Technology Strategies International

What Technology Strategies International does

Technology Strategies International Inc. (TSI) is a privately held Canadian technology market research and strategic advisory firm founded in 1998 by Christie Christelis and headquartered in Ariss, Ontario. The firm operates as a boutique consultancy focused primarily on the Canadian payments industry, where it functions as Canada's leading dedicated payments industry analyst. TSI publishes the Canadian Payments Forecast annually since 2009 and has conducted the Canadian Consumer Payments Survey of 2,000 adult Canadians annually since 2014, building a longitudinal proprietary dataset on Canadian consumer payment behavior. Its core products include the subscription-based Canadian Payments Insights research platform, the annual Canadian Payments Forecast, the Canadian Consumer Payments Survey, and a library of topical reports on BNPL, tokenization, and mobile payments diffusion. Adjacent offerings include strategic consulting, technology foresight, custom research, payments technology training (delivered in partnership with the Secure Payments Academy and VCS Technologies Inc.), live captioning accessibility research (delivered via the Live Captioning Canada program with Toronto Metropolitan University), and ML algorithm benchmarking services for e-commerce transaction risk models.

TSI monetizes through a mix of recurring research subscriptions (Canadian Payments Insights), quote-based strategic advisory and custom research engagements, payments technology training programs, and project-based ML benchmarking work. Its go-to-market is sales-led, relying on direct engagement with enterprise and government clients in the Canadian payments ecosystem, including the Bank of Canada, Interac, Payments Canada, banks, credit unions, fintechs, and payment technology vendors. The firm also pursues adjacent verticals such as aerospace, healthcare, telecommunications, and broadcasting accessibility, and has presented at international payments conferences in the USA, UK, Australia, and South Africa, claiming international experience spanning 70+ countries.

TSI's customer base is concentrated within a small set of named institutional and enterprise clients, with payments research subscriptions and episodic consulting forming the revenue backbone. The firm is founder-led, with Christie Christelis serving as President and the primary client-facing principal; there is no disclosed external investment, parent company, or institutional ownership. With a stated headcount of 1-10 employees, TSI operates as a tightly-held boutique practice where its competitive position rests on long-tenured client relationships, proprietary longitudinal Canadian payments data, and the founder's personal industry reputation.

Name

Technology Strategies International

Legal name

Technology Strategies International Inc.

Website

https://tsiglobalnet.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Technology Strategies International (TSI) is a Canadian boutique consultancy and research firm specializing in the Canadian payments industry, offering the Canadian Payments Insights research platform, the annual Canadian Payments Forecast, consumer payments surveys, strategic advisory, and ML benchmarking to financial institutions, regulators, and payment technology companies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payments Market Research & Advisory

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Technical Enablement & Adoption Services (Change Management, Adoption, Champions) (BPAEANAC)

Keywords

• Payments market research
• Strategic advisory services
• Technology foresight consulting
• ML algorithm benchmarking
• Consumer payments research

Headquarters

HQ city

Oakville

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Research Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions providing access to primary research, in-depth analysis, forecasts, and reports on the Canadian payments industry. Includes the Canadian Payments Forecast published annually since 2009 and the Canadian Consumer Payments Survey conducted annually since 2014.
2. Strategic Advisory Consulting: Strategic consulting engagements providing advisory services on EMV implementation, virtual currencies, fintech, mobile payments, P2P payments, tokenization, and payments market studies for various jurisdictions.
3. Custom Research Projects: Custom research projects designed to ensure actionable insights form the foundation of client strategies, including market research design, execution, and strategy development.
4. Payments Technology Training: In-depth training programs in payments technologies and related areas, developed in partnership with the Secure Payments Academy and VCS Technologies Inc.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Technology Strategies International is a Canadian technology market research and strategy consulting firm focused on the payments industry. It sells subscription access to the Canadian Payments Insights research platform plus the annual Canadian Payments Forecast and Canadian Consumer Payments Survey, alongside strategic advisory, custom research, ML algorithm benchmarking, payments technology training, and accessibility research on live captioning for Deaf and Hard of Hearing users.

