DTI Case Study on IMS Ltd
Name of company: IMS Ltd
The cost effectiveness of ADSL and Cable broadband enables the field marketing company IMS to benefit from the enhanced operational performance provided by multiple broadband connections
2. Fact box
Best practice in: Broadband
Sector: Field marketing inlcuding auditing, merchandising and mystery shopping
Size of firm: 12 plus 2,000 self employed field team members
Location: Doncaster
Website: www.ukims.co.uk
Optional -
Turnover: [Optional] £1m
3. Requirement – but not for inclusion on case study
Contact details of interviewee
Steve Radford, Operations Director
0870 701 0866: steveradford@ukims.co.uk
4. Body text
Intro summary: [max. 30 words, including nature of business]
The field marketing company IMS Ltd based in Doncaster, was established in July 2001 and started trading in January 2002.
Objectives:
The company was set up by three founding Directors to address a gap in the market that they had identified for a company providing effective management of outsourced field marketing using e-business solutions. “We realised that by using an e-business model a relatively small field marketing company should be able to compete effectively against larger and more established competitors,” says Operations Director, Steve Radford. The entire business model was therefore built around e-business solutions.
The Directors recognised that broadband was an essential requirement to enable them to operate their business effectively. They needed the bandwidth that broadband would provide and also always on connectivity. They also required more than one broadband connection, preferably one in each of its two separate geographical sites, in order to ensure business continuity and therefore improve operational performance.
Solution:
IMS has a broadband connection at each of its two geographical sites. The primary site uses Telewest 512K Cable Modem Broadband and the secondary site uses BT 512K Broadband ADSL.
Results:
The centre of the business is its web site, which provides a live and dynamic communication and data management system service with secure access to each individual user’s account. The users fall into two categories: IMS’ clients and their many field team members who carry out the work. As a result of the company’s broadband connections both are able to access the site and update their information at any time, 24/7, from any internet terminal in any geographical location.
In January 2004 IMS launched IMSFUSION, the unique web based reporting system which takes live reporting and analysis to another level making it faster, easier and more effective than before. IMSFUSION allows clients to see exactly what is happening at every stage of their campaign and provides results in graphical, statistical and league tabled formats within 24 hours of campaign activity. IMS have already had a lot of interest and numerous blue chip companies across a range of categories have been astounded by the power of IMSFUSION and many have signed strategic campaigns with IMS for 2004.
The Field Team are able to view and book available work, print paperwork and briefing documents, submit results and undertake other necessary activities to enable them to carry out their work effectively. IMS has found that the field team prefer to do much of the work on the site outside of regular office hours. The availability of the site 24 hours a day therefore means that IMS is able to let field workers have access to the site when they prefer to, which leads to a better working relationship with their field workers.
The system also enables IMS to maximise the efficiency of its internal operations, reducing the time and manpower required for most management and administrative tasks such as the processing of invoices and purchase orders.
The use of broadband is essential for IMS to provide its online services for its employees, agents and customers. The strength of the system they have built and its ability to link the whole supply chain, led to IMS being awarded the National Advanced Supply Chain Integration Innovation Award in 2003.
Broadband has also had a positive impact on the company’s own marketing activities. “In meetings with potential clients the ability to log in to the IMS website, access IMSFUSION and actively demonstrate live, transparent, interactive and versatile reporting has been invaluable.”
The decision to have two broadband connections has resulted in major benefits for the company. “Operationally this allows instantaneous back-up of all data from the primary site to the remote secondary site for ultimate data protection. Additionally we use DNS servers with a special functionality that means if service to the primary site is lost for any reason, the servers automatically re-route all incoming traffic to the secondary back-up site.”
Challenges:
A major challenge facing IMS when the company was first established was the lack of availability of broadband. As neither ADSL nor Cable broadband services were available in their geographical locations initially, they took on a leased line costing £5,000 a year. The relatively high cost of this meant that it was financially viable to have only one line.
The faster upload speeds provided by the leased line were not a critical requirement for IMS. So when ADSL and Cable became available the company decided to change its broadband service to the two ADSL and Cable broadband connections that it has currently.
The last word:
These two broadband connections cost £500 a year each. “The cost effectiveness of ADSL and Cable means that we are now considering the addition of one more broadband connection from each of our current suppliers to further enhance operational performance.”
5. Design aspects
Key quote:
“The use of broadband has made our services faster, cheaper, more versatile, more accountable, transparent and totally unique.”