Bespoke Databases & CRM

Access and Excel spreadsheets bursting at the seams?

Time to upgrade?

If you can’t find a database solution that does exactly what you need it to you have definitely come to the right people. Excel spreadsheets and Access databases are not the only options! We build bespoke database and CRM systems and have built and delivered a variety of robust and business-critical software solutions for small and medium businesses.

We will program the code to your specifications and whether you require a CRM system to manage your customer data or a sophisticated stock control system we can build you a completely bespoke and cloud-based application. No third parties or overseas developers, we do it all in-house.

PRICES FROM £995.00 + VAT

Contact us to setup a free consultation and we can discuss your requirements and prepare a fully tailored quote for you.

Is your data all over the place?

There are many software systems out there to contact and keep track of your customer data varying from spreadsheets, accounts packages, Access databases and other systems. But are these systems linked together? A custom CRM system will integrate with your invoicing system, track, monitor and report on lead generation, sales progression and email campaigns, and many more features.

A CRM can integrate with your email system and save emails from/to customers against their records in the CRM system. You will also have the superpower to store and analyse social media interactions and we can even install a VOIP (Voice Over IP) internet-based telephone system so that customer calls can be logged automatically. This means that you will have the ability to answer the phone and have immediate access to your customer’s records and the past conversations you have had – and deliver a truly personal level of customer service. These are just one of many examples of the power of a CRM system.

Our Client Portfolio

SBD Automotive

SBD (Secure By Design) is a world-leading knowledge partner to the global automotive industry, providing actionable insight and strategic support in the development of more connected, safe and secure vehicles. From tracking industry trends to strategic support for product development, SBD has nearly 20 years of experience working with world-class companies in the automotive and associated industries.

We built SBD a bespoke CRM system to not only store and manage their data but enable the re-use of all of their research data. This bespoke database provides the ability for SBD to create, generate and update the reports that get provided to their customers, utilising the research data stored within.

“I had the pleasure of working with IceStar Media and Mark Bond in particular on an extended and complex database project for an SME in the UK. As is often the case with such projects there were a number of twists and turns but IceStar’s unerring commitment and focus ensured everything remained on track and on time. I consider myself to have a reasonably strong technical understanding but I am not a coder and therefore always appreciated Mark’s patient and readily comprehensible explanations about certain in-depth concepts that I found hard to grasp initially. What I also appreciated and something that was particularly valuable to our project, the development of a brand new product, was that Mark was always willing to take on board outside-the-box suggestions to newly discovered obstacles or challenges and after mixing them with his considerable knowledge and experience would often generate innovative and elegant solutions that not only solved the original problem but also offered other bonus benefits to the product as a whole as well.

In terms of general professionalism like turning up on time for meetings or being available on Skype for support or progress updates (unfortunately not something that can be taken for granted) IceStar were beyond reproach. Whether you are based in the UK, New Zealand or anywhere in between, I wholeheartedly recommend IceStar Media for your next software development project.”

Hugh Howard: SBD

Working Options

Working Options is a charitable organisation who organise and host a series of various workshops for young people (14-18) to help prepare them for entering the workplace. This involves having regular (and recurring) events at schools and colleges, that they were currently managing with a series of spreadsheets, PowerPoint documents and numerous hours of manual calculation. To complicate matters even further all of their staff were home-based and therefore they had no office within which to place a more traditional solution (an access database that they had been offered elsewhere).

After a series of meetings with staff, we implemented the installation of SuiteCRM for them, with a number of bespoke modules to take away the pain of the manual processing. Hosting it on our secure server network means that they can access the system from wherever they are. Based on this we configured and customised the software for our client to include:

A central and bespoke database of Schools, Colleges and partners;
A central database of contacts at the above institutions;
Workflow process to remind staff of key tasks (due to schedule next event, tasks for in-progress events etc.);
Expanded events details to track specific key tasks and indicators around the events;
An additional module to store and process event feedback data;
An additional module to auto-generate pre-event worksheets for attendees;
An additional module to auto-generate post-event PowerPoint documents sent out to institutions and volunteers;
Various reports built either in the standard reporting tool or as a custom dashlet;
Implementation of Google Maps Integration to allow easy viewing of volunteers near to events.

