Thursday 7 June 2007

A letter from the managing director

Dear Business Manager,

As the managing director of a new business covering all of Dorset, and much of the south coast from Brighton, Southhampton, Poole and Bournemouth to Bridport, Bristol and Exeter, I wanted to introduce myself to you. I grew up in Dorset and have recently returned to live here.

For the last 20 years I have worked in the area of software development, designing tailor-made database systems for medium-sized businesses, and the corporates that those businesses provide service to.

Typical systems have included:
Customer Relationship Management ("CRM")
Stock Control, Resource Management and Scheduling, and
Mobile Worker Management and Coordination
(sometimes called "Field Service Management" or "FSM" systems)

Business administrators commonly face a stark choice between on the one hand using "off-the-shelf" data management systems which inevitably have some degree of mismatch with the specific business processes of your business, and on the other hand going through the (often painful) process of having a bespoke tailor-made system built for your company.

Although bespoke tailor-made systems may initially seem like a better alternative, experienced business administrators know that such projects are fraught with hazards for the unwary. The news media are full of stories of large scale versions of such projects going wrong - such as the NHS system or the new Air Traffic control system -systems being delivered many years late, running millions of pounds over budget, and failing to meet specification requirements.

Why is it that these database projects are so notoriously difficult to deliver on time, within budget and to specification?

In my 20 years of experience designing, developing and deploying database systems, I have developed and incorporated a number of strategies and methodologies which make the process of implementing a tailor-made database system a much more attractive and viable proposition; I commonly use a number of "part-baked" modules, together with frameworks that support them and allow them to mesh seamlessly together. These "part-baked" modules are open to extensive refinement, and if necessary, modification to make them fully appropriate to the precise details of each specific business-case.

This approach allows me to provide astonishing turn-around times, and incredible prices, in the delivery of tailor-made database systems. These systems are not fully off-the-shelf, but also not built entirely from scratch each time - instead I provide a "best-of-both worlds" choice.

I would be grateful for the opportunity to discuss this best-of-both worlds choice and the very specific infrastructure needs of your own business.

Please do email back if you would like me to phone or meet with you or call me on 07957 203512. I am available Monday-Friday 9am-7pm for any enquiry I might be able to help with or for a free no-obligation discussion of your I.T. infrastructure needs.

Kind regards,

Andrew Bindon, MA Cantab, MCP, LCP.