Identifying the needs

Vast amounts of information bombard us daily and the management of this information is critical to every organisation. High performing organisations leverage this information to innovate, grow and create value in changing markets and under challenging conditions.

IMSs are hardware and software tools that enable data to be captured, stored and shared. At present, customers can choose between bespoke IMS or customised versions of existing packaged IMS. Whereas bespoke solutions are expensive to develop and maintain, customised tools can restrict the scope for innovation and competitive advantage by forcing businesses to adapt their model to fit the packaged solution.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are particularly under-served by IMS suppliers because:

• they require custom solutions but cannot afford the development costs

• it is not cost effective for suppliers to customise product lines to meet the requirements of individual businesses

• reducing the cost of developing bespoke IMS would clearly be of benefit to large and small organisations

The Oxford Invention

A team at Oxford University’s Computing Laboratory has developed Booster, a software toolkit that automatically generates secure, reliable, fully web-enabled IMS.

Booster facilitates rapid systems development to produce a prototype and enables the customer to test, modify and approve the final package more efficiently. This approach dramatically reduces the cost and effort of producing a bespoke IMS and provides systems that are more closely aligned with the customer’s actual needs.

Booster-generated IMSs:

• are intuitive to use

• are readily adapted to meet changing customer requirements

• are inexpensive to maintain

• improve productivity

• reduce administrative and IT costs

Booster-generated IMSs have been implemented throughout Oxford University to manage data for more than 8,000 students. Direct benefits to one department have included improved service to staff and students, flexibility to manage changing programme management requirements, and reduction of administration personnel costs by 50%.

This technology is the subject of an international patent application, and Oxford University Innovation would like to talk to companies interested in developing the commercial opportunity that this represents. Request more information if you would like to discuss this further.