Business executives and nonprofit corporation leaders can partner with a new tenant in the Purdue Research Park of Northwest Indiana to receive scientific, data-driven research to create and achieve organizational goals.
Ursula Saqui founded Saqui Research LLC in 2007 to help organizations reach their goals using research-based information. The company's employees and long-term strategic partners have backgrounds in psychology, research, systems theory and business.
"We focus on helping and leading organizations in saving time and money, achieving focus and direction, evaluating what is working, and listening to their stakeholders," Saqui said. "We accomplish this through a variety of different methods, and we translate these results into specific objectives and strategies using everyday language."
One of Saqui Research's clients is Crown Point, Ind.-based KiKi Productions Inc. Founder Kealah Parkinson offers communications coaching to individuals and organizations. She approached Saqui Research to determine how to identify additional clients as the company transitioned to offering new services and reaching a new client demographic.
"I also needed solid statistics on my new target audience so I could shore up my business plan," Parkinson said. "Saqui Research provided me with a survey and completed market research to create a business analysis for my company. Additional analysis resulted in a concise report with action steps to help me better direct my services to the right clientele and their needs."
Parkinson said KiKi Productions has garnered positive results through working with Saqui Research.
"Through Ursula's suggested focus on areas of improvement, I have been able to translate random, one-off or three-session clients into long-term clients who dedicate themselves to 12 or more sessions of communications coaching," she said. "Comparing the 2010 analysis to the 2011 analysis, I saw that nearly all areas I identified as needing improvement are no longer areas of concern."
Another client is Valparaiso, Ind.-based Success Trek Inc., a business consulting firm whose niche is organizational and leadership development. CEO Theresa Valade and her employees partner with individuals and organizations to leverage their talents. Saqui Research's initial work was strengthening a benchmarking tool used with Success Trek's executive coaching clients.
"We worked with Theresa on clarifying the Success Trek brand and listening to her clients as they spoke about their perceptions of the company and the benefits the company provides," Saqui said.
Saqui Research created a customized internal assessment analysis and provided quantitative and qualitative data collected through a series of work sessions and surveys with Success Trek's staff and clients.
"Within the final report, they provided data that enabled Success Trek to determine our ideal client, how clients perceive us within the marketplace, client response to various messaging and whether they were referring potential clients to us," Valade said. “The data was provided in raw numbers, percentages and easily discernible data within the context of recommendations that aligned with our mission, vision and values."
Saqui explained why she became a tenant of the Purdue Research Park of Northwest Indiana.
"It is important to me and the growth of my company to be around like-minded individuals who share my values of seeking knowledge, confronting challenges and pursuing excellence," she said. "We benefit from the camaraderie of other tenants, the support of the larger Purdue infrastructure and the regional team at the Purdue Technology Center, and the pool of potential clients and strategic partners."
Saqui earned her master's degree at Purdue University Calumet and her doctorate at Purdue University.