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Fortune 25 Communications Company: Capital Deployment

Ichor helped a telecommunications client better understand the landscape of dozens of markets across the country and enable effective collaboration with local governments and communities. 

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Opportunity (1)

A leading telecommunications company planned to deploy billions of dollars in capital across 65 cities over 24 months.

Challenge (1)

Permitting requirements and local sentiment would impede completing the project on time and include risks of litigation and regulatory scrutiny.

The Solution (1)

Ichor crafted a community-based risk mitigation strategy informed by on-the-ground insights unique to each locale.

Outcome

With our help, the client completed the full-scale deployment within the desired timeframe, all while keeping risk spend to a minimum. Thanks to a highly successful initial engagement, the second wave of capital deployment followed.

Engagement Timeline

2019

  • Prior to Ichor’s involvement, slow municipal permitting processes and wariness around the proposed infrastructure delayed investment.  
  • Using GIS capabilities, Ichor zeroed in on priority markets to analyze and map demographic data with other socioeconomic indicators. 
  • Ichor identified trusted and influential community voices. 
  • We engaged with activists, grassroots organizations, churches, and community colleges, so the client could understand the nuances of each community and what mattered most to stakeholders in every impacted location. 

2020

  • Ichor launched community dialogues to boost employee engagement and bolster messaging vetted through grassroots organizations. Dialogues served as an "early warning” signal for public opposition, helping to increase momentum and decrease friction. 
  • Hyper-local analysis of our dialogues identified the unique pain points in each market, helping our client prioritize the initiatives and partnerships that addressed the most salient risk factors.
  • Our recommendations enabled the client to establish relationships with hundreds of community partners across target markets.
  • With less community angst and with councilmember support in place, the client was able to fast-track the permitting process in multiple locations, resulting in installations accelerating by up to 200%.
  • The client successfully deployed all capital in each of the 65 target cities without regulatory pushback, private litigation costs, or significant negative press.

Today

  • In partnership with Ichor, the client later deployed the community engagement model in 60 additional cities. 
  • By Q1 2022, the client engaged hundreds of community organizations and thousands of stakeholders, enabling them to make future investments in those priority markets with ease.

Impact Location

Chicago, IL

12 dialogues in 6 months identified key stakeholders and ways in which the client could impact the community with enhanced digital access:

  • LGBTQ+ community > created digital equity panel for local equality conference
  • Underserved student population > partnered with UIC Innovation Center to develop solutions through student-led summer program  
  • Religious organizations > improved relations with aldermen who were critical to influencing community opinion and quelling opposition

Related Success

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Ichor developed an equitable, inclusive strategy during the COVID-19 outbreak that led to establishing trust within Black and Latinx communities and the formation of hyperlocal partnerships, which in turn, helped the client expand its market share in these communities.

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