10,000+
users on internal directory
BAE Systems: the small project that opened a very large door.
A focused engagement that started with building BAE's first website and grew into the catalyst for enterprise-wide transformation at one of the UK's largest defence companies.
FTSE 100
enterprise transformation
1994
engagement started
Lotus Notes → Oracle
migration catalyst
The problem
A defence giant with no web presence - and an ageing collaboration platform.
In 1994, BAE Systems - one of the world's largest defence, security, and aerospace companies - had no website. The internet was emerging as a business channel, and BAE needed to establish a presence. Through a partnership with MGA Advertising, Rubicon was engaged to build it.
But the more significant challenge was internal. BAE's enterprise systems were built on Lotus Notes - a platform that was increasingly limiting as the organisation scaled. With over 10,000 employees needing reliable internal tools, the limitations were becoming operational bottlenecks.
What BAE needed wasn't a grand transformation programme announced from the top. It needed proof - a small, successful project that could demonstrate a better way.
The solution
Start small. Prove the technology. Open the door.
Rubicon delivered two projects that together changed BAE's technology trajectory.
BAE's first website
Built from scratch, this was BAE Systems' first public web presence - establishing the company online at a time when most defence firms hadn't considered the internet as a communications channel.
Internal Telephone Directory
Built in Borland Delphi with Oracle SQL, this replaced a Lotus Notes application used by over 10,000 employees. It was faster, more reliable, and built on a modern database platform - and it became the proof point BAE needed.
The beachhead
The success of the Telephone Directory - a focused, low-risk project delivered quickly and adopted widely - demonstrated that Oracle-based applications could replace Lotus Notes at enterprise scale. It became the catalyst for BAE's enterprise-wide migration to Oracle.
What was delivered
Proof of concept that became proof of strategy.
Public web presence
BAE's first website - designed, built, and launched by Rubicon. A straightforward deliverable, but one that marked BAE's entry into digital communications.
Enterprise-scale internal application
The Telephone Directory served 10,000+ users across BAE's operations. Built on Oracle SQL with a Borland Delphi front end, it was fast, searchable, and reliable - everything the Lotus Notes version wasn't.
Technology migration catalyst
The directory's success gave BAE's technology leadership the evidence they needed to justify a broader migration from Lotus Notes to Oracle across the enterprise. A small project opened the door to FTSE 100 transformation.
Why it matters now
Small, focused projects change large organisations.
The BAE Systems engagement illustrates a pattern Rubicon has seen repeatedly: large organisations don't transform through grand programmes. They transform through small, successful projects that prove a better way is possible.
The Telephone Directory wasn't a strategic initiative. It was a practical solution to a real problem. But because it worked - because it was faster, more reliable, and built on a better platform - it became the evidence that unlocked everything that followed.
This is how Rubicon works: deliver something that works, earn trust through results, and let the quality of the work open doors that sales decks never could.
A small, focused project that opened the door to transformation at a FTSE 100 company. That is the Rubicon model.
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