What Is a Business Information Solution and When Needed

What is a business information solution?#

A business information solution is an information system that connects a company's data, processes and departments into one working environment for running the business, deciding and reporting. Instead of separate tools for finance, HR, production or procurement, it is a system that ties these processes together through a shared data layer and defined user roles. It can be built from scratch, or it can be an upgrade that connects existing systems through APIs so data flows between them without manual re-entry.

A typical business information solution includes data management, workflow automation, reporting and notifications, plus a link to document systems. For companies with more than a million euros in annual revenue, such solutions usually span several departments at once, because the data is interconnected — a finance figure affects procurement, procurement affects production, production affects reporting to management. The solution is therefore not just software, but a way the organization structures and uses its data.

The scope of a business information solution differs from company to company. Some need a full system that replaces several separate tools, others only a module that connects an existing ERP or CRM to a new part of the business, for example production or documentation. Deciding the scope is the first thing to settle, because every later decision on architecture, integrations and timeline follows from it.

When does a company need a business information solution?#

A company needs a business information solution once existing systems can no longer keep pace with the scale of the business, data gets duplicated between departments, or management lacks a timely view of how the business is performing. The need rarely appears overnight — it usually builds gradually, through more and more manual reconciliation of data between teams and increasingly slow reporting.

The need often surfaces with company growth, expansion into a new market, the addition of a new department, or after acquiring another company, where two separate sets of data and processes must be merged. The same happens when an existing system hits a technical ceiling — it can no longer handle the volume of data, support new user roles, or connect to new tools the company needs.

Several signs tend to indicate it is time for a business information solution, or at least for a thorough overhaul of the existing one.

Spotting these signs is management's job, not the contractor's. Once the need is clear, an analysis follows that pinpoints which part of the business to cover first and which can wait for the next phase.

• data has to be entered manually into several systems at once
• management reports arrive late because they must be assembled from multiple sources
• key employees spend a large part of the day copying data between tools
• when an employee leaves, part of the knowledge of how a process works is lost
• the audit trail between departments is incomplete or missing entirely
• it is the system, not the market, that is holding back growth

Which parts of the business does a business information solution cover#

A business information solution can cover a single department or the entire organization, depending on where the need is greatest. Companies with production, procurement and multiple sites most commonly connect these areas of the business.

In public institutions the scope differs — it more often involves portals, interactive user-facing solutions and documentation that must meet public procurement and reporting requirements. One example is the solution for the Municipality of Sevnica within the Zdravo Jem project, where software had to be connected to a touchscreen at a public location, including environment setup, on-site installation, and documentation and support for ongoing operation.

Regardless of industry, the same rule applies: a solution does not cover everything at once. It makes sense to start with the department where the problem is biggest or where the overhaul brings the greatest relief to employees, and only then expand to other areas of the business.

• finance and business reporting
• HR processes and employee administration
• production and task tracking
• procurement and inventory
• document systems and audit trail
• customer relationships
• analytics for management

A new solution or an upgrade of the existing system#

The first decision in every project is whether the company needs an entirely new system or an upgrade and connection of what it already has. A new system makes sense when existing tools no longer suffice, or when replacing them costs less effort than continuing to maintain them. An upgrade makes sense when the existing system still works but lacks a connection to other parts of the business, or is missing functionality that needs to be added.

When taking over an existing or unfinished system, review comes first. The source code, architecture, infrastructure and data are examined, and only on that basis can anyone judge whether an upgrade makes sense or whether it is cheaper and safer to rebuild a part from scratch. Without that review, any estimate of the scope of work is just a guess.

Companies often avoid this decision out of fear that a rebuild will cost more than maintaining the old system. In practice, the bigger risk lies elsewhere — a system nobody understands well anymore becomes an obstacle to every subsequent business change, from new legislation to a new business unit.

Integration with existing systems (ERP, CRM, documents)#

Few companies start with a blank slate. Most already use one of the established systems for running the business or managing customer relationships, and often a separate document system for contracts, invoices and internal documentation. A new business information solution must be able to communicate with these systems through APIs, without forcing the company to replace them unless that is actually necessary.

Several things need to be settled in advance when integrating with existing systems.

Epix and its specialist partner network build and connect ERP, CRM, document and content systems through APIs, with source code and data remaining the client's property. This means the company is not dependent on a single contractor for further changes once the project is finished.

