Domestic & General
Expert Witness
CIO Plus was established in 2004 by two highly successful FTSE 100 CIOs to help clients get more value from their IT investment. Since we started trading, we have constantly delivered significant IT driven bottom line improvements across a broad range of industries. We have numerous successful projects under our belt that have driven efficiency improvements for many companies; including:
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Rescuing failing ERP & CRM implementations
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Integrating multiple IT departments to form streamlined cohesive units
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Implementing ERP, CRM and various other systems
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Managing outsourcing relationships to ensure that greater benefits are delivered than those originally envisaged at the start of the process
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Identifying the correct IT & Sourcing strategy and delivering them
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Delighting CXOs with our performance and our positive effect on profits
We have achieved this enviable position by utilising our knowledge and experience and by employing a trusted base of skilled associates that we have built up over a period of many years. We are not consultants blindly following a methodology, or ‘retired’ IT Directors ‘put out to grass’; we are truly battle hardened IT practitioners who successfully rescue and deliver complex IT projects by applying a unique blend of know-how and common sense.
Recently we undertook our first Expert Witness assignment in a failed SAP implementation at the insurance group Domestic and General. We were shocked at the paucity of technical knowledge exhibited by the Expert Witness representing the ‘other side’. It became clear to us that he totally lacked any practical knowledge of large systems implementations, even though he was a senior partner in a ‘leading firm’ of Expert Witnesses, specialising in IT!
To cut a long story short, our experience in understanding the issue helped to turn a claim against our ‘Client’ of £10m into an offer to settle for £13m, a swing of £23m in our client’s favour. The end result was a very happy company who is more than willing to reference our work.
“Never before have I come across expert witnesses that are so knowledgeable and well prepared”
Nick Gardner, a senior partner from Herbert Smith who was heading the case, remarked at out initial meeting
We will always be knowledgeable and well prepared because we have to deliver this stuff on a daily basis and not just ‘talk about it’; but we are also expert at ‘talking about it’. We understand the resources that have to be brought to bear to achieve successful delivery, and they are the same resources that will deliver the proper outcome in court, or better still, before that step is reached. If you want to maximise your client’s chances of success in IT cases, use:
"Experts as Witnesses and not Expert Witnesses!"
John Berney, Co-Founding Director of CIO Plus