A service company had purchased an application software system, which gave them all the business functions they needed to serve their existing market in their area. The company had expanded its operations and was gaining an increasing share of a new market where requirements were thought to be different in terms of procedures and practice. They were considering the purchase of a separate system to handle this business but were concerned about extra costs and integration issues.

We carried out detailed analysis of the new business requirement and compared this with existing functionality in the existing package and the company’s existing procedures. We found that 75% of the new business requirement could be covered by making full use of unused or underused functions of the existing software.

We carried out a cost benefit analysis of the changes to existing procedures that would be needed as compared to the cost of purchasing and integrating new software. We were then able to organise a project to ensure that best possible business use was made of the purchased package.

The company had to change some of its procedures but ended up with a fully integrated system and saved not only the costs of an additional package but also saved over a year on the initial implementation timetable.