Bespoke Databases - what’s the point?
A bit of a sales pitch and an admission that I get excited about databases.
I have been designing and building Database Solutions for 12 years now and there is one question that comes up again and again; ‘why should I pay £X,000 for a bespoke database when I can just use Outlook, Excel Access,an off the shelf contact management solution etc?
This has always been a good question. It’s really all about value. If a bespoke solution costing £10,000 can fit and support your business to the extent that it saves employing another member of staff, then it will pay for itself in 6 to 12 months. From then on the investment will be adding to the profitability of your company.
My focus is always on value added. Where can the database solution make the biggest difference? Where are the bottle necks in the business processes? Where are the most mistakes made? What are the repetitive jobs that nobody likes to do? Which small tasks are done very frequently?
In all these areas a bespoke database solution designed to fit your business can really add value and make a difference to the quality of service offered to customers as well as to the profitability of the company.