Nov 07, 2022
Watching your business grow is probably one of the best feelings in the world. What’s not so great is knowing your team are increasingly bogged down by repetitive admin.
At what point do you make the decision to refresh your systems and buy back all that time going into manual data entry? Many business owners are put off by the prospect of a lengthy software development project. You know you want something that works with your existing processes, rather than having to adapt to off-the-shelf software, but spending months on development (not to mention the cost) isn’t an option either.
What if you knew you could have it all: software made to measure for your business that you’ll be using in a matter of weeks, without the hefty price tag? That changes everything, doesn’t it?
That’s what we do at CmdShiftR.
One week turnaround for parking allocation system
In a recent project with Plus X Brighton, they needed a system to help staff manage the allocation of 30 car parking spaces for over 300 members. This was costing at least five hours of staff time per day on managing parking. With 50-60 emails about parking per day, staff couldn’t keep up and were receiving increasing numbers of customer complaints.
We developed a tailor-made online system for Plus X members to log in, check parking availability and book a space online. Development took one week, with successful testing and roll-out following swiftly.
Obviously we can’t guarantee that all projects will be completed in a week! But many of our projects are delivered within four weeks of a proposal being agreed, which means you barely have time to start worrying about running over schedule before it’s all done.
Have a look at our recent project with Havens Community Cars CIC, which took about 4 weeks from agreed proposal to delivery.
Always break it down into manageable chunks
We also work on larger software projects that need a little longer than a month to complete. We still apply the principles we would for a smaller project: we know you need to see and feel the benefits fast.
Our tried and tested method is to discover your key priorities and break your software development into manageable chunks. A great example of a project where we’ve done this is our work with Mick Perrin Worldwide.
Our approach means we’ll start delivering parts of your new system within weeks, that you can use immediately. This also helps with getting buy-in from your staff – how many times have you heard colleagues grumble about a project that’s draining time and money, with no benefit to them in sight? With a phased roll-out you can avoid frustration about waiting without any sign of the promised new software.
How to create tailor-made software within weeks
We know that you need to see quick return on your investment, because that is what will fuel your continued business growth. We use Claris FileMaker which enables Rapid Application Development – this means we can code your system quickly, with a strong emphasis on design as well as functionality. You get a systems upgrade designed to fit your business perfectly, without having to wait.
We can almost hear you thinking “but what if my business is more complex, with many different users? Does this only work with very simple projects?” Complex requirements are no problem: we can still deliver your project rapidly! We recently worked with Lyra Group on automation of tracking & inventory for 8,500 pieces of equipment with varying compliance standards, used by 150 technicians plus 20 head office staff. The new software was delivered within 12 weeks and is saving them over 40 hours of admin time per week.
Would you like to transform your business operations, fast? Get in touch, we’d love to chat about your project.