Polymorph Limited won the Best SME Software Solution Award 2013

Polymorph Limited won the Best SME Software Solution Award 2013 at the European IT & Software Excellence Awards in London on 13th March 2013.

Our award submission focused on our work on Tactical Solutions DRIVE project, using bespoke software tablet technology. Tactical Solutions approached Polymorph to help radically transform its primarily paper-based field sales processes, mainly handled in-store, with the use of cutting edge technology; in order to revamp the way its staff in the field reported information and solved problems for the brands Tactical Solutions represents. 

The solution was the DRIVE tablet software, enabling real-time updates as soon as they enter a store. In addition, it also shows how a brand should be displayed within the context of what had been agreed with that store, so that the sales manager can address any issues directly with the supermarket manager. All of this information is then sent directly to Tactical Solutions headquarters for analysis.

The DRIVE tablet software was initially rolled out to over 120 field sales users, who carry out over 2,700 in-store visits every week. The easy-to-use software has significantly helped to increase reporting and reduce manual inputting, allowing Tactical Solutions to focus on its core business.

"Winning this award is a significant step for Polymorph to be acknowledged as a first class IT services company and for our work with bespoke software and tablet and mobile solutions. We have built on our success of the DRIVE project by rolling out similar projects for businesses and we hope to add many more projects to our portfolio, as well as awards in the future" Stephen Harris, Managing Director, Polymorph. 

The European IT & Software Excellence Awards are the only pan-European awards which recognise the crucial role that ISVs, Solution Providers and Systems Integrators play in the delivery of real world solutions, and attracted entries from 25 countries. Entries were submitted by the ISV or solution provider themselves describing the solution provided and each had to be supported by an endorsement by the client. 64 companies from 15 countries made the finals. The winners were selected by an independent panel of consultants and editors.

Hillsborough - There but for the grace of God went us....

The following is taken from www.nufc.com, so I take no credit for the content. I strongly identify with this though, having been at the Spurs game mentioned. I left this game just after half time because I genuinely thought I could end up being seriously injured. I was right at the front, crushed against the fence, very close to the people who climbed over and promptly got arrested!

There but for the grace of God, go us....

Wednesday's damning indictment of all aspects of the British establishment following the independent panel's investigation into Hillsborough, was shocking but not surprising for those of us unfortunate enough to follow football in the late 1980s. We always knew The Truth.

Hillsborough could have happened to any of us.

We often found ourselves in various perilous situations at different grounds (including St. James' Park) up and down the country where we were always one slip, one mounted police charge, one gate opening away from disaster.

A few years before the disaster I was in the central pen at the Leppings Lane End, packed in so tightly that breathing became an effort, my feet were off the floor and some of us were sensing the danger.

Thankfully, we were near enough to the tunnel to fight our way out and make our way, despite the non-existent signage, into the side pens which were virtually empty. It had been a death-trap for years.

My colleague was at the White Hart Lane incident, some years later, where it was nothing short of a miracle that no-one lost their lives when in 1987 United fans were almost the victim of callous policing by the Met.

The Park Lane end containing the travelling support was allowed to become dangerously overcrowded while the adjacent paddocks remained closed and unused.

The first few fans to scale the fences were arrested but gradually more joined in and fought with stewards to open gates on to the pitch. And in an eerie foretaste of the Hillsborough tragedy, seated fans above pulled some of those below to safety and disaster was averted.

The police's reaction was to stretch a line of officers in front of the away section which blotted out any view of the match and after the final whistle a vain attempt was made to hold the away fans in their pen.

A midweek game at Maine Road saw a massive crush on the stairs leading down from the away terrace on the Kippax and at one point I was jammed up against the railings staring at a 50ft drop with nowhere to go. A piece of fatigued metal or crumbling concrete would have seen dozens of us fall to our deaths.

Just a year after Hillsborough, our game in Sheffield at Bramall Lane had seen an almighty crush at the end of the match where once again the South Yorkshire police had lost control. Had they learned nothing? I remember writing to The Mag about it at the time.

But things weren't much better at St. James'. Many of the sold out games saw crowds way in excess of the official attendance figures and while some areas of the Gallowgate were packed, the "Scoreboard" section would be dangerously crammed. Kenny Wharton's testimonial game being a surprising case in point.

