guide to implementing custom apps in weeks with metropolis studios

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GUIDE TO IMPLEMENTING CUSTOM APPS IN WEEKS WITH METROPOLIS STUDIOS

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Page 1: Guide to Implementing Custom Apps in Weeks with Metropolis Studios

GUIDE TO IMPLEMENTINGCUSTOM APPSIN WEEKSWITH METROPOLIS STUDIOS

Page 2: Guide to Implementing Custom Apps in Weeks with Metropolis Studios

2 Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks

YOU

KN

OW

YO

UR

BUSI

NES

S BE

ST

OVERVIEWWhen your business changes or grows, it can feel

like control is being taken out of your hands. Pressure

increases on processes, people and your profit margin.

So how can you make sure that your team has

access to business enabling apps that will really

help them drive successful outcomes? The answer

is to create your own custom apps! After all, who

knows your business better than you? No one.

CASE STUDYIn this guide we look at Metropolis Studios. We’ll

track the six week journey that helped them turn their

business from a £1million annual loss into sustainable

profitability. And at the core of this turnaround were

custom apps, built on the FileMaker Platform.

Through their story we’ll show how SMBs of all

shapes and sizes can truly transform all elements

of their business - from finance to customer

service - in a matter of just weeks. Really!

Page 3: Guide to Implementing Custom Apps in Weeks with Metropolis Studios

3 Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks

HERE’S HOW THEY DID IT1. Identified the needs of

each department

2. Created their custom app strategy

3. Mapped out existing systems

and data sources

4. Developed, tested, and

deployed their custom app

5. Established an iterative

development approach for

constant improvement

ABOUT METROPOLISMetropolis Studios is a small to medium business (SMB), with all the concerns and processes

typical of organisations of its size. It also happens to be Europe’s largest independently

owned recording, mastering, creative and production complex. In the 25 years since its

inception, Metropolis has seen the likes of Michael Jackson, the Rolling Stones, Adele, Amy

Winehouse, Lana Del Rey, U2, Rihanna and many more make music behind its walls.

Based in a former railway power station, Metropolis’ sound engineers are responsible for half

of the UK Top 40 charts from within their Grade II ‘Power House’ building in West London.

KEY FACTS• A new strategy, based on custom apps,

helped turnaround the business

• Decision to deployment took just six weeks

• Custom apps were built to answer the specific needs of the business

• Cost of implementation was around one-quarter of the previous SAP licensing fee alone

• Annual licensing cost for FileMaker is about 5% of that for previous system

• Metropolis is now profitable; previously it was loosing circa £1m per year

Page 4: Guide to Implementing Custom Apps in Weeks with Metropolis Studios

Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks4

THE

BACK

GRO

UN

D

METROPOLIS’ EPIPHANY: GOING DOWN THE CUSTOM APPS ROUTEToday, Metropolis Studios is a business in profit.

But less than two years ago the company was

losing around £1.1million a year. So what changed?

Page 5: Guide to Implementing Custom Apps in Weeks with Metropolis Studios

5 Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks

5

Understanding they had to immediately

stem losses, the management team

began the turnaround looking for ways

to improve operations, beginning

with the Finance department.

The team was relying on unscalable,

inflexible software like Microsoft Excel and

Microsoft Access for managing Metropolis’

financials. With numerous spreadsheets

being passed around, confidence in data

accuracy was low, complicating critical

decision making. What Metropolis needed

was a dedicated finance solution to

centralise the numbers and get everyone

aligned. SAP’s Business One Enterprise

Resource Planning (ERP) system was

selected as the platform of choice.

Sometimes it’s right to blame the tools:

Once implemented, it quickly became

apparent that the system wasn’t geared

to the needs of a small to medium sized

business like Metropolis. SAP’s Business One

was simply too complex, and demanded

too much commitment from the finance

team. Data entry was clunky and time

consuming, and getting useful reports nigh

on impossible. To cope, Metropolis took on

the expense of hiring data entry specialists

to feed information into Business One.

The company hadn’t got rid of its initial

data problems, it had added to them. After

wasting countless hours and significant

funds on the packaged SAP application,

Metropolis realised it needed to explore

custom apps as a better fit for its needs.

“The whole business was geared towards putting information into what was effectively a closed

box. We were getting nothing out of it. It was like the organisation was working for a software package. We couldn’t get basic information such as ‘what are the occupancy rates of our studios?’ and ‘who are our biggest paying customers?”

GETTING THE NUMBERS STRAIGHT

Page 6: Guide to Implementing Custom Apps in Weeks with Metropolis Studios

Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks

People, process and profit - made simple

Oli Sussat, Metropolis’ Director of Marketing,

Communications and Technology,

needed an alternative solution that

would meet all of Metropolis’ business

criteria - without breaking the bank.

