|
|
In 1992, a
consulting team serving a large retailer stumbled upon a
significant opportunity:
substantial profit improvement – from increased sales and increased
turns – was possible from a new approach to inventory management. However, the retailer’s existing systems
could not support the new approach, and software available in the
marketplace simply lacked the required economics-driven decision logic. With no other alternative available, the
team proceeded down a bold path:
they would hire the required technical talent and design and build
the system themselves – setting up a live pilot and then rapidly iterating
the system’s business logic in the pilot until it produced the desired
results.
Not only was this effort wildly
successful – the retailer won the 1994 Computerworld Smithsonian Award for
the Best Business Use of IT for the application – but it provided a
foundation for a whole new model of software development: the “do it, fix
it” design and implementation of decision-focused systems. Many companies across a number of
industries have the potential to substantially improve profitability by
combining their existing data with the right decision logic to drive real
operational decision-making.
Because these systems are so intimately tied to business processes,
the only approach that ensures that they deliver the desired results is one
that allows for intensive refinement and iteration in pilot – hence, the
“do it, fix it” pilot model. For
these systems, a traditional, detailed requirements approach to development
fails.
In 1999, Bluefire Systems was
formed to build upon the “do it, fix it” design methodology and to bring
our platform of sophisticated business science to the operational decisions of retailers,
distributors, and consumer goods companies. Every time that we work with a client, we aim to
substantially and measurably improve profitability. Our approach is
simple: in a world full of hype, a company that consistently meets
commitments and delivers real profit improvement will grow and thrive.
|
|
