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On Sat, Apr 11, 2009 at 09:36:01PM +0100, Neil Stone wrote:
> Richard Brown wrote:
>
> So, you're after;
>
> 1. a software audit tool (no mention of platform here though) how many
> machines ?
> 2. a list of software that we would use to meet the offering of above
> software items
> 3. someone to write your report for you
> 4. someone to write your business case for your bank manager
>
> All this at £0.00 ??
>
> I know of a local company that would help, but I'm 100% sure they charge.
>
Am replying to this but Trewornan's comments are equally valid. As a
template:
Q: How can a business make money using IT
- Cut costs. What are the major costs that can be cut?
- Staff: which staff and how do you identify them? Or can
existing staff be made more efficient so that there is no need
to recruit new staff? Are your staff the most appropriate?
- Inventory? Some companies outsource their inventory to one
supplier with electronic ordering.
- Energy? Should you change your computers to be more energy
efficient? Should you change your company cars? Do you track
energy consumption?
- Software? Switch from proprietory software to Opensource,
where possible. Should you pay someone to develop your own
software? Can all your software talk to each other eg PBX /
Emails / CRM / ERP.
- Improve revenue
- Cross-selling. (ie sales database: but why would a good salesman
use
software that does not help them make more commissions)
- What do your customers need? How can you help? What are your
competitors doing?
- See Michael Porter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_5_forces_analysis
- How can you help your suppliers and so reduce costs?
Q: How long will the investments take to recover the cost? How likely
will the cost be recovered. Who is going to drive the process? What
happens if he or she quits and someone else decides to scrap the
software? What happens if you quit?
Frankly however as Neil has said, a lot of this is bespoke. I have seen
very expensive ERP installations and I have seen very cheap and useful ERP
installations. The difference: management restricted themselves to what
was required as opposed to what was wanted or nice to have.
Finally once you have your master plan, then you need to sell users on
your change. For that go for some early easy wins with quick paybacks.
--
Henry
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