Newspaper article DEC 1
2010 - Royal Gazette, Bermuda
The recession has had a negative impact on most businesses across
the world, but one Bermuda-based software consulting company has
turned it into a opportunity.
Bespoke Software, based in Park Road, Hamilton, has seen an
increase in business due to the economic downturn with a number of
firms using their business intelligence service to look at how they
operate and work out where their money is going.
The company, which is run by partners Paul Mcleod and Steve
O'Reilly and their team, have used their industry knowledge and IT
expertise to collect and disseminate data key to each individual
business' needs and enable them to automatically pull together that
information on a ongoing basis.
Next week it will be participating in the 'Kalido Connect' virtual
conference which users can attend online and access training and
information sessions, and is sponsoring a virtual booth featuring
the Kalido services it offers.
Mr Mcleod launched Bespoke Software about nine years ago as a
one-man band and since then it has grown to a team of eight
consultants, with five based in Bermuda, one in Ireland, one in the
US and another in Canada.
The business' primary focus is business intelligence and its
clients range from international business and insurance companies
to banks and Government. One example of its applications was during
the fall and subsequent bailout of American International Group
(AIG) in 2008 when a couple of its insurer clients wanted to find
out whether AIG was involved in their business from a risk and
opportunity perspective.
"Business intelligence is very relevant today because we have had a
little upsurge in demand for it as a result of the recession and
economic pressures have led firms to look at how and why they are
making or losing money and that is all driven by information," said
Mr Mcleod.
Mr Mcleod said one of the biggest changes he had seen during his
time in the industry was a rise in the use of business intelligence
due to the availability and cost of the tools available, such as
the Microsoft Sequel Server which has the technology built in, and
the realisation of these benefits.
Indeed one large US supermarket employed the technology to explain
the reason behind a sharp climb in beer sales and discovered that
having moved the alcohol section next to the baby care, men sent
out to buy a set of nappies by their partners would pick up a case
of beer at the same time. Another courier service in the UK
couldn't understand why it was losing so much money but when it
looked at the figures saw that its vehicles were being charged in
Congestion Tax.
"It can give you the power to understand why certain things are
happening," said Mr Mcleod.
"And you can build systems that are much more flexible so you can
ask deeper questions to find ways to make you more profitable."
Bespoke Software is the local partner for Kalido - a provider of
high-end business intelligence and data governance toolsets - and
serves four insurance companies on Island and this year will be
taking part in its user conference.
"What's exciting about that is it's a virtual conference," said Mr
Mcleod.
"We have sponsored an online booth and we will be putting together
content for that.
"It's been great for us because we have sat back and focused on the
message we want to have for our clients and we have put a lot of
electronic content into it, including a series of videos featuring
interviews talking about what we do and the benefits that we see
from using business intelligence."
The company will be focusing on a number of issues specific to the
insurance industry, including Solvency II, while taking advantage
of the opportunity to get global exposure and hopefully attract
some new business.
"We are finding that this is a widely used toolset, but it is also
a very specialised resource globally that is quite hard to find,"
said Mr Mcleod.
To meet the growing demand from businesses, Bespoke Software has
just launched a new website and is on a number of social networking
websites including Twitter and LinkedIn in a bid to market itself
better.
Mr Mcleod said he had seen a move towards more outsourcing of work
and the constant pressure on price points, but added that a company
like Bespoke Software had the advantage of being on the ground able
to service its clients face-to-face immediately and the ability to
go head-to-head with its big overseas rivals.
"Most of the companies are still very early in the curve of
adopting business intelligence because they haven't had the
pressures to do so before," he said.
"But it is amazing the insight you can get into your business when
you put the technology in place."
'Kalido Connect' runs from 4am to 4pm on Tuesday December 7 at www.kaldio.com
and registration is free.
For more information e-mail paul@bespoke.bm or visit the
website at www.bespoke.bm, Twitter
at Bespoke.bda or
LinkedIn at Bespoke-Software.