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Collier & Associates brand mark featuring the core services: Business Transformation; Enterprise Systems; AI-Enabled Execution.

National Rent-to-Own Home Furnishing Franchise — Privately Owned · Interim CTO (Nov 2016 – Dec 2017), then the 2018 Analytics/ML MVP

Client Challenge

  • A national rent-to-own franchise faced an abrupt crisis when the IT Director/Developer — sole author of every custom system — resigned without notice, leaving no documentation

  • Immediate operational risk across 54 undocumented SQL Server databases and thousands of legacy VBScript programs supporting critical business functions

  • No formal IT department and no disaster recovery protocols

  • Franchisees lacked competitive and customer-behavior intelligence

Client Solution

  • Emergency Stabilization: Rapidly analyzed and documented the entire technical environment, triaged operations, and established disaster recovery protocols

  • IT Organization Development: Architected a new IT organizational structure, implemented Agile DevOps, and recruited a virtual development team

  • Application Modernization: Created product roadmaps, directed high-priority redevelopment, and implemented modern development standards

  • Analytics and ML: Designed and delivered the Business Insights analytics — per-store and per-franchisee benchmarking across ~60 stores and ~48K agreements — and an Oracle APEX/PL/SQL MVP with Oracle Analytics/ML for franchisee competitive intelligence, with extensive back-end integration across Premier’s operational SQL Server databases and the Versirent POS used by all franchisees; MVP delivered in 2018 (Premier declined to fund production); guest speaker on data analytics and machine learning at the Annual Franchisee Conference

Client Impact Results

  • Crisis Management: Documented 54 SQL Server databases and thousands of VBScript programs within 2 weeks; completed operational triage within 3 weeks; disaster recovery protocols live within 1 month

  • Organizational Development: Stood up a functioning IT organization with an operating Agile DevOps team

  • Business Intelligence: Delivered insight into rental trends, product profitability, and consumer preferences by region

  • Franchisee Intelligence: Business Insights benchmarking delivered; Oracle Analytics/ML competitive-intelligence MVP delivered (2018)

Client Technologies

  • Microsoft SQL Server

  • VBScript analysis and documentation

  • Disaster recovery and business continuity planning

  • Agile DevOps methodology

  • Oracle APEX / PL/SQL (analytics MVP)

  • GitHub fork/branch/promote development pipeline

  • Oracle Analytics and machine learning

  • Versirent Retail Software integration

  • Virtual team management

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