This is a good question and it was asked of us by a potential client when we did a demo recently.
It may well be your company policy to develop your own systems but it may not be the best way of doing it today.
Of course I would say that because I want to sell you our solution, and that’s true I do – please place your order now while stocks last!
The IT market is changing rapidly and moving away from huge in-house systems to solutions such as ours which are based on a concept called Software as a Service (SAAS)
So what are the issues you should think about when building your own system?
Cost – this is a consideration in all of our decisions in life and even if you have your own team of developers they will have to be paid and there will be a cost to do so. Building a system like CMS won’t leave your development budget much change out of $1m; and remember IT projects rarely keep within the budget and you may find you need to spend more or cut down on the features you want.
Time – it takes time to write the specifications and build a system like CMS. Depending on how many people you put on the project it’s going to take a year to 18 months as a minimum – 2 years is more realistic – a lot of time lost! Again like the budget most IT projects will overrun.
Integration – an in-house system should be built to integrate with your existing systems although if you are running old legacy systems these are more difficult to integrate and every interface costs time and money.
Maintenance – your own system will obviously need maintaining and this comes at a cost although it could be hidden by the “IT Charge” put on your business by your IT team. The main cost is ensuring servers are always running and data backed up regularly and the software kept free from bugs.
Enhancements – you’ve got your system, but the business is always changing, how do you keep up with it? Your IT team will need to be able to keep up with your requirements without your competitors leaving you behind. Clearly there’s a cost to this but just as important there is a question of time. Often you will be competing with other parts of your company for the resources to be allocated to your system and your priorities may not be recognised as important compared to other requirements.
Software as a Service – what are the advantages?
Based on our Claims Management System (CMS) we see following advantages:
Cost – You pay for CMS only on the basis of how much you use it. We have a scale of charges which means there is a one-off cost per claim for the life of the claim. There are no on boarding costs, no training costs, no one-off costs for starting the system however many users you want registered.
Time – CMS is ready now and can be set-up in a matter of days. If you want we can even set up a trial system so that you can try before you buy
Integration – CMS, like other SaaS system is built to be open which means it can talk to any other system providing your system can talk too. We are collaborating with other SaaS providers to get data into CMS without the need for double entry. Bespoke interfaces can always be built.
Maintenance – because you log into CMS over the internet you only need a web browser. All system maintenance is taken care by HubSE and is included in the price.
Enhancements – we are committed to bring on new features under our continuous improvement process. We listen to our customers and want to make it easy for the demurrage analyst to get on with the job – we act on feedback and suggestions from our clients. Your system will always be up-to-date with the latest version as soon as you log on – no need to download new versions.
This is the new way to buy software and is the future as many companies are finding out. If you would like a demonstration of CMS or to find out more contact me at phil.stalley@hubse.com t: +44 (0)7595 310 421 or tim.bridges@hubse.com t: +44 (0)7946 535580