Product overview

Technology Strategies International (TSI) is a consulting and research firm, not a software product company. Their offerings consist of research and advisory services centered on payments industry intelligence: Canadian Payments Insights (subscription research platform), Canadian Payments Forecast (annual publication since 2009), and Canadian Consumer Payments Survey (annual survey of 2,000 Canadians since 2014). Additional services include consulting, technology foresight, custom research, training programs (via Secure Payments Academy partnership), live captioning research, and machine learning algorithm benchmarking.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Canadian Payments Insights: Primary research platform providing comprehensive primary research and in-depth analysis on the payments industry in Canada.
• Live Captioning Canada

Products and services

• Canadian Payments Insights Subscription-based research platform providing unparalleled and comprehensive primary research and in-depth analysis on the payments industry in Canada, used by financial institutions, payment technology companies, and policy stakeholders.
• Canadian Payments Forecast Annual forecast publication tracking developments in the Canadian payments industry, published every year since 2009 and distributed to subscribers and clients across financial services and payments.
• Canadian Consumer Payments Survey Annual survey of 2,000 adult Canadians on their payment preferences and behaviour, conducted every year since 2014 and feeding into TSI's Canadian payments research and forecasts.
• Strategic Consulting Services Strategic research-based consulting engagements providing advisory on EMV implementation, virtual currencies, fintech, mobile payments, P2P payments, tokenization, and payments market studies for financial institutions and payment technology firms.
• Technology Foresight Services Strategic advisory drawing on 30+ years of experience to help organizations navigate the impact, risk and opportunities of dynamic technology environments across payments, aerospace, healthcare, and telecommunications.
• Custom Research Custom-designed research projects that ensure actionable insights form the foundation of client strategy, leveraging extensive international experience in project management, market research design and execution.
• Payments Technology Training Programs In-depth training programs in payments technologies and related areas developed in partnership with the Secure Payments Academy and VCS Technologies Inc., covering EMV and advanced payments technologies.
• Machine Learning Benchmarking Benchmarking studies comparing performance of vendor machine learning algorithms for e-commerce transaction approval and rejection, using independent samples of 100,000 data records per algorithm with ROC curves, PR curves, AUC analyses and optimal threshold performance zones.
• Live Captioning Research Research programs examining live captioning user experiences for Deaf and Hard of Hearing users, using eye-tracking plus qualitative interviews, conducted in collaboration with Toronto Metropolitan University's Inclusive Media and Design Centre and funded by the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 10-year trusted partnership with Payments Canada
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Secure Payments AcademycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partnership for developing and delivering in-depth training programs in payments technologies and related areas. The Secure Payments Academy, led by Mansour Karimzadeh, provides payments training workshops based on EMV technology and advanced payments technologies.
• VCS Technologies Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for developing training programs in payments technologies and related areas. VCS Technologies contributes to training program development alongside the Secure Payments Academy.
• Toronto Metropolitan University - Inclusive Media and Design CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch collaboration for broadcasting accessibility projects focused on live captioning for Deaf and Hard of Hearing users. TSI worked with the university to examine user experiences of live captioning using eye-tracking research and qualitative interviews.
• Broadcasting Accessibility FundminorOthersFunding organization for the Live Captioning Research program. Funded projects examining user preferences for live captioning, play-by-play captioning in live sports, and speed/accuracy tradeoffs in live captioning.
• Accessibility Standards CanadaminorOthersGovernment partner providing governance and funding for the Live Captioning Canada research program focused on improving live captioning quality for accessibility.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• Innopay: Netherlands-based payments and digital identity strategy consultancy. Comparable to TSI in payments-focused advisory and research, but operating primarily in the European market.

Direct peers

• Glenbrook Partners: Payments-focused consulting and education firm offering strategy advisory, training, and research. Highly comparable to TSI's combination of payments consulting, training programs, and research outputs.
• First Annapolis Consulting: Payments and merchant acquiring advisory firm. Comparable to TSI in deep specialization within payments and merchant acquiring strategy, an area TSI also covers.
• The Strawhecker Group (TSG): Payments-focused advisory and data firm working with merchants, acquirers, and fintechs. Similar mix of payments data, benchmarking, and consulting to TSI's ML benchmarking and advisory work.
• Javelin Strategy & Research: Financial services research firm producing subscription reports, consumer surveys, and advisory on payments, fraud, and identity — directly analogous to TSI's subscription research + advisory model.
• Datos Insights (formerly Aite-Novarica Group): US-headquartered research and advisory firm focused on financial services, with a substantial payments, fraud, and digital banking practice. Closest direct comparable in business model (subscription research + advisory) to TSI's payments research practice.
• Mercator Advisory Group: US-based payments industry research and advisory firm covering cards, digital payments, and merchant services. Directly comparable to TSI in being a specialist payments research and consulting house serving financial institutions and vendors.
• Edgar Dunn & Company: Global payments strategy consulting firm serving banks, networks, and merchants. Comparable to TSI in payments-specific advisory focus and senior-practitioner delivery model.

Broad incumbents

• Accenture (Financial Services / Payments practice): Global management consulting firm with a large financial services and payments practice. Represents the broad-incumbent competitive set that TSI competes against for large bank and payments-strategy engagements.
• BAI (Bank Administration Institute): Established US financial services research, training, and benchmarking organization. Comparable to TSI as a research + training provider for the financial industry, though broader in scope than payments.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/chrystech
• Facebookfacebook.com/technology.strategies.international

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Technology Strategies International