SuiteCRM is an open-source and highly customisable Customer Relationship Management system. It allows you to create simple client records, up to workflow-driven custom database systems. It has a healthy community and client base with a series of commercial modules that allow you to integrate with the major online services that business require.

“Would highly recommend working with IceStar Media. Mark is reliable, friendly and professional and works with people with little IT knowledge and experience really well! Mark has been brilliant to work with on setting up and maintaining our CRM system.”

Lauren Monk: Working Options

Prospects

We were commissioned to work with one of the UK’s leading School Inspection providers to discuss the development of a bespoke online school inspection and data management system. The project brief focused on the capture, tracking and reporting of data collected during the various stages of the school inspection cycle. During the initial fact-finding and planning phases of the project, we worked closely with the senior management team in order to understand their business, document all of their requirements and understand their internal processes. We then prepared a detailed project plan outlining all expected outcomes, costs, deliverables, user training and system support. Built on our core Osiris platform, the bespoke database management system was developed and built over a 12 month period with regular meetings and remote discussions taking place to ensure the project was on schedule, to specification and to budget.

The inspection management system increased the efficiency of the entire inspection management process and reduced the massive amounts of manual administration required to manage the previous paper-based legacy system. On-going process improvements included access to remote users throughout the United Kingdom, disaster recovery processes, system backup procedures, security protocols, user authentication for remote access and time-saving solutions and functionality to further improve the efficiency of other business-critical areas of the organisation. Project managed from start to finish, the bespoke inspection management system was accessed daily by hundreds of School inspectors and education consultants throughout the South East of England. The cutting-edge system supplied daily data feeds to the Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) central database and had significantly improved the efficiency of the company’s data capture, retrieval, storage and synchronization.

“Mark devised a superb system that underpinned the efficient and effective administration of a large amount of data, as well as communications, among staff that needed to access it at different levels.”

K Beck: Prospects

Deep Water Blue

As specialist steam consultants, Deep Water Blue commissioned us to develop a web portal (vSteam) which in a nutshell is a unique data management and maintenance programme built upon our core development system, developed in-house by our own development team. The web portal allows Deep Water Blue’s engineers to record how and when “actions” have been taken to improve system performance and control risk.

Originally developed for use with steam systems the vSteam^® system now extends to any type of water treatment system from Cooling Towers through to heating systems and chilled water. It can further be adapted to meet the requirements of any water-based system requiring data capture, collation and interpretation.

It is a trademarked and unique, easy-to-use training system, interactive control panel and log-book that:

Saves time
Allows shared access for comments and technical support
Offers “level one” technical support by interactive dialogue boxes
Allows recording of not only test results but also photographic records, scans, sound files and basically any type of system file relevant to water treatment control
Allows engineer worksheets to be created and printed off, to be taken to the point of use and then returned to the person in charge, once the job has been completed
Allows compliance with HSG274/INDG436 and BG04
Closes the loop of responsibility
Makes things easy!

With the vSteam^®, engineers simply enter data into pre-designed forms, ensuring their records remain up-to-date. All users enabled by the client on the system are then notified of any data added or comments made on that data or the system performance in general. Engineers can download reports and graphs to show trends in performance. Issues are highlighted automatically in red or amber, with recommendations for remedial action. Once the action has taken place, this is also recorded in the log and enabled users are immediately notified, keeping all key personnel, right up to date.

Bespoke Databases & CRM

Access and Excel spreadsheets bursting at the seams?

Time to upgrade?

PRICES FROM £995.00 + VAT

Is your data all over the place?

Our Client Portfolio

SBD Automotive

Working Options

Prospects

Deep Water Blue

Useful Guides

What Can a Bespoke Database System Do For Me?

Client Case Study: Deep Water Blue

Time to Upgrade to a CRM System?

Is Your Business Database Bursting At The Seams?

What is SuiteCRM and How Does It Work?

Need Bespoke Plugins For Your Existing CRM System?