What do we offer?
We start with a free-of-charge conversations to understand your business’s current information resources and future aspirations. From this, we can support you through:
Process Optimisation and Integration: By understanding the ways your company gathers and utilises information, we can recommend ways to optimise these processes, with or without the use of additional software. This can range from the simple, such as the best choice of spreadsheet package, to the more complex, including integrating existing online systems with manual processes to reduce double-work and introduced errors.
Systems development: Developing a bespoke information management system, tailored to your specific requirements, and flexible enough to evolve rapidly with your business. This can be a precursor to later adopting an off-the-shelf system and transferring information between them, or as a custom-made system to last into the long term.
Market Analysis: Purchasing an off-the-shelf system can be daunting task when starting out:
- How do I choose the most appropriate software package? It’s difficult to find the time to conduct a market analysis of all possible options when your time is limited, you’re not sure of your actual needs – now and as your business evolves, and information about each package is limited, fragmented or difficult to compare.
- How do I know if an off-the-shelf system is a good ‘fit’ for my business? While new businesses have a clear idea of the business goal they want to achieve, the underlying information to support that goals is often both unclear. Off-the-shelf systems are designed to meet an industry standard. If your new venture is offering something outsidethe industry standard, these packages can sometimes constrain your different offering (leading to the ‘tail wagging the dog’ syndrome, where the information system dictates what your business is able to do).
- How can I find the time to invest in selecting and learning a new system when I’m busy simply getting my startup off the ground? Purchasing an off-the-shelf system often entails a significant learning curve – and even discarding software should it not meet your needs in the end.
Armed with a thorough understanding of your company’s needs, we conduct a market survey to identifying tools already in the market, and highlighting the advantages, disadvantages and pricing structures of each. We then walk you through the advantages and risks of each offering, and provide vendor support throughout the onboarding process.