• which system owns a given piece of data
• how often and in what way data is exchanged between systems
• how data correctness is verified after a transfer
• who has access to which data
• how changes are tracked for audit purposes
• what happens if the connection between systems fails for a time

Data security and compliance#

In a business information solution, data security is not an add-on but part of the architecture from the start. Development, test and production environments are kept separate, and real personal data is never used in the test environment, so an error during testing does not expose real customer or employee data.

Every change goes through review and testing before release to the production environment. This matters especially for systems that handle financial, HR or personal data, where a mistake is not just a technical problem but can also mean a data protection breach or a loss of customer trust.

Requirements for security, audit trail and compliance differ by industry and by whether the organization is public or private. Public institutions typically have stricter requirements around public procurement and documenting procedures, while regulated industries add further requirements on data traceability — this needs to be settled before development begins.

Impact on employees and changes to work processes#

A new business information solution changes how employees work day to day, so its impact on people is not a side effect of the project but part of its scope. Some processes get automated, some roles change, some manual tasks become unnecessary — this needs to be planned together with the technical solution, not after it.

That is why larger projects define a project manager, the responsibilities of individual teams, deadlines, and how the client and contractor communicate and report to each other right from the start. Without this, accountability for individual decisions dissolves during the project and changes drag on.

Employees need time to learn the new system and room to flag processes the solution does not handle well enough. A project that ignores this feedback often ends up with a system that technically works but that employees bypass with their own spreadsheets and manual routines.

How to choose a contractor for a business information solution?#

The key thing to check when choosing a contractor is whether they can take over your existing system, not just build a new one from scratch. A contractor who insists on reviewing the source code, architecture and data before giving a scope estimate is working responsibly — a quick promise without that review is a warning sign.

Beyond technical skill, it matters how responsibility is handled after the system goes live — who answers for defects, what the urgency classes are, and how fast support responds. It also matters that source code, data, access and passwords are handed over to the client at project close as part of the handover, rather than staying with the contractor.

For a larger project it is worth checking whether the contractor can assemble a team with the right roles, since a single profile rarely covers the full scope.

Epix and its specialist partner network assemble such a team based on the project's scope, with the client able to take on the whole project or just a single technical work package, depending on what is already in place and what still needs to be built.

• a solution architect for system design
• backend and frontend developers
• a data and AI specialist where relevant
• a DevOps and cloud engineer for infrastructure
• a cybersecurity specialist
• a QA engineer for testing
• a project manager to coordinate deadlines and communication

How does implementation and post-launch support work?#

Implementation follows a sequence of steps: analysis of the current state, architecture design, UX/UI, development, testing, deployment to production and documentation. In larger projects these steps are not run once for the entire system but repeated per work package, so each package can be tested and deployed on its own.

Once the system goes live, support is set up, and it makes sense to define urgency classes in advance.

After launch, it is possible to take over operations monitoring, bug fixing, technical and security updates, and further development of the system. Response times for each class are agreed based on criticality and the arrangement with the client, since universal response times mean little without knowledge of the actual system.

The project therefore does not end with deployment — support continues throughout the system's working life, from fixing minor defects to adapting to new legislation, business growth or new business requirements.

• class 1 – outage: the system or a key part is down, handled with the highest priority
• class 2 – disruption: the system runs, a specific function does not
• class 3 – defect: a minor issue with no business impact, scheduled into the next release
• class 4 – request: a change or upgrade, scope and timing agreed separately

What determines the price of a business information solution?#

The price of a business information solution is not a fixed number — it depends on the scope of work, so it can only be determined after the requirements and technical complexity of the project have been reviewed. Companies looking for a general price range often get a misleading answer, because the range between a small module and a full system spanning several departments is extremely wide.

Several factors shape the scope, and with it the price, of a project.

Before a price is set, a short analysis makes sense, breaking the scope into work packages so that each one can be estimated and delivered separately. This lets the client split the project into phases if needed and sign off on each phase before the next one starts.

• the scope of functionality and the number of user roles
• how many existing systems need to be connected and what their APIs look like
• whether it is a new system or a takeover and upgrade of an existing one
• the volume and condition of data that needs to be migrated
• security, audit trail and compliance requirements
• the scope of testing and whether independent QA is needed
• the level of post-launch support and the agreed response times