and narrowing in on the most likely set of outcomes. Shara is a true visionary – often seeing multiple timelines playing out, and helping guide her clients (and society in general) towards a future that we all want to live in. Knowing what can go wrong is the first step in ensuring that it doesn’t go wrong! For larger projects, Shara can tap into her team of top global futurist colleagues.
Jobs of the Future
What skills will you need in your workforce to thrive and survive? How can your company recruit staff with skills, such as experience with artificial intelligence and robotics, that everyone else will also be looking for? What strategies can you use to retrain + reskill your existing workforce? This has been one of Shara’s main keynote speaking topics for many years, and is an area where Shara continues to invent new job categories that will arise out of the tremendous advances in Artificial Intelligence, advanced healthcare, the fallout of the COVID-19 crisis, and much more.
Product + Service Research
Once you have decided on a particular technology or pilot project to undertake, you will need an experienced technologist to guide you through an evaluation of the publicly available products and services, investigate what’s on the near or longer term horizon in research labs, and help you come up with a game plan to introduce new technologies and services into your organization.
Business Case Development
Shara will work with your team to develop business cases, evaluate technologies and partners, assemble a product ecosystem, align project stakeholders, and design pilot projects – and all the other things that go along with integrating innovative technologies into your business.
Competitive Analysis
In today’s globally interconnected society, it’s not just local competitors that you need to be aware of – it’s products and services that are available across the globe. In many cases, new services are being planned, but have not yet been announced. This is where having a top ranking global futurist as part of your team gives you a competitive advantage. As part of Shara’s ongoing futurist research, she routinely talks to leaders in organisatizations and research labs around the world to see what they have planned. This type of insider insight is pure gold when it comes to understanding the competitive landscape.
Trend + Demand Forecasting
Having a good idea is one thing, but finding out if people and companies are willing to pay for it, and and in what manner and quantity is another. Shara’s background in conducting and analyzing primary market research is another valuable asset that she brings to consulting assignments. For large scale consumer or business research, Shara is able to recommend partner organizations who can assist in conducting the interviews, then help with analyzing and interpreting the results into an actionable business plan for your organization.
PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT SERVICES
Shara can help your team win business! And help you make the right choices when it comes to procuring products and services. Shara’s been responsible for the sales and marketing of technology products and services for multi-national corporations. Her large scale bid management experience includes writing and winning proposals for projects worth up to $1bn (and more counting ongoing revenue from subsequent purchases). Shara has successfully completed many consulting assignments as a professional tender manager for clients and as a bid manager for vendors — providing her with extensive experience on all aspects of the procurement process.
A Trusted Advisor
Shara has a decades long track record of developing long-term client relationships. When it comes to obtaining strategic advice, you want to work with someone who you can trust, and know will be there for you when you require assistance.