The recession has had a negative impact on most businesses across the world, but one Bermuda-based software consulting company has turned it into a opportunity.

Bespoke Software, based in Park Road, Hamilton, has seen an increase in business due to the economic downturn with a number of firms using their business intelligence service to look at how they operate and work out where their money is going.

The company, which is run by partners Paul Mcleod and Steve O’Reilly and their team, have used their industry knowledge and IT expertise to collect and disseminate data key to each individual business’ needs and enable them to automatically pull together that information on a ongoing basis.

Next week it will be participating in the ‘Kalido Connect’ virtual conference which users can attend online and access training and information sessions, and is sponsoring a virtual booth featuring the Kalido services it offers.

Mr Mcleod launched Bespoke Software about nine years ago as a one-man band and since then it has grown to a team of eight consultants, with five based in Bermuda, one in Ireland, one in the US and another in Canada.

The business’ primary focus is business intelligence and its clients range from international business and insurance companies to banks and Government. One example of its applications was during the fall and subsequent bailout of American International Group (AIG) in 2008 when a couple of its insurer clients wanted to find out whether AIG was involved in their business from a risk and opportunity perspective.

“Business intelligence is very relevant today because we have had a little upsurge in demand for it as a result of the recession and economic pressures have led firms to look at how and why they are making or losing money and that is all driven by information,” said Mr Mcleod.

Mr Mcleod said one of the biggest changes he had seen during his time in the industry was a rise in the use of business intelligence due to the availability and cost of the tools available, such as the Microsoft Sequel Server which has the technology built in, and the realisation of these benefits.

Indeed one large US supermarket employed the technology to explain the reason behind a sharp climb in beer sales and discovered that having moved the alcohol section next to the baby care, men sent out to buy a set of nappies by their partners would pick up a case of beer at the same time. Another courier service in the UK couldn’t understand why it was losing so much money but when it looked at the figures saw that its vehicles were being charged in Congestion Tax.

“It can give you the power to understand why certain things are happening,” said Mr Mcleod.

“And you can build systems that are much more flexible so you can ask deeper questions to find ways to make you more profitable.”

Bespoke Software is the local partner for Kalido - a provider of high-end business intelligence and data governance toolsets - and serves four insurance companies on Island and this year will be taking part in its user conference.

“What’s exciting about that is it’s a virtual conference,” said Mr Mcleod.

“We have sponsored an online booth and we will be putting together content for that.

“It’s been great for us because we have at back and focused on the message we want to have for our clients and we have put a lot of electronic content into it, including a series of videos featuring interviews talking about what we do and the benefits that we see from using business intelligence.”

The company will be focusing on a number of issues specific to the insurance industry, including Solvency II, while taking advantage of the opportunity to get global exposure and hopefully attract some new business.

“We are finding that this is a widely used toolset, but it is also a very specialised resource globally that is quite hard to find,” said Mr Mcleod.

To meet the growing demand from businesses, Bespoke Software has just launched a new website and is on a number of social networking websites including Twitter and LinkedIn in a bid to market itself better.

Mr Mcleod said he had seen a move towards more outsourcing of work and the constant pressure on price points, but added that a company like Bespoke Software had the advantage of being on the ground able to service its clients face-to-face immediately and the ability to go head-to-head with its big overseas rivals.

“Most of the companies are still very early in the curve of adopting business intelligence because they haven’t had the pressures to do so before,” he said.

“But it is amazing the insight you can get into your business when you put the technology in place.”

‘Kalido Connect’ runs from 4am to 4pm on Tuesday December 7 at www.kaldio.com and registration is free.

For more information e-mail paul@bespoke.bm or visit the website at www.bespoke.bm, Twitter at Bespoke.bda or LinkedIn at Bespoke-Software.