Strategic Software Consulting???

At DHx Software, we consider ourselves as a  strategic software consulting and services firm. That may sound like a lot of words to describe our expertise in helping our customers develop software applications, make existing applications work together seamlessly, move data between different platforms, and to draw insights out of that data. But, in our minds, the strategic consulting is core to what we do and to our commitment to making our customers successful. Our leadership team has over 50 years of experience building software and building businesses in parallel. Rather than starting with the software requirements, we like to start with the business requirements and to develop software–and in some cases recommend against building software–based on what we believe is best for our customers’ business. Here are a couple of examples:
We are currently working with a manufacturing company who has several business-critical applications that were built by a single employee. He is nearing retirement and the applications are aging as well. Instead of simply coming in and writing new software from scratch, we have worked with the customer on a two prong approach that is better for his business. First, we will document and secure his current applications so that the single employee is not the only one who understands how things work. Then, over the next 18 months, we are planning to migrate our customer to an existing commercial application that will save him money and let him leverage a wide range of features. We could have easily sold him a new application, but his business is better served by a smaller engagement with us.
Another example is a company we met last Summer that is developing a very useful application to match cancer patients to specific trials. Long term, the key to their application will be sophisticated analytics that allow the system to identify which patients are likely to be most successful in which trials. In the short term, though, the key to them growing their business will be creating a large, loyal community of patients. In turn, that requires developing an application that patients will use and that doctors will recommend. So, even though we have the ability to do world-class analytics, we recommended an initial approach that focuses on the user experience. How do you get someone to give you all the data you need? How do you make them feel supported? How do you make them want to come back?  On the back end, initially, the doctors themselves can be the brains behind the system, creating the recommendations themselves.
In the end, we believe software is strategic and a good software services firm should be comfortable identifying business goals and adapting the software strategy to those goals.

Please don’t hesitate to touch base if it makes sense to talk.

Jim and Bruce – Managing Partners

jduckett@dhxsoftware.com / bhunter@dhxsoftware.com

www.dhxsoftware.com

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