David Scott Bruce
852 Haight St @ Divis
San Francisco, California
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David Scott Bruce

Systems Analyst, Database Engineer, Application Developer

I streamline work. Be it a human process, manufacturing or computer process, I find ways for organizations to perform operations more effectively.

In some cases this means using a combination of computer systems and human labor. Humans are prone to error, but they are very clever and can do complicated things with very little instruction. For example, at an Internet start-up, in just two months, I created a customer service tool that allowed support people to respond to questions via email. It would not have been possible to implement a solution so quickly with an enterprise CRM (customer relationship management) tool. Having people do part of the work that would normally be automated made this timeline possible.

Having a broad range of experience makes integrating diverse systems easier. Often a common sense solution in one industry can give another industry the competitive advantage. For example, implementing the pre-payment discounts used in selling high-end material handling systems helped reduce the cash-flow problems for my clothing wholesaler client, allowing them to reduce prices, gain more business and increase their bottom-line.

However, understanding the differences is important, too. My clothing wholesaler wants all their order processing and bookkeeping systems integrated to reduce data entry, while the material handling client wants two separate programs to verify accuracy against each system.

Sometimes an effective system doesn't involve computers at all. One client of mine, a small nursery in Mill Valley wanted to track their inventory on the computer. We looked at bar codes, scanners, inventory management, pricing, labor and in the end, determined that an automated computer system was not cost effective for their growing business.

Finding effective ways to integrate workflow with computers is very rewarding but it requires a good sense of intuition, as well. 70% of software projects fail, mostly because one or more of the requirements was not communicated properly. When time or money are limited, understanding your client is especially important. Because of my strong connection to the human aspects of a project, lines of communication are continually open and brought to a higher lever. This is why my success ratio is very high and my client relationships are very strong.

Call me today at 415.640.5041 or email me to find out how I can help you.

-david