MIS100 2009:Bubbling under

Suncorp Group
Senior IS executive: Andrew Diver, CIO, Vero New Zealand
Total screens: 1205
Industry: Finance and insurance
Website: www.vero.co.nz

Suncorp Group (NZ) includes well-known brands such as Vero Insurance, Tyndall Investments, Asteron, Guardian Trust, Autosure, Comprehensive Travel and Mariner Insurance. It will continue to pursue a greater presence in the New Zealand broker market and direct markets; saying regulation, taxation and the introduction of the KiwiSaver scheme are expected to create future growth opportunities.

Suncorp executive management changes in the past six months include the departure of CEO John Mulcahy and the appointment of Chris Skilton as acting CEO.

Andrew Diver leads New Zealand technology operations and acts as both CIO for Vero New Zealand and executive general manager for Suncorp’s technology operations here.

Diver reports to Jeff Smith, group executive, business technology. He says key ICT projects for the coming year are the adoption, rollout and proficiency of Agile delivery practices and the adoption and utilisation of open-source technologies.
Kristin School
Senior IS executive: Jason MacDonald, director ICT services
Total screens: 1724
Industry: Educational services
Website: www.kristin.school.nz

The ongoing goal of Kristin School, located in Albany on Auckland’s North Shore, is to ensure it has superior facilities to meet student learning and development needs. Jason MacDonald, director ICT services, heads up an IT team of 11.

He says current investment in infrastructure and ICT services at Kristin includes new buildings, VoIP and wi-fi technologies, along with continued development of the Learning and Course Management System. In 2009, specific attention will be given to the redesign of enterprise architecture to support new education paradigms. Another point of focus is the development of a community portal to augment existing website and online communication and collaboration platforms.

This year, Kristin will expand its use of the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network, with a focus on teaching and learning benefits that advanced networking can offer, says MacDonald. “We are also continuing development and new feature implementation of Synergetic as our Student Management System, and have implemented stage one of an Identify and Access Management Platform for distributed identity lifecycle management.”
New Zealand Steel
Manukau City Council
Housing New Zealand Corporation
Senior IS executive: Mark Corbitt, information technology manager
Total screens: 1390
Industry: Health and community services
Website: www.hnzc.co.nz

Housing NZ owns the state housing portfolio and its main activity is the provision of rental housing. Mark Corbitt is the new IT manager, taking over the role from Rob Herries. Under its three-year Risk Management Plan, HNZC seeks to incorporate best practice into its culture. Towards this, opportunities for operational efficiency and effectiveness are being captured and there is a focus on the quality and stability of information and associated systems. The Corporation will consider implementing electronic learning systems to help frontline staff access information to support them in their job. Introduction of the data warehouse in 2007 has made a significant difference to the provision of quality, timely and accurate reporting and analysis.
Stella Travel Services
Senior IS executive: Dhaya Sivakumar, general manager information technology
Total screens: 1490
Industry: Business management and scientific services
Website: www.stellatravel.co.nz

The travel industry is heavily dependent on ICT to access and deliver content, says Dhaya Sivakumar, general manager information technology, Stella Travel Services.

In 2009, Stella Travel Services will invest in significant ICT projects including content aggregation, point-of-sale sales software and technology, along with new ICT systems to support fares and ticketing. Despite a slight decrease in ICT budgets and staffing, the company will also invest further in business intelligence tools, mobilisation technologies and applications, along with utility computing.

The infrastructure consolidation and virtualisation projects undertaken over the past 18 months, now allow Stella to utilise centralised assets to change the way the workforce is used. Attaching mobile communications technology to the new infrastructure will allow broader use of teleworking and give the business flexibility in the way it can deploy its workforce, says Sivakumar. Stella will also make use of Citrix products, combined with Telecom’s new mobile network and One Office, to deliver the end system.
Diocesan School for Girls
Turners and Growers
Bunnings
Hawkes Bay District Health Board
Bay of Plenty Polytechnic
Television NZ
Tyco Fire & Security
Senior IS executive: Antony Mayo, group IT manager NZ
Total screens: 1254
Industry: Manufacturing
Website: www.tyco.co.nz

Organic growth is a major focus for Tyco Fire & Security New Zealand, which provides electronic security systems, fire protection, detection and suppression systems; sprinklers and fire extinguishers; and security services.

Tyco Fire & Security has completed implementation of cash parcel track-and-tracing via GPRS wireless technologies and mobile devices. Other achievements included completion of a major implementation in conjunction with the NZ Fire Service in which new technologies were used to increase the reliability of signals received from fire and safety alert panels on buildings.

