Investing Wisely in IT
When you are faced with a huge range of options about how to spend on IT, we can work with you to identify your issues and then help you find a path through the maze of the software market to identify exactly what you need and who the best people to help you are. It is critical to us that we have no allegiance to any particular software vendors so can give you completely independent advice.
Solutions that we have helped to implement for customers include:
- A sales, quotation and administration system for an insurance firm. The turn-around time for quotes reduced from 3 weeks to less than 2 hours and the client data had to be entered only once rather than 4 times.
- A self-service internet portal for an organisation so that its members could update personal data and pay subscriptions online. This freed up administration staff for more valuable work where they could work directly with members.
- ERP business software for a retailer of CDs, DVDs and books to improve their finance and logistics processes.
This kind of business analysis work can seem like an unnecessary luxury in a business where funds are restricted. However, our track record demonstrates that spending a little bit of money up front can save significant costs in buying and managing IT over its life.
Stock Management at Lords Wines
Background
Lords Wines are a leading supplier of personalised corporate gifts to businesses. They specialise in gifts that highlight their customer’s brand and enhance reputations.
Issue
In recent years, Lords have experienced significant growth and have moved to new, larger premises with the capacity to manage their own logistics and supply chain. Lords found in 2005 that their existing spreadsheet and paper-based processes for planning and managing customer orders and stock were not coping with the increased volumes. Lords had been recommended to upgrade their existing finance system by two levels and then to implement the stock management module at a cost of several thousand pounds.
Solution
We were asked by Lords to review the recommendation. We started by working with Lords to understand their business issues and reviewed all of the available options. We concluded that the simplest, most effective and lowest risk option for Lords was to upgrade their existing software by one level. That would meet all of the foreseeable requirements at a cost of several hundred pounds. Over 2 weekends, that solution was implemented and training given in the stock management processes.
Results
Taking control of inventory has allowed Lords to reduce their internal costs considerably. Additionally, it has allowed them to handle increased sales without an increase in staff and to be more flexible in responding to customer demands.