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BUSINESS TYPE MAIN FUNCTION EXTRA USES Restaurant Book tables Store customer preferences Store customer birthdays Export customer contacts for emailing or postal mail outs Create sales analysis reports Salon Book appointments Product ordering and management Estate Agent Book appointments Manage property information Travel Agent Book holiday packages Create supplier Purchase Orders and customer invoices Retailer Online sales Create Picking Lists Manage stock levels Manage deliverydistribution Recruitment Match CVs to Jobs Store Job and Company data Store Candidate and CV data Search mixedcomplex variables Export customer contacts for emailing or postal mail outs Create sales analysis reports Project Managers Managing tasks Store client data Store supplier data Create estimates of time and cost Add sub tasks for each contributor Store additional info files Export customer contacts for emailing or postal mail outs Create production analysis and sales analysis reports 34 THE RIVER SUMMER 2015 BUSINESS Local companies like Onclouds have been developing these kinds of tailored solutions to fit in with other existing software for years and offer a free consultation to discuss any application database or software system. According to Gabriel the Services Manager at Onclouds Bespoke solutions are the best option for businesses who know what they want can articulate it in simple terms and have realistic expectations. It will always work out cheaper in the long run and fit all the users better too. So if you are thinking it might be time to take your business processes online or if you have an idea for an App that could change the world there is someone local at hand to talk it over. For a free consultation and a coffee contact ONCLOUDS Bespoke Software and Database Development t 020 7403 8105 w www.onclouds.com OFF-THE-SHELF PACKAGES Every sector has a bunch of available software that can be boughtleased or used online. A quick search on Google will bring up a list of them for you to take a look at and even try. Pros Quick to get up and running Small set-up costs Pay as you go running costs typical 100 per monthper user Proven tested software with reduced bugserrors Good customer support Cons Lots of features you dont want are included in the costs Lots of features are in the way of the ones you actually want Some features you want arent included Little opportunity to modify or tailor it to fit the way you work Paying per user per month in the long term can be quite expensive for example 5 users 100 per month is 6000 per year 18000 after 3 years BESPOKE SOFTWARE A reasonable developerteam can sit with you and find what key processes you want to carry out and what data you want to manage. The best features in other industry software can be cherry-picked and only those developed to work the way you want. Pros Tailored features to fit how you and your customers really behave Designed for the skill levels and devices you want You ownpart own the software reduced ongoing costs Personal direct contact with your developers One-off fees so if you are still using it in 3 years you are likely to be saving money Cons Slower delivery probably 6 months of consultation development and testing Bigger up-front cost to cover planning and development fees for example Retailer database linked to a website from 5000 Restaurant or simple Booking System database from 5000 Recruitment database from 10000 Project Manager database from 10000 Development cost estimates provided by Onclouds Limited.