In 2009, the company is focused on cash processing, workforce management and data management systems; and an internet access and security upgrade.
Customer interface initiatives are also planned.
Coca-Cola Amatil
Statistics New Zealand
Senior IS executive: Matjaz Jug, chief information officer
Total screens: 1650
Industry: Government and defence
Website: www.stats.govt.nz

the ICT team at Statistics NZ is focused on projects including systems in support of the census, development of statistical processing systems and data dissemination systems. Also on the agenda are integrated respondent management and strategies for the mitigation of business continuity risks related to legacy systems, and ongoing software and server virtualisation. CIO Matjaz Jug says facilitating ease of access to official statistics and internet data collection are among the challenges the IT team faces. ICT is needed to build a sustainable, technological platform, yet there is constant pressure to do this in the most cost effective way. The internal team maintains servers and PC hardware and outsourcing is used for extra support around some systems and network management.
Tait Electronics
Senior IS executive: Frank Gebhardt, IT manager
Total screens: 1331
Industry: Manufacturing
Website: www.taitworld.com

A focus on specific market segments, public safety, utilities and public transport solutions are key directions for Tait Electronics in 2009. The company is also in the process of building a global service centre.

IT manager Frank Gebhardt says locally the Tait Electronics IT team is working on projects to increase the collaboration capabilities of the business, as well as those that provide better visibility of key performance indicators. There is also a desire to ensure processes and services work to ITIL standards where appropriate. Tait Electronics is a leading worldwide provider of radio communications solutions, which focus on the needs of public safety organisations, utilities and transport providers.

Work on business intelligence and CRM systems will also be prioritised for the current financial year. In 2008, Tactical CRM tools were implemented at regional customer service organisations – and consolidation of these tools is planned.

Other ICT objectives achieved in 2008 included server consolidation, developing systems and strategies to cope with data growth, as well as reviewing processes, policies and tools for data security.

As well, the ICT team continues its work to improve the online shopping experience for customers and the IT team will engage in website development using Web 2.0 technologies.
MediaWorks
Senior IS executive: Paul Thompson, group IT manager
Total screens: 1420
Industry: Information
Website: www.mediaworks.co.nz


VoIP and unified communications are high on the MediaWorks ICT agenda for 2009. Group IT Manager Paul Thompson says the company is keen to benefit from the increased productivity unified communications can provide, and the cost savings associated with VoIP technologies and services.

From a business perspective, MediaWorks is working to increase revenue share through its television stations and national radio brands. There has also been a marked increase in online interaction between the company and its customers, leading to a significant focus on all online assets and activities.

Telecommunications services to MediaWorks are split between three separate suppliers, a less than ideal solution and a key driver for the move to a unified communications solution, says Thompson. Currently, WAN services are supplied by TelstraClear and phone services are moving to TelstraClear as the VOIP project is rolled out. Mobile services remain with Vodafone.

Unlike many organisations, MediaWorks is yet to be convinced of the cost justification of server virtualisation and wireless technologies, which can’t deliver the bandwidth required for TV and radio file transfers and streaming.
Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology
Senior IS executives: Adri Noordover, IT network and technical manager; and Stephen Tanner, IT customer services manager
Total screens: 995
Industry: Educational services
Website: www.nmit.ac.nz

NMIT seeks more accurate targeting and streamlined deployment and running of IT services, and easier access to services and information. IT network and technical manager Adri Noordover says better awareness and management of organisational cost and income structures is also sought.
In 2009, NMIT is focused on selecting and implementing a Service Oriented IT framework and supporting toolset. Other focus areas include implementation of a new finance and business intelligence system, implementation of unified messaging solutions, and extended use of national (Karen) and regional (The Loop) education networks for video conferencing and shared services. Upgrade of timetabling and student management systems is also occurring.
Software and server virtualisation is ongoing, and NMIT is extending wireless infrastructure throughout its campus to better meet student expectations. NMIT is also extending its e-business connections and developing improved web portal connections and business-to-business transaction platforms. The NMIT ITS team leader role has recently been split into two separate roles – Adri Noordover is IT network and technical manager; and Stephen Tanner is IT customer services manager.
Restaurant Brands NZ
Senior IS executive: Kerry Cross, information services manager
Total screens: 565
Industry Accommodation and food services
Website : www.restaurantbrands.co.nz

Restaurant Brands New Zealand Limited operates the New Zealand outlets of KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks Coffee. Its core competency is taking the expertise and systems of its brand franchisors and applying it locally, to deliver both the food and the total experience on a consistent basis across the company.

Kerry Cross, information services manager, heads an ICT team of six. According to its website, Restaurant Brands says behind its success is the marshalling of business systems designed to facilitate the careful and intelligent procurement of quality ingredients. This includes efficient distribution to and through three retail networks, and the employment of advanced tracking technology to meticulously track and report on costs, sales, margins and replenishment.

In April, the New Zealand Herald reported Restaurant Brand directors were cautious about next year's outcomes, despite this year's trading results being satisfactory in the current environment and an improvement over the past two years' performance. The report said the company would evaluate some potential store sales to independent franchisees and continue its programme of unprofitable store closures.
Ministry of Economic Development
Deloitte