Finding the ‘obvious’ answers: Sussat’s first

hurdle was that no one in the organisation

at that time wanted to go through another

period of transition and change. SAP was

failing, but the hurdle of re-implementing

and re-training seemed almost as bad.

Sussat knew he had to find a solution that

would be simple to learn and operate and

easy to implement. As he described it, he

needed a platform where he could “build

the plane and fly it at the same time.”

Sussat combed through the existing software

at Metropolis, to see if anything could be

modified or expanded to solve the Finance

team requirements. He discovered a small

department using a FileMaker custom

app, and realised it wasn’t being used to

anywhere near its full potential. This sowed

the seeds of an idea that would ultimately

help turn the business from its £1million

losses into a profitable organisation

Making technology work for you: Sussat

approached the Board with a series of

recommendations based around FileMaker.

He wanted to create a custom finance

application built on the latest FileMaker 14

Platform, that could succeed and expand

where the SAP system was failing.

The initial scope was to completely

manage and streamline all of

Metropolis’ financial requirements-

-but even Sussat hadn’t realised

that it would end up happening

in less than six weeks, from board

approval to deployment.

WEEK ONE

WEEK TWO

6 Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks

KEY LESSON: Going down the

custom app route can be very

empowering for an individual

department, or for the business as

a whole. It ensures that complex

processes can be connected

in a simple manner, that critical

business indicators can be recorded

and that money isn’t spent on

functionality that adds no value.

Page 7: Guide to Implementing Custom Apps in Weeks with Metropolis Studios

7 Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks

“Okay, imagine if you could talk to your customer on one screen, get an overview of everything about them:

all of their communications with us, all of the jobs they have ever booked with us, and how much money they have ever spent with us. Do they already have a next booking? If not, we could look at all this data and make assumptions based on their prior contact as to whether they would be tempted to book with us again. We don’t need to imagine anymore.”

Understanding that staff support would

be crucial to success, Sussat went round

to individual team members in the finance

department. In front of their eyes, in

real time, he built small functions and

processes on the FileMaker Platform.

Successful collaboration: With his colleagues

on board, the team used a custom app

approach. Finance managers would explain

how a particular task might be a five hour

job with the current system. By delving

into what needed to be achieved and how

information needed to flow, Sussat designed

a simplified system and built a FileMaker

custom app that massively increased efficiency

across the department. Those five hour jobs

were morphed into a half-hour task. The

department was soon convinced by his plans.

KEY LESSON: Businesses can

be resistant to change. In a

high pressure environment,

inertia takes over. People

choose to stay in their comfort

zones rather than take risks.

To mitigate the fear of risk, it’s

important to include the end-users

in the selection process, and to

make sure they have adequate

input so they can reap tangible

benefits from the end-solution.

If you’re utilising a third-party

developer, or if you’re handling

the build yourself, make sure

they / you spend time on the

ground with your staff for the

initial business audit. A fine

balance must be struck between

keeping the project build efficient,

yet also seeking feedback from

staff members, who will act as

your key stakeholders. In this

way you can use a malleable

development platform such as

FileMaker to create better end-

solutions and custom apps, all

the while keeping the project

moving swiftly - which will be all

round better for your business.

Page 8: Guide to Implementing Custom Apps in Weeks with Metropolis Studios

Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks

Implementation made

easy with FileMaker

With Board approval for a custom app

strategy, Sussat had to make it happen.

Thanks to the flexibility to develop

the custom apps on a ‘do it yourself’

basis, or to make use of a FileMaker

partner, Metropolis had plenty of

options. Sussat decided to build their

custom app with FileMaker himself.

“Simplify everything - make it something that people are going to enjoy doing. And for the bits

that they wouldn’t enjoy doing - the repetitive bits, the brain ache stuff - you get the system to do that.”

Building a custom app from zero: Sussat

had no formal IT training, just a keen

enthusiasm for technology. Supported

by some minor technical help from the

IT team and a wealth of online training

resources, he was able to build a

custom app that catered for the finance

department’s every whim in just six

weeks. The finance team played a

huge part in the development process,

contributing their time and extensive

knowledge of the company and its

processes. They proved the best people

to create requirements and workflows,

while Sussat provided his newly-

honed software development skills.

The applications were built by IT, and

tested by the teams who would use

them. Take for example a job requiring

the submission of data to a regulatory

body. The staff member reported

that it would take her about six weeks

every single year to provide them

with all the information they needed.

After understanding the current

process, Sussat built a custom app

over the course of a weekend, then

sat with the staff member for an hour

to test and refine the app. The same

process now takes just one hour!

8 Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks

WEEKS THREE & FOUR

Page 9: Guide to Implementing Custom Apps in Weeks with Metropolis Studios

9 Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks

The grand unveiling

The FileMaker-built apps took over

all Metropolis’ invoicing, credit

and financial requirements from

SAP Business One - in a way that

was perfectly suited to its business

structure. After only a few days

of using the new custom apps,

members of the Metropolis team

quickly realised the potential of

FileMaker to make a huge difference

in the other areas of the business.

