Our basic philosophy is that of simplicity. Simple systems work best; there are fewer things to go wrong with them and they are more easily diagnosed and fixed when things do--and they always do. So we add to simplicity the concept of redundancy; backups and alternatives, which reinforce the basic simple system in place.

We believe in extensive documentation. If it didn't get written down, it never happened. Amateurs rely on a single employee or consultant with all the important information in their head. Professionals document everything for future reference. That is what we strive for, because people move on, but procedures keep working. IMS may or may not always be your consulting resource of choice, but during our tenure, whatever it may be, our goal is to provide you with all the information necessary to replace us instantly. It's your business, not ours.

We will be as efficient as possible with your time and money, and in exchange for those, we'll work to make you more efficient with your time and money. We will try to align your interests with ours, structuring our arrangements so it's not to our benefit if things break or take too long to implement. It's not realistic to expect the status quo of technology consulting (where the consultant benefits the more you have technical issues) to not affect advice and recommendations. Our solution is to change the status quo, to make an arrangement so that we both benefit from your systems running smoothly.

People are the most important component of any system. Any technology, in its ideal form, should be almost entirely invisible to the people doing the real work. Too often the technology is a complication and a hindrance, and it is tolerated because it's perceived as being better than a person would be. We think that's often an expensive illusion. Computers, while incredibly quick and extremely efficient at doing what they are programmed to do, are at the same time quite inflexible and uncooperative when it comes to doing anything else. There are places where computers are an appropriate solution to automating a business process, and there are places where they are not. When they are used, they are often used poorly and without much understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. We look not just at the technology that exists in your system, but also the people involved. If a system can't be automated to correctly complement the people in it, there is no point in automating it.