The "them and us" attitude of the police at the time meant that it never entered their heads that on that awful day, that they were watching a disaster unfold. They presumed it was a pitch invasion and disorder.

It says much about the way this country (still) works that all areas of society were able to collude and cover-up with senior police officers, emergency services, coroners, lawyers, journalists, politicians all in on the conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The legal system serves victims the least.

In the end, it has taken an independent group outside of the establishment to uncover what happened that day and how the families of the victims of Hillsborough have found the strength and dignity to carry on their fight is incredible.

Five years after the tragedy Newcastle went to Anfield in a Premier League fixture on April 16th and both sets of fans paid tribute to those lost in a fitting and spontaneous show of unity. It was an extraordinarily moving occasion and like the victims of Hillsborough, will never be forgotten.

The Truth was always there and it's a national disgrace that it took 23 years to make those responsible unable to deny and ignore it.

Will justice follow? Whatever happens now, it'll be far too little, far too late.

Our thoughts go to our fellow football fans who suffered then and are still suffering now. You're not alone.

Let me tell you how re-seller partnerships work!!!

We have recently been asked to do some work for a customer that we don't have the in house capabilities to do. The customer in question really likes us and wants to engage us as the prime contractor, so we have gone out to the market to try and find a partner whose services we can re-sell. There are many out there who can do it, and the re-seller model for this is well established.

We have been in discussions with a number of companies, but there is one in particular whose attitude has amazed me. What's more, the company in question seem to be quite desperate to get the work, as they have sent a number of emails chasing up a response. However, they just don't seem to get the way a re-seller relationship works.

When it comes to pricing, we asked them what their rate to us will be and their response was, to paraphrase, “This will be largely shaped by the rate you sell to your customers”

Largely shaped by the rate we sell to our customers!!!

In other words, you tell me what rate you have sold to your customer and only then will I tell you how much I will sell my services to you for. Or, put another way, once I know how much you have sold to your customer, I will tell you what I think is a fair profit for you to make.

Well, I'm sorry guys, but it just doesn't work like that.

What we sell to our customers for is none of your business. We sell to them at whatever rate we want, add as much or little mark up to your prices as we like and are under no obligation to disclose to you what we have sold for. This is just the way it works in this game! We have plenty of relationships with other companies who sell our services on in exactly the same way.

In addition, in this sort of relationship we need to work with “knowns”. We need to know what the bottom line price to us is, all the time. We need a specific price list based on how much the company are prepared to sell to us for, not one that floats around based on how much we sell for. Again, this is just the way all other re-sellers work.

So, in this instance we have engaged a one man band who does this sort of thing day in day out. All his work come from companies like us and he knows exactly how to work with them. He does not care how much we sell him out for, he does not disclose who else he works for or what he does with them. What's more, when he does work for customers, he always does so under the auspicious of being an employee of the prime contractor and never tries to poach any work direct. He keeps very busy and, in fact, says he can pick and choose who he wants to work for. He is very easy to work with and does not consume lots of time or effort in our dealings with him.

Asked what price he will charge us, he gave a straight, simple answer. £300 per day.

Now, that's someone we can work with and keep busy and paid!

A potential sub-contractor yesterday...

An idiot bids disruptively

I'm going to take advantage of the fact that I'm probably just shouting into the dark here, so I'm going to have a bit of a rant!

DISRUPTIVE BIDS!

Twice this year I've been asked, nay forced, into doing what has been termed (by the persons asking) “a disruptive bid”. Now, dear reader, let me define a “disruptive bid” for you. A “disruptive bid” is tendering for some work which you have absolutely no chance what-so-ever of winning, at such a ridiculously low prices that the company who ultimately win the deal are put into an embarrassing and uncomfortable situation. It is also claimed that said “disruptive bid” will put the disruptive bidder in a more positive position to win work from the client in the future.

Let me, however, further define a “disruptive bid” insofar as I see it. It's something that other people can't actually be bothered to waste their own time doing but are quite happy to waste other people's. Its something that, if it were so genuinely important, they would have done themselves. In my experience a disruptive bid is nothing but something that disrupts my own time!

In essence, its the anathema of what salesmen like doing. They like putting effort into winning deals which are winnable, whilst adding value and providing benefits to their customers. Not putting effort into something they KNOW is a complete waste of time, resource and energy.

