Our History
1997 - 1999
In 1997 Totalamber was founded by 27 year old Alan O'Neill. Funding came from HR and Payroll Software Vendor Cyborg and Totalamber’s aim was to be the leading specialist of independent Cyborg Consultancy Services.
Within 3 years Totalamber and its team of 35 independent Cyborg consultants very quickly became the UK's leading provider of Cyborg Consultancy Services. Totalamber established a solid reputation for delivering a full range of project lifecycle services.
Totalamber expended its HR & Payroll services and became one of the leading providers of Midland and Peterborough Software Consultancy Services. Paying employees accurately and on time is always a key consideration to any employer, however with Y2K such concerns were compounded and this created a successful first phase of growth for Totalamber.
2000 - 2002
Post millennium resembled feast and famine for most organisations within the IT Industry and Totalamber was no exception. The majority of Totalamber clients had spent their budgets pre-millennium, and as HR & Payroll Software does necessarily provide the tangible business benefit of other software it is fair to say the market dried up overnight.
Totalamber explored where its clients were spending money and this is how it discovered the ERP market space. Totalamber had operated successfully within niche markets of HR and Payroll and the lessons learnt to identify scarce expert consultants served it during these challenging times.
During this period Totalamber identified the JBOPS (JD Edward, Baan, Oracle, PeopleSoft and SAP) and other ERP vendors such as IFS, and Intentia and Financial Markets applications such as Agresso and Hyperion. Business Intelligence markets including Cognos were also part of Totalamber's focus.
However, Totalamber was more suited to the niche characteristics of the Lawson, Agresso and IFS markets and this was the start Totalamber's next phase of growth.
2003 - 2005
Totalamber’s move into the ERP and Financial’s provided Totalamber with visibility of an alternative approach for services delivery. The scope and scale of ERP projects was very different to the HR & Payroll initiatives previously undertaken by Totalamber. Global rollouts of the ERP systems were commonplace and the requirement for teams of people to deliver services to support the global implementations was a prerequisite for services delivery. Totalamber’s services delivery focus expanded to not only provide consultants on a “time and materials” but to also provide “project teams” to facilitate delivery of project workstreams.
During this period, Totalamber were engaged on a number of strategic, long term assignments, on occasions, where requested by a client, taking responsibility for workstream delivery and sharing in the risk/reward for delivery.
During this period, Totalamber became firmly established as the number one provider of strategic consultancy services into the Cyborg, Movex and Rebus markets and gained significant credibility in other markets in which it was operating. This period saw the number of registered consultants increased to over 150.
2005 - 2007
During this period, Totalamber experienced its most significant period of growth. Totalamber started to develop a strategic understanding of the way in which assignments and projects were facilitated by clients in both the HR&Payroll and ERP markets. HR&Payroll projects were still very much shorter duration, Time & Material initiatives requiring one or two consultants, whereas ERP-based initiatives were designed and delivered at a strategic level, tended to be focused on longer term global rollout programmes, required a team of technical, functional and project management consultants to deliver the implementations, often in foreign locations with Totalamber taking responsibility for delivery of key workstreams.
Totalamber’s approach to service delivery changed the focus of the Totalamber business. Longer sales times were rewarded through increased numbers of consultants assigned to longer term projects resulting in increased revenues for the business. However, Totalamber still maintained a presence in the HR&Payroll markets.
Totalamber became the number one provider of consultancy services into the Movex, Agresso, IFS, Midland and Northgate markets. In addition, Totalamber provided services in synergistic applications such as Business Objects, Cognos and StreamServe.
The number of consultants working with Totalamber increased to over 250 during this period.
2008 - 2010
The period between 2008 and 2010 was a period of expansion for Totalamber. Not only did Totalamber move into its new Headquarters in Knutsford, Cheshire, but Totalamber also expanded into the USA, opening an office in Florida.
Totalamber’s expansion into the USA provided an extended reach for the sales and marketing activities of Totalamber. Taking advantage of the location, different time zones, and a USA office enabled Totalamber to more effectively communicate with the USA market.
Totalamber’s sole occupancy of Windsor House provided Totalamber with room to create dedicated Seminar and Training areas along with the room for further expansion. In 2010 Totalamber opened its UK and Europe Support Centre in Windsor House and continues to provide support services from this dedicated environment.
During this period, Totalamber continued to deliver services to both the HR&Payroll and ERP markets, however, following analysis of qualitative and quantitative market research conducted by Totalamber and combined with services delivery expertise, Totalamber’s business focus shifted away from the H&Payroll market and more specifically into the ERP market place.
The market research provided a number of surprising findings. It very quickly became apparent that a large number of ERP users were dissatisfied with the support services they were receiving. Support tended to be reactive and solely focused on resolving an IT issue. This research enabled Totalamber to develop a proactive support service focussing on the holistic ERP environment of people, process, business strategy and technology. Totalamber’s Support Centre was opened in 2010 and today provides proactive support services to thousands of users of the IFS, Moves/M3 and Agresso applications.
In conjunction with the development of a support service, Totalamber identified a need for more strategic delivery services to manage and assist organisations with their ERP implementations. Totalamber embarked on an initiative to productise its services, allowing Totalamber to provide clients with a structured portfolio of defined services and outputs enabling them to manage their ERP implementations and deliver strategic programmes of work.
During this period, Totalamber reduced its service delivery into the HR&Payroll markets and started to focus specifically on the ERP market. Totalamber remained the number one provider of strategic consultancy services to users of the IFS, Movex/M3 and Agresso applications.
2011 -
In 2011, Totalamber embarked on its next period of growth. Totalamber completed the definition of its products and services and launched its Integrated Services Component model. This service delivery model provides the tools, methodology and approach for organisations who are about to embark on strategic ERP initiatives to Enhance, Upgrade, Rollout, Support or Replace their ERP applications. In 2011, Totalamber continues to support the Movex/M3 and Agresso markets but is more strategically focussed on the IFS application.
Over the next three years, Totalamber’s aim is to triple its revenue, focussing specifically on the ERP markets it knows best. Totalamber’s business model is to continue to provide strategic consultancy services to the ERP markets, however, through a shared-risk approach to project delivery, Totalamber will focus more on longer term, multi-resource, global assignments. In addition, Totalamber will grow and expand its support operation with the opening of a Global Support Centre in Manila. The Global Support Centre initially provides “follow the sun” support services to users of the IFS application, however this will be expanded to provide Support to global users of the Movex/M3 application as demand increases. Totalamber will continue to provide support to the UK and European users through its Support Centre in the UK.
Growth will be achieved through both organic growth and acquisition. During this period, Totalamber will be identifying strategic partners who will facilitate the growth plans of Totalamber in its current markets and developing strategic relationships and investigating potential acquisition targets.
Totalamber’s growth will not be limited to, or dependent on the IFS, Movex/M3 or Agresso markets. Totalamber’s Integrated Services Component model provides the tools, approach and methodology for Totalamber to expand into any market. During this period, Totalamber will be conducting detailed market research to identify its next strategic focus and expansion from 2014 onwards......