Our motivation

“Thank you for visiting our FirstWare site.

 

I would like to tell you how the idea of the FirstWare software application came to life.

Many years ago I ran an IDM consulting project with one of our customers. My task was to roll out an IDM solution to the business units, which had been previously launched at the company’s headquarters.

I sensed that there was a dissonance between the central IT team and the teams in the divisions. It was evident – the belief in the additional benefit of the new software wasn’t there. The central IT team, on the other hand, couldn’t understand the resistance. They wanted to proceed with training courses and implement their solution as fast as possible, irrespective of whether it was a good or bad solution. Any solution seemed better than none.

 

Soon I realised that it was important to reflect upon the views and opinions of the business units and the end users. I came to the conclusion that the problem actually derived from within the IT-administration. They wanted to hold on to old perspectives, well-trodden paths and processes.

Trying to change the perspectives of the IT department felt like tilting against windmills. Together with one brave administrator I went on the journey to tell my story:

 

IT has to shift its focus to the end user.

 

There has to be an added value for the end user. At the end, employees earn money for the company. Providing them with solutions with which they can fulfill their potential is key to running a successful business.

Eventually I found the right contact person in the company who was brave enough to listen to the voice of the user.

We introduced a simple web interface which all employees were able to use without attending any training courses. Then we adjusted the processes while staying focussed on the benefits for the end users.

This happened many years ago.

As a result the company achieved an acceleration of their processes. A change of location – including the adjustment of permissions, homeshares etc. – suddenly was a matter of seconds where before it had taken several days to change user data accordingly. Business units were able to perform tasks independently. The roll out happened in a few weeks time. No training courses were required due to the intuitive and user-friendly web interface of the application.

 

From experience we know that the added benefit of a user-centric approach in IT projects accumulates to several thousand Euros daily:

faster business processes,

better information,

more security and

less IT-administrative effort.

 

We would be pleased if you join us on our journey of user centric identity management. As a result you will have happy users, efficient business processes and a highly appreciated IT division.

 

Yours sincerely, Andreas Martin