Precision Design Technology (PDT) Ltd. has a view of their place in the world and on the services they can provide you. To help give you a similar perspective perhaps we should ask you to recall the day you decided to start your business, project or department. You have a vision of what you wanted to achieve and a picture of how this might be possible, it all seemed so clear to you then.

So what changed? Where has this perspective of the business gone? Why are things not happening so smoothly any more and you seem to be bogged down so much in the details? Well, this is where the PDT vision of the maze comes in and using the example of the laurel maze at the National Trust property at Glendurgan Gardens near Falmouth. This maze was created on the valley slopes in 1833 and provides us with a good backdrop to explain the way we see the world.

The conception of the idea

As with all living things the idea for your company, product, service or project begins with the conception. At this point you have a clear uninterrupted view of things, as you would like to see them. You can see the end goal and there is a tangle of pathways between you and your goal (i.e. a maze).

If you take the time you have the perspective to see and map out a route that will take you to the centre of the maze. So you descend down to the entrance of the maze and begin your journey, trying to remember the layout of the maze and how you will need to turn and take different paths to access your goal.

Beginning the Journey

So now picture yourself at the entrance of the maze with the route plan in your mind and already you are beginning to question was it left or right at the first junction? Near the centre did I go anticlockwise or clockwise? And the slow decline in your ability to remember the original plan begins and the more you seem to search for it the more it seems to elude you.

So, in the maze, you are now surrounded by hedges that allow you just to see the tops, all row upon of row, all looking the same. It is not easy to make decisions when you have only this much visibility. In reality you have lost perspective on the situation and could do with regaining it in order to make clear and positive decisions and that is where PDT can help .

Oh no - a dead end!

So you start to make choices and take a certain path when you come to a junction. However, are you making the choices based on fact, intuition or the tossing of a coin to determine which route you should take? So you continue to follow the path and then suddenly you round the corner and are faced with a dead end, you have to follow the path back the way you came and try to remember which way to turn at each junction.

I am sure by now the picture is building that the longer you go on the more lost you can become and the longer and harder you seem to be working without really making progress. This often applies not just to you but also to others in the department or company who were following your lead and believed you knew where you were going.

Beware the stragglers! These are dangerous people to have in your party as they get left a little way behind and soon, when you have met your first few dead ends and had to return, you meet them coming the other way.

After a while you are not sure who is going in the wrong direction and the whole situation moves from bad to worse. So what would help here?

Get help to gain perspective

If we go back to the picture we started with when we were outside the maze, we could see clearly not only where we wanted to get to but also how we were going to do this. We could of course work our way back out of the maze, gain the perspective again, and come back in and probably repeat the same exercise again getting more frustrated as time goes on. Oh yes and they forgot to tell you that unlike a real maze, where the hedges take a long while to grow, new hedges can spring up over night and alter the layout completely.

These could be in the form of legislation, changes in the economic climate or simply that you need to adjust your own goals. So there is a need to keep a constant watch and keep gaining perspective on what your needs and goals are. That's where PDT and its Associates can help What will help in this situation is to get some help with gaining this perspective on the current situation from people that either have a portable viewing platform or a hoist to lift you above the business, high enough to gain perspective on what is going on around you and the paths you need to take to get to your destination.

That is where PDT and its team of skilled and experienced Associates come in as they can do just that for you. Helping provide you with up to date information on your current position and direction in relation to where you want to go and allow you to see the picture as it is. Providing you with a map to guide you through the maze of decisions and changes you are about to make. PDT has the advantage of an outsider's viewpoint and a fresh pair of eyes looking at the problems that exist and the challenges you face.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

So how many times have you heard the expression, "Well if we had known that before, we would not have done it this way"? Many times I am sure. What hindsight provides is one way of gaining perspective on your business, but with this method it is too late to be of any help to you in the current situation.

The best you can hope for is that the next time you find yourself in a similar situation you will spot the similarity and be able to remember the route you wished you could have taken before. This is always assuming that other outside factors have not changed in the meantime!

So what is it that PDT and its Associates have to offer?

PDT has a wealth of experience in the areas of business process analysis and systems analysis and also in systems integration of equipment to deliver business solutions based around AutoID (barcode, RFID, Smart card and other associated technology) solutions. PDT's consultants can come in to your business and quickly get to understand the environment and processes you use.

Using their considerable experience they will produce process maps and show where the bottlenecks and weaknesses of the current systems lie. Further, using their own software solution, model any proposed changes well away from your business ensuring that the solution will stand up when implemented within your environment. The system will output a specification document that can be used to request potential suppliers to quote against. PDT and its Associates can then either supply a solution or work with your nominated supplier to ensure the requirements are met in full.

Is it worth spending the money?

This is a question we hear many time along with comments like "Aren't I being asked to pay you money for you to come into my business and ask my staff and me lots of questions and write down our responses and present this back to us in the form of a report?" To which we answer, there are some who will do that and charge a fortune for the privilege but we are not one of them. With many years experience we know what does not work and we do not need to prove it again with your money to convince ourselves of that.

If we take a well-known case in point we need go no further than Pisa in Italy. When the plans were had for a tower to be built on the site it was not thought necessary to do detailed analysis of the ground on which is was to built. Plans were then drawn up and submitted for agreement, which was duly given, and the work commenced. Before the tower was even finished it had started to lean and in fact the top section of the tower was built to give the appearance of being perpendicular to the ground although it is out of line with the rest of the tower.

Needless to say the country and successive governments has spent millions trying to keep it standing. Drawing the analogy here is that if you spend a small amount on getting the details thoroughly sorted out before you commence, then you will not need to spend a minimum of 10 times the amount you would have spent on trying to correct all the faults that follow. These figures are based on 17 years of experience in IT consultancy seeing this happen time and time again.

Our aim is simple

We have a simple philosophy on life and business, we are in it to help you learn and benefit from our experience as we help you and your business to grow and prosper. We wish to empower all our customers with the knowledge to enable them to make informed decisions about their business and what will enable them to make buying decisions which we hope will be with PDT Ltd.

How do I spot a member of the PDT team?

It's easy, they will have a collapsible viewing platform in their pocket or be towing a hydraulic version behind them! Stop them and have a word and see if you can ride aloft and get the perspective back on your business.

PDT - You'll be amazed at the results they bring