Now FileMaker has touched so many

different areas of Metropolis’ business

that it’s virtually impossible for staff

members and external clients not to

interact with the system on a daily

basis. Also, thanks to the incredibly

user-friendly nature of the platform -

people enjoy these interactions too.

WEEKS FIVE & SIXKEY LESSON: When creating a piece of business software with FileMaker, possessing developer or IT expertise is the secondary focus; being able to identify the problems is your first priority. With a custom app development platform, it’s incredibly easy to self-start and begin creating brilliant custom apps to solve business problems straight away. While it sounds obvious, you need to be acutely aware of the problems you’re trying to solve and the simplest workflow possible to achieve that.

Start by asking yourself some questions:

• What problem do you want to solve?

• What pools of data do you need to tap into?

• What is the correlation between the data and the issue?

• How would you design a system to bring those data sets together?

Having the answers to these four simple questions, will put you in the best possible position to succeed quickly with your custom apps implementation by either starting the development yourself or engaging a FileMaker developer to build the solution(s) on your behalf.

Page 10: Guide to Implementing Custom Apps in Weeks with Metropolis Studios

Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks10 Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks

LIFE

WIT

HFI

LEM

AKER

INVEST THE EFFORT, THEN REAP THE BENEFITSIn just a few short months, Metropolis gained

complete control of all the data coming in and

out of the organisation, something it hadn’t been

able to do in a long time. Visibility of accurate

financials was critical for the business turnaround.

“When artists decide to arrive at 3 o’clock in the morning, we can deal with that and make sure a studio is allotted. Before, the

booking team didn’t have the infomation at their fingerstips. Now, even if at home, they can book studio time from a custom app on iPad.

Sussat and the team also fulfilled their desire for a cost-

effective alternative to SAP Business One. The cost of

implementation was around one quarter of the SAP

licensing fee alone, and the annual licensing cost for

FileMaker is only about 5% of that for the previous

system. Metropolis is now profitable, whereas it was

losing circa £1m per year prior to the FileMaker roll out.

Page 11: Guide to Implementing Custom Apps in Weeks with Metropolis Studios

11 Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks

Intelligent Business Decisions

BUSINESS AND SOFTWARE IN COMPLETE HARMONYToday, Metropolis takes advantage

of many of the different features that

FileMaker offers. This includes fast access

to their FileMaker apps within mobile

browsers via FileMaker WebDirect, so end

users can interact with a FileMaker built

application not just on Mac or PC, but on

a variety of Apple, Android and Windows

tablets. When Metropolis’ clients bring

their own devices to the studio they easily

connect with the systems they need.

KEY LESSON: The courage to get started is one of the biggest hurdles of a FileMaker development project but if you can imagine it, you can build it. Whether it’s remotely tapping into a system while on the road from a tablet or laptop, or taking advantage of automatic cataloguing by turning the camera on iPad into a barcode scanner, nothing is off limits.

The benefits of FileMaker custom apps extend beyond just time savings for employees. The ease of development means they can also evolve as required. Communicate this effectively to employees and customers, and they will start behaving like consultants for your business. They’ll find further uses for custom apps within their departments, saving further time and money as a result. Get it right, and profitability and overall business success can be increased exponentially. After all, just look at Metropolis now!

By linking FileMaker into many of its day

to day business operations, Metropolis

has created a system that is faster,

smarter, more agile and inherently easier

to upgrade than its old SAP system,

or anything else it had previously.

The ability to customise the functionality,

look and feel of FileMaker built applications

quickly and easily is what cements it as the

ideal platform for not just SMBs in the creative

space, but for all types of organisations

that are looking to change the ways in

which they manage, and do business.

Artis

t Dat

a Ca

ptur

e

Fina

ncia

l Pr

oces

s

Book

ings

Rese

rvat

ions

Custom App

Page 12: Guide to Implementing Custom Apps in Weeks with Metropolis Studios

SUM

MAR

Y

In just six short weeks, Oli Sussat and the team at Metropolis

Studios used the FileMaker Platform to create a custom

app that would re-define their business. Having suffered

annual losses of over £1million, the business has gone

through breaking even and is now profitable.

By understanding the needs of the business, and then

creating a custom app to address these needs, they

have fundamentally changed the way the organisation

operates. Now, with FileMaker, Metropolis Studios has

the platform it needs to deliver sustainable growth.

GET IN TOUCH WITH FILEMAKER...If you want to find out more about how a custom app can help

your business, one of the FileMaker team will be happy to help

You can contact us on:

e: [email protected]

w: www.filemaker.com/uk/appsinweeks

12 Guide to implementing custom apps in weeks