Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Television -- from color to 3D


The changes in technology I've witnessed in my years on this planet are astounding. (Frankly, I am still in awe that those big airplanes stay up in the air). At the risk of showing my age, I admit that I can remember when we first got color TV. My kids were shocked that I didn't have a VCR (much less a DVD player) growing up. Many years ago at NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) I saw the first HDTV presentation, years before it was available to the general consumer. It was impressive to see Kathleen Turner with more detail than we ever imagined on the screen. Not so sure I need to see her in 3D...


At TechniQuest Associates, our team has many years experience in the video broadcast industry. Several engineers who developed a lot of the technology at Grass Valley Group (now simply called Grass Valley) over the past 20 or 30 years are now on staff here at TechniQuest. We have the experience, technology, and brain power to bring the television industry even further along. We are working on projects right now that will amaze you -- but we're sworn to secrecy. You'll have to stay tuned.....

Thursday, January 21, 2010

References are Gold

Things are really getting exciting here at TechniQuest, and I don't just mean with the recent wild and wooly storms. We won another new client yesterday! The pipeline is indeed getting full, just the way we like it around here. This new contract is for some FPGA work, which is definitely one of our areas of expertise. This new client had heard about us in the industry (yea!) and had been receiving our periodic emails about our services. They replied to our most recent email, discussed their needs with us, then checked our references.

In business today, a glowing reference is golden. One in particular went into great detail on how much we'd helped their company on several occasions over the years. "I have always found Scott to be a very hard, diligent worker. Definitely intelligent. And very trustworthy. TechniQuest provided Digital Circuit design, FPGA design, software development, product specification development, circuit debug (at my facility) and general project management skills necessary to get his work done on time. Very professional."

The author of that glowing reference sent a copy to Scott, our CEO, which he shared with our staff. You can imagine the boost that gave us all -- I think I even heard an engineer or two giggle.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

It Makes Perfect Sense

Happy 2010! I wonder how the greater "we" are going to say it ... is it "twenty-ten" or "two thousand ten"? I vote for the first one. We couldn't exactly say "twenty-nine" but now that we've crossed into this decade it no longer sounds weird. However, I'm sticking to "twenty-nine" for my age, thank you very much.

Speaking of 2010, it's already been a great start to this great year here at TechniQuest. Our team is working on projects, and we are quoting more projects for other prospective clients. We see that the broadcast industry is also affected by the economy. Advertising revenues are down, so TV networks have smaller budgets, and they aren't able to buy quite as much new equipment as they'd like. Now more than ever it makes sense for broadcast equipment manufacturers to outsource at least some of their engineering design services. And of course I mean to outsource engineering services to the best in the industry -- TechniQuest Associates!!

The cost of hiring an engineer is much higher than the salary he or she is paid. Benefits, taxes, and more can bring the cost to at least 50% more than salary alone. And what if you're not sure you will need them after this particular project? Nobody likes having to lay someone off (unless you happen to be George Clooney's character in "Up in the Air.")

Whether it's a temporary need for extra engineering talent, or a need for a particular expertise your own engineering staff may not have, it makes perfect sense to speak with us at TechniQuest Associates. Visit our website (www.tqa-inc.com), read our whitepaper on the benefits of Virtual Design Centers like TechniQuest.

And in the meantime, Happy Twenty Ten.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

The Pipeline Tightrope

As the holidays approach, we've had a lot to celebrate here at TechniQuest! Remember the prospective client who visited from the East Coast (from the last blog)? Well, they have hired us to create a very exciting new product for them! We're working on other projects as well, and have a few more in the pipeline.

Ah, the pipeline. Keeping it just the right balance is the real challenge. If we don't have enough projects in the pipeline, we get nervous. If we have too many, we get nervous. I know, I know....we can't have it both ways. That's what I keep telling the CEO. He wants more business, so I find him more business and then he complains we have too much to do! The pipeline tightrope is a tricky thing. And that's why the sales and marketing team is in charge of that. We let those brilliant engineers do what they do best -- design amazing products for some of the leading broadcast companies.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Building Relationships

Today we had a visitor. He is the President/CEO of a broadcast industry company on the East Coast. (Professional courtesy dictates we can't name names here). We were honored he'd come all this way just to meet us and put faces with names and voices he's heard in our conference calls.

So much business is done these days without ever meeting the other party. With telephones, on-line meetings, conference calls, and emails, a lot of business can be transacted without the face-to-face contact. But the reality is that it's really nice to sit down across from a prospective client and really talk about things. Things you might not discuss on a conference call or in an email.

Not only did we learn a tremendous amount about this gentleman's company (and we were impressed!), he learned all about us here at TechniQuest Associates. He saw our beautiful offices, enjoyed our coffee and scones, got a tour of our lovely area (in vibrant fall color!) plus lunch in one of our historic landmarks.

We discussed at length the product he would like us to design, but we also got to know each other. We talked about families, hobbies, previous careers, future goals, and even favorite vacation spots. Was all this necessary to do business together? No. But we formed a solid foundation to begin our working relationship that we hope will last for years.

In a world that is becoming increasingly "de-personalized", here at TechniQuest believe in the personal touch. Building those personal relationships is what makes a difference to us, and to our clients.

Friday, October 9, 2009

NAB is only 5 months away -- will you be ready?

Have you ever had one of those days when you do something so stupid you just want to crawl under a rock? No? Then I think perhaps you are lying. I'll come clean about something stupid I did this week.

While sending quite a few Broadcast Equipment Manufacturers an introductory email about TechniQuest Associates, I thought of a potentially eye-catching, interesting-enough-to-actually-read-the-email subject line would be "NAB is only 5 months away -- will you be ready?"

All proud of myself for this subject line, I continued to pump out emails, thinking to myself "THIS will get response" . . . and then some little voice deep inside my head said "maybe you should double check that number...." so I did. I counted again and sure enough....there are 6 months until NAB, not 5. I felt like such a dunce. I thought how stupid I'd feel if someone emailed back informing me of my error. But then I thought that if someone emailed back, then at least I'd have a conversation starter!

From that point I used the correct subject line.....and I'm happy to say we did get quite a few replies from companies wanting to talk to us about our electronic product design services, and nobody mentioned my mistake. They are probably just being nice. I start counting classes on Monday.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Our Mission

Here at TechniQuest Associates, we have a mission statement. It defines us well.

"We believe that it is possible to be an engineering firm that is profitable, socially responsible and compassionate. We make a difference in the world by creating innovative, socially responsible products, by treating our employees as the talented, self-motivated, mature adults that they are and by providing the best possible service and value to our clients."

This mission creates a wonderful atmosphere here at TechniQuest Associates. It encourages a very pleasant working environment, which helps keep our team strong and productive. It has helped make us the leaders in electronic product design. Come visit us -- we'll buy the coffee!