I also question the psyche of a disruptive bid from the clients outlook. Looking at things from their perspective, I'd think to myself, “Is this the sort of company we want to forge a long term relationship with, if this is the way they behave?” In one example, I've been asked to submit a bid AFTER the closing date for submission of the tender, and probably after the date the order has actually been placed, at a price lower than the expected costs of the winning bidder, and for what? Some very questionable value of future orders.

From the clients point of view, there's a phrase a friend of mine would use to describe this. He'd say it's like pissing through someone's letter box, then ringing the bell to ask them how far up the hall it went!

They'd say “They know the tender has closed. They know the order has been placed. They know the likely costs, but here they are submitting a quote at much lower costs than the ones we have ordered at. So, what will this do but potentially make us look very stupid?”

From my point of view, disruptive bids are more like an idiotic pouring of money down the drain.

In case anyone out there is listening, I won't ever be doing anymore disruptive bids........ever!

Some money being poured down the drain, earlier today...

Diary of a Badminton "player".

I've done something tonight which I haven't done for 31 years, that involves whacking; and I loved it!

No, you dirty minded reader, that's just rude!!! I've started playing Badminton!

Its been a long time coming. Apart from the 31 year gap, I planned to start two years ago, bought my bat one year ago and eventually got round to starting tonight and a lot has changed in that time.

First of all, the rules have changed. The whole scoring and serving process is different. I can't remember how it used to be and, frankly, I can't even work out what it was tonight. I was just happy to be led, told from where and when to serve, what the score was and just get the shuttlecock back over the net. There seemed some relationship between what side to serve from and the score, but I can't work it out yet. It will come though!

Why? Because even though it has just been two hours, I know I'm addicted. I now know what virgin golf players feel like when they become obsessed with the game. Tonight I was so annoyed with myself for missing the shuttlecock, air blasting shots, serving out. Each time I made such a mistake I WANTED to do it again straight away to do it right next time. I wanted to go on and on, trying to get better. To not make stupid mistakes again. The amount of times my opponent lobbed the shuttlecock, tempting me to smash it, when all I did was swing wildly and miss. I even suffered the ignominy of having the shuttlecock land and bounce off my head, like a comedy clown!

The next thing that has changed is the bats. I bought mine for £10 at Sports Direct and thought, that'll do. One of the guys tonight let me feel his bat (dirty reader, stop it!) and it was amazingly light compared to mine. What's the betting that this time in 3 weeks I'll have gone out and spunked away £100 on a top of the range lightweight titanium shaft (dirty reader!!!).

The other thing that has changed from my school days is that the game seems a lot faster. I suppose as a spotty teenager, we never really got up any pace but man, last night, some of them were really fast, mobile and powerful. My games seemed fast, but watching the speed of the other matches was bewildering. The people were very competitive as well. All of them very nice, but my, they went straight for the jugular. Even though I was struggling, there was no sympathy, just humiliation! It really made me question and reappraise my own killer instinct. When I'm fully up to speed, like my opponents today, I'll show as little mercy to the novices. It will all be part of the learning experience for them.

The other thing I learned was about “focus”. I'd often heard commentators, especially in Tennis, talking about a player loosing concentration during a game and this having an impact on their performance. I'd never quite understood that. How could it happen to a professional athlete? Now, I'm not putting myself in that bracket, but it did happen to me tonight. Half way through one match I found myself drifting off, thinking about girls I guess, and that turned out to be my worst game.

So, now I'm just looking forward to seeing how bad my body will be feeling tomorrow morning, oh.....and that ebay search for a new lightweight bat!

a 'cock being missed earlier tonight.

Do you really think I'm that much of an fool...

A few months ago I got an enquiry from a prospective customer for a product we re-sell on behalf of another company. The organisation in question had some very rigorous requirements and were very diligent in asking lots detailed questions. Over a number of days they were constantly firing emails to me asking if it did this, if it did that, HOW it did this and HOW it did that etc. As they were based in a Country a long way away (for the sake of illustration, lets just imagine it was Australia), all correspondence was conducted via email. I didn't mind putting the time and effort in answering these questions because there was a decent (not great, but decent) order waiting at the end.

Then suddenly it all went quiet...

