Testimonials: Strategic Advice

“INFORMA's primary mission is to provide our clients with strategic advice, insights, actionable recommendations and conclusions that can inform and guide their decisions. The key to all successful plans begins with strategic vision. Informa's primary vision is to help clients maximize the outcome of their initiatives.
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It is a year since INFORMA conducted focus groups for our organization to help us to understand the publics we serve and to plan for the future. We refer to the outcomes of the research on a regular basis, and, as a result, have acted on every recommendation in the report.

A service organization like ours has to run on a tight budget and with an energetic but small staff. The research results that you got from the focus groups saved us months of work. We were able to invest dollars into activities and services that we knew were the right choices to make. I am proud to say that our new June, 2001 Annual Report reflects the successes of our implementation of INFORMA's recommendations. The board of directors were pleased with our planned growth based on reliable information. Our research investment, although difficult to make in a not-for-profit organization, was worth it.”

Kathryn McFarlane
Executive Director
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“We were very impressed with Informa's excellent facilitation skills and their ability to involve different socio-economic and cultural communities in these discussions. The results of this research have helped us to refocus our efforts to overcoming the barriers. Greenest City 's Ontario Active & Safe Routes to School program worked with Informa Market Research on a Community Based Social Marketing project to identify and understand barriers to program participation. Informa's approach utilized focus groups and telephone interviews with both parents and staff at participating Ontario schools. ”

Jacky Kennedy
Provincial Coordinator
Active & Safe Routes to School
Greenest City Environmental Organization
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“Ms Helene St Jacques facilitated the focus groups and did so in a skilled and professional manner. She developed a good understanding of the purpose and content of the study and made valuable contributions to the development and sequencing of discussion questions. I was the Co-principal Investigator of a study which examined consumer views on how to assess the quality of health care in Canada . Twenty four focus groups, each consisting of up to 10 members of the public, were conducted across the country. She had excellent rapport with participants from a wide variety of backgrounds and was able to engage all of them in the discussions. Her warm and friendly manner put everyone at ease; at the same time, she was able to move the groups through the discussion points within the allotted time. She was responsible, dependable and willing to take on a hectic schedule of focus groups. We were very pleased with her work and would consider her again for focus group facilitation. ”

Sincerely,

Jan Barnsley
PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
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“I believe that your research will contribute to historic health reform and public policy change in Canada …your research is internationally groundbreaking, and has already been favourably received at Health Canada . ”

Rob Cunningham
Senior Policy Analyst
Canadian Cancer Society
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