What's your problem?

Monday, 18 June 2012

Hello! I'm Gemma, and have recently been appointed to the position of Business Development Manager at PDMS, the Isle of Man's largest software house.

Manx born and bred, I was previously a Project Manager at PDMS, responsible for 'Digital Design' (our Website Design/Development Team), relationships with a variety of our valued customers, and the creation and on-going development/support of their websites and systems.  Prior to joining PDMS four years ago, I held roles in Marketing, involving a wide variety of activities, in sectors including education, e-gaming and corporate services.  I have a degree in management studies and professional qualifications in marketing, management and project management.

My Project Manager role at PDMS, and my general marketing and business background, serve as great experience for my new role as Business Development Manager.  I have colleagues who specialise in the technical side of our business, so our clients, and myself included, can rest assured that the technical detail is taken care of by people who really know their software from their hardware.  My key priority is simply to talk to more Island-based business people.  My aim is to learn more about the objectives and challenges of our public, private and third sector organisations, and to discover if there are mutual gains and synergies to be made through us working together in collaborative partnership.

PDMS is a great company to work for, and work with.  We were appointed the Isle of Man Company of the Year in 2011, which reflects the satisfaction and achievement levels of both our colleagues and our customers (or partners as we prefer to consider them).  We forge long-term relationships with our partners, and through our straight-talking approach and IT solutions, we provide them with real business benefits and cost savings for the sustained success of their organisations.  For example, we helped one local partner to reduce administrative errors from over 37% to less than 3% and to more than double their new business, whilst actually reducing head count. One of our UK public sector partners also made savings of £5.4m in the first six months of their online portal being launched.  These successes have been achieved via a thorough, shared understanding of their business goals and problems.  Open and honest dialogue is the key to us discovering if there are real, mutually beneficial opportunities for us to work together now and into the future.

Once we have a shared understanding of your business, PDMS can help you to articulate your need for IT solutions which genuinely solve the problems faced by your department or company.  Our technical teams can create bespoke 'business systems' which help you to reduce paper-shuffling and the overhead of maintaining multiple systems; which empower your people to make more productive use of their time and skills; and which enable your organisation to provide more cost-effective, efficient service to your customers.

But what about cost I hear you say?  Our response is that yes, you will need to have a budget (we all have salaries to pay and rumbling tummies to feed); but a million-pound project is not the first consideration for our conversation.  An understanding of your financial limits, however small or large that range may be, is nevertheless a beneficial part of the opening dialogue about your needs.  We can then suggest appropriate options which will help you achieve your objectives within your budgetary boundaries.  These options may include: starting off with one of our pre-developed products, such as our 'Controlled Document Portal', which could be enhanced for you over time; a recommendation for you to extend a system you already use; or an alternative way of financing your project, such as a long-term payment plan based on realised cost savings, or a revenue-sharing agreement.

So, like me, forget about the technical stuff, and don't let budgets hold you back.  Let's return to business basics first…  What's your problem?

If you would like an informal chat about your business and the challenges you face, please do get in touch. I would be very happy to meet you at your offices, or to give you a guided tour of PDMS' headquarters at the Isle of Man Business Park in Douglas.

And I promise, I can't bamboozle you with technical talk :0)

Gemma

Gemma Webb BA (Hons), Business Development Manager

PS. PDMS is now recruiting for another Business Development Manager to work alongside me. To learn more, please contact HR@pdms.com