Who is HardSoft Computers?
HardSoft is a computer leasing company, formed in 1984. They focus heavily on relationships, equally with their staff, suppliers and clients. Over 35 years they have become the UK’s #1 Computer Leasing Company.
The end of a (software) era
Hardsoft approached Initforthe to replace their old off-the-shelf lease management system. There were a number of improvements they wanted to make, but most prescient was that the vendor was hitting the kill switch. The original developers had been bought out several times and the final purchaser decided that the product wasn’t sufficiently viable for them to continue.
This left HardSoft with a number of immediate problems; what to do next, and what to do with the existing data stored by the lease management system.
The single source of truth
Initforthe spent time with the entire HardSoft team to learn about their business and to understand the frustrations of the team. We uncovered two immediate concerns: the time it took to handle the dispatch of an order, and the time taken in handling support cases.
As we planned the project it became clear that the order process itself was complex and could be automated to reduce overall time and that became the primary focus, with a side effect of solving the support case issue at the same time.
And so a new platform was built, which made the chore of managing orders simpler by automatically calculating finance figures and generating paperwork, and in some cases automatically submitting that paperwork for approval by the appropriate funding provider.
We were provided with a database export of the old data, and built an interface around that to provide HardSoft with all their old leasing and customer information.
HardSoft now has a single place where their lease and order information lives and it automates the communication between departments as the order progresses.
Steve Hill, Sales director at HardSoft said:
“Dave has primarily helped us following the removal of our old software from the market. With Initforthe's help we were able to take all the best bits of it in Dave, and wherever possible were able to improve on them. From there we have been able to include lots of the things we wished the old system could do, helping staff work more efficiently.”
Continuous improvement at work
Focusing on communication and processes is key to HardSoft, both internally and externally with customers and suppliers. Automating, streamlining and giving the team more time to focus on relationship building activities and strategy will help HardSoft achieve its growth goals for the coming years. It will be an iterative process, with data and testing providing insight into opportunities for further improvement.