I left it for a week or so and then emailed them asking where they were with things and what was happening etc. and got a very vague answer back from them saying other priorities had taken precedence.

Then it all started again. A whole load more questions and ultimately a request to arrange an (urgent and free of charge) evaluation for them, which we duly obliged.

A couple of weeks later I emailed asking how they were getting on with the evaluation, only to be told that they had not got round to installing it yet and would let me know when they had and what their thoughts were.

I forgot about things for a while, only to be reminded about it when we started getting requests from other companies for pricing to quote the said organisation. At that point I decided to contact them again to ask what the hell was going on! I had given them all this help and now, it seemed, they were asking all and sundry to quote. They replied saying it was just their purchasing department having to go through the motions of getting three quotes. At this stage we were not duly worried because we knew what price we were quoting the other companies.

To my discredit, I again forgot about things until this week when I was reminded when I got an email from said contact asking for technical assistance installing and configuring the software. As I later found out, not only had he asked me for help, he had also logged five (yes, five!) support calls with our help desk. I replied asking him if it was the evaluation he was just getting round to installing. He replied saying he was “not sure” (!!) what he had been sent and was therefore installing. He also asked if we could escalate the support calls he had logged from “Low Priority” (as he noticed they were categorised) to “Urgent Priority”.

On closer inspection of the last email he had sent me, it became obvious that he had been sent a full copy of the code by another company, as fulfilment of a purchase order placed with them by the said prospect! They had even referenced the Purchase Order number in the email!

I had no choice but to reply explaining that not only could we not escalate his calls to “Urgent”, but we could not give him any support at all. I further explained that if he wanted any support, he should contact the company he had clearly bought the software from. I told him that if he had actually bought the software from us, we would have given him the high levels of support we had given him when he was making his initial enquiry, as a standard service.

Why am I so annoyed about this?

Well, apart from the fact that I have clearly been made an idiot of, his Purchasing Department never even contacted me to ask us to quote a price! On top of this, the company on whose behalf we re-sell the software knew we were talking to said organisation about the deal, yet they didn't even have the courtesy to let us know someone else had asked them to fulfil the order for them.

Why does any of this matter?

Well, it does for two reasons.

First, within the software industry, most industries I presume, there is something called “The Channel” and most people treat the Channel with integrity. If they don't, it breaks down. In this scenario my trust in this particular channel has broken down and I personally won't be transacting any orders for them again.

Secondly, and this is aimed at potential customers, to make your decisions you clearly DO need to ask lots of questions and find out lots of things. Do remember, though, that if you take the piss out of people by sapping lots of their time without giving any reward, they will either stop giving help or start asking all sorts of horrible questions that you might not like to answer. Things like, When are you going to buy? Who signs the cheques? If I give you this help will you absolutely commit that you will buy from me?

Some people would say I should have asked these questions before I gave my help and that I'm the idiot because I didn't. It's all my own fault! 

That's a fair point.

What I'm trying to say though, is that customers don't warm to heavy handed questioning like this at the enquiry stage. All I'm trying to do is warn them that if they don't like it, make sure they are open and honest with suppliers from the beginning.

Australian Soldiers allegedly underatking negotiations for a software sale yesterday

Arse...

Let me first declare my interest here. I have none! I am a disinterested observer. I really don't care what Arsenal and Arsene Wenger do or have done. However, I want to comment because it gives an interesting case study and insight into the current state of football and the Premier League especially.

Arsenal have money. Everyone knows this. What's more, everyone knows that Arsene Wenger has been given the go ahead to spend it, but he has steadfastly (I hesitate to use the word “refused”, so lets just stick to...) not done so. This is despite their many fans imploring him to buy and commentators expressing surprise that he hasn't. He has belligerently dug his heels in and done virtually nothing in the transfer market.

While all this has gone on, their peer clubs have spent money hand over fist. New entrants have entered the spending frenzy and are going to frog leap Arsenal, pushing them further down the pecking order. To add insult to injury, they are loosing their star players at a rate of knots. With the transfer window rapidly coming to a close, even if he now wants to, will Arsene be able to buy?

And with that, how much more patience will the Arsenal fans and board display?

A good Manager though Wenger undoubtedly is, I think his time may have run its course.

In traditional Arsene style, while the changes to football have unfolded in front of him, he apparently “Did not see it”!

An arse yesterday...