Trading since early 2002, field marketing company IMS Ltd, uses e-business solutions to compete effectively with longer established competitors. Best practice in: Broadband Sector: Field marketing Size of firm: 12 plus 2,000 self employed field team members Location: Doncaster Website: www.ukims.co.uk Objectives IMS Ltd was set up to address a gap in the market for a business providing effective management of outsourced field marketing. "We realised that by using an e-business model, a relatively small field marketing company should be able to compete effectively against larger and more established competitors," says Operations Director, Steve Radford. The entire business model was therefore built around e-business solutions. The three founding directors recognised that broadband was an essential requirement to enable them to operate their business effectively. They needed the bandwidth that broadband would provide and the always-on connectivity in order to ensure business continuity and therefore improve operational performance. Solution IMS has two broadband connections, one at each of its two main sites. The main site uses Telewest 512K Cable Modem Broadband and the second site uses BT 512K Broadband ADSL. Results The centre of the business is its website, which provides a live, dynamic communication and data management system service with secure access to each individual user's account. The users fall into two categories: IMS' clients and their many field team members who carry out the work. As a result of the business's broadband connections both are able to access the site and update their information at any time, 24/7, from any internet terminal in any geographical location. In January 2004 IMS launched its own web-based reporting system which provides live reporting and analysis to IMS' clients in a format that is faster, easier to use and more effective than before. The reporting system allows clients to see what is happening at each stage of their campaign and provides results in graphical, statistical and league tabled formats within 24 hours of campaign activity. The Field Team is able to view and book available work, print paperwork and briefing documents, submit results and undertake other necessary activities to enable it to carry out its work effectively. IMS has found that the field team prefer to do much of the work on the site outside of regular office hours. therefore the availability of the site 24 hours a day means that field workers have access to the site when they prefer to, which leads to a better working relationship with their field workers. The system also enables IMS to maximise the efficiency of its internal operations, reducing the time and manpower required for most management and administrative tasks such as the processing of invoices and purchase orders. The use of broadband is essential for IMS to provide its online services for its employees, agents and customers. The strength of the system it has built and its ability to link the whole supply chain, led to IMS being awarded the National Advanced Supply Chain Integration Innovation Award in 2003. Broadband has also had a positive impact on the company's own marketing activities. "In meetings with potential clients the ability to log in to the IMS website, access the business's system and actively demonstrate live, transparent, interactive and versatile reporting has been invaluable." The decision to have two broadband connections has resulted in major benefits for the business. "Operationally this allows instantaneous back-up of all data from the primary site to the remote secondary site for ultimate data protection. Additionally we use DNS servers with a special functionality that means if service to the primary site is lost for any reason, the servers automatically re-route all incoming traffic to the secondary back-up site." Challenges A major challenge facing IMS when it was first established was the lack of availability of broadband. As neither ADSL nor Cable broadband services were available in its geographical locations initially, it took on a leased line costing £5,000 a year. The relatively high cost of this meant that it was only financially viable to have one line. The faster upload speeds provided by the leased line were not a critical requirement for IMS. So when ADSL and Cable became available, the business decided to change its broadband service to the two ADSL and Cable broadband connections that it has currently. The last word These two broadband connections cost £500 a year each. "The cost effectiveness of ADSL and Cable means that we are now considering the addition of one more broadband connection from each of our current suppliers to further enhance operational performance." "The use of broadband has made our services faster, cheaper, more versatile, more accountable, transparent and totally unique."