Database

Businesses run on information, whether it be customer contact information, product catalogs, parts inventories, project lists — whatever. It's all data that has to be managed, and getting your data under control is something we do very well.

Do you waste time over and over searching for the same information on a customer or prospect? Is critical contact information in your company isolated and duplicated in the address books of multiple employees? Do people wander around your office looking for "Snowbird file " so they can file the purchase order that just came in?

Imagine if this information was quickly available — from anywhere. Imagine if any employee in your company could open a Web browser from wherever they happen to be at the time and retrieve information on any customer or prospect. Contact information, relevant files, a running history of interactions with your company — all of it available to everyone you authorize.

This is an example of a particular kind of database application — Customer Relationship Management (CRM). It's been a very popular genre of software for the last four or five years, for good reason. A well-implemented CRM system is the type of thing that you can never go back from — once you've seen it work for your company, you'll wonder how you ever got anything done without.

We've done this type of application before, and — in a larger sense — we've implemented dozens of large-scale databases to support businesses. Specifically, we can do this for you:

1. Data management needs assessment
   What is your "point of pain"? Can you identify what data management problem needs to be solved? We can't solve a problem until we know what it is, and we can help you identify the specific bottleneck that's holding your company back.
2. Commercial software survey
   Once your problem is identified, there very well may be an existing solution in the market. We know where to look and what questions to ask to determine (1) if there's a software package available, and (2) if this package will work for you.
3. Software installation and configuration
   Even a data management package designed specifically for your business will need to be installed and configured. Software to be accessed by multiple workstations needs special consideration when installed, and there are usually numerous switches and sliders that can be tweaked to "dial in" a piece of software to fit your company like a glove.
4. Data design and implementation
   Assuming we need to come up with a custom solution, we'll examine your needs critically and carefully, identifying exactly where you need help. We like to build lean systems that fix exactly the problem you have, without going further. More software implementations have failed by going too far, rather than not far enough.
5. Data acquisition, import, and conversion
   There's a good chance you already have data scattered throughout multiple systems. We'll help you track down what you have, then convert that data into whatever format necessary to get it into your new system and have it start working for you. Don't have any data? There's a good chance we can help you find a source for it.
6. Training and policy definition The most perfect database in the world is worth exactly nothing if no one uses it. After building (or helping you purchase) and installing your system, we'll train your employees with an eye toward total user adoption. And we'll help you define the policies and best practices to ensure your database stays clean, relevant, and usable.

Given our broad experience with database design and implementation, the question becomes very simple: what data management problem do you need solved? Call Interactive Studio Creations at 1.718.702.2470 or email us.