Taxbriefs was owned by Centaur Media (LSE: CAU), a London-based business-to-business magazine and digital publishing group. Flagship titles include Marketing Week, The Lawyer and Creative Review. It is now owned by Metropolis Financial Platforms Limited.
Taxbriefs’ challenge was that there was no system to manage the order process from sale to delivery. All data existed in multiple Excel spreadsheets handled by different people. That lead to poor data integrity, accuracy and availability, which was holding the business back.
We were engaged to develop a Cloud-based, Business SaaS system that drew together accurate, real-time data (sales, products, pricing, production, customer, and financial) and featured a new user experience. The system needed to be accessible around the clock, securely and remotely.
To deliver against these requirements, we first set out to understand Taxbriefs’ business model, processes, people, customers and systems, through a number of internal workshops and interviews. Understanding how a business works is absolutely essential to designing and building a system that has longevity and delivers against its promise.
The business understanding is something we specialise it. Some technology firms are more interested in technology than business, for us it is the other way around. That leads us to build systems that have longevity and are robust.
When the database design was locked down, we focused on the ‘quick wins’ in terms of functionality and process, as well as creating an effortless user experience. Since launch we have delivered several major upgrades to the system.
With Excel removed, the business is now enjoying a significant increase in data accuracy, instant reporting, faster delivery times, happier customers and a drop in labour costs. The system is regularly enhanced and expanded through our continuous improvement process and it now includes more channels to market, one of which is mobile.
Copyright 2024 Skyron Ltd.