We regularly meet with customers to plan for immediate requirements and develop long term strategies to achieve business goals, discussing the existing systems, potential for improvements and to consider new technology. The process builds the foundation from which a strong relationship is built, enabling us to stay ahead of business demands, work towards achieving shared milestones, deliver innovative solutions and review services.

Failing to identify a detailed scope is a key reason why many IT projects fail. Our process ensures we spend the necessary time required to thoroughly understand the business need, operational requirements and any budgetary constraints to help clearly define the goals of the project. We then create a final scope which is agreed with the customer and used to define the key milestones of the project, including its boundaries and limitations.

With a clear scope in hand, we then set about gathering the information needed for the project using industry recognised tools and processes. The information gained from this free discovery phase is critical to ensure smooth delivery and often key to unlocking additional advancements. This stage of the process ensures we have the details required to consider other business systems and priorities whilst designing the best solutions to meet the scope.

With all the information now available, our team get to work designing a solution in partnership with the client to achieve the agreed scope and help build a justified business case for its deployment. Our process ensures we engage multiple experts within our team as required and utilise our professional relationships with key vendors like Microsoft to ensure a high degree of consideration and innovation.

We now have a designed solution, a detailed understanding of the current position and clearly defined scope. So it’s time to officially present our findings consisting of the documented business case and detailed implementation plan. We present this in a meeting, often accommodated at our premises in Brighton to enable the client to see first-hand our capabilities, demonstrate the recommended technologies and answer any initial questions.

The project is then delivered in line with the detailed implementation plan so its success can be tracked, users informed and the key milestones achieved. Any additional work outside of scope is agreed beforehand to ensure we keep the budget and project on target. When the work is completed, including the required testing, training and documentation, we meet again to close the project and agree the next phases of engagement.

With the solution in place and the business goals achieved, we just need to make sure it stays in tip top condition. So an agreed schedule of maintenance, either outsourced entirely to us or in partnership with the clients’ onsite IT, is put in place. This includes planned maintenance and downtime performed out of hours, if required, to minimise disruption to the users and business as a whole.

Even the best systems need updating in the fullness of time, whether it’s a version upgrade or retirement of an old solution. This is where our engagement process comes full circle. By regularly reviewing the business requirements we ensure that solutions delivered in the past are still meeting the original scope and changing needs of the business. Planning where required to update the solution if needed.