MIS100 2009:Bubbling under

Suncorp Group
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
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
Senior IS executive: Martyn Seddon, general manager of information systems
Total screens: 1230
Industry: Wholesale and retail trade
Website: www.TurnersandGrowers.com

Turners and Growers uses ICT systems and processes to meet the changing requirements of its multiple businesses and customers with speed and precision. The company is committed to creating a business environment that allows its several business units to act as one and collaborate. Better inter-business communication and process improvements are expected as a result, and will be supported by more consolidated SAP ERP system integration, and customer focus via portal and online service initiatives.

Martyn Seddon, general manager of information systems, says Turners and Growers is reducing non-critical spending. “So there is no budget reduction as such, but we need to ensure that if we’re spending then the items are critical.

“In the past 12 months Turners and Growers has increased investment in SAP systems and software, and has an ongoing extension of wireless technologies throughout the business. While these areas of investment will continue this year, it will also be re-visiting business processes within SAP and stream-lining them to gain a more integrated business system,” says Seddon.
Bunnings
Senior IS executive: David Hollies, ITS manager
Total screens: 1316
Industry: Wholesale and retail trade
Website: www.bunnings.co.nz

Business objectives for Bunnings in the next 12 months include excellence in team recruitment and retention, inventory management and store processing and efficiencies. ITS manager David Hollies says IT helps the business achieve its objectives and provides competitive advantage by allowing his team to work smarter. Key ICT projects last year included Oracle ERP and FMIS system upgrades, software and server virtualisation, implementation and extension of wireless technologies and a major upgrade of store networks and point of sale systems. IT systems are managed from the Bunnings Support Centre in Perth.
Bunnings uses Cognos business intelligence and reporting software on top of Oracle data warehousing tools for inventory visibility.
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
Senior IS executive: Donna Wright, CIO
Total screens: 1355
Industry: Manufacturing
Website: www.ccamatil.com

Attracting, developing and retaining high-calibre people, accelerating growth and investing in new beverage categories and acquisitions are key organisational goals for Coca Cola Amatil in 2009. The company has to deal with the impact of the recession on its internal costs as well as how its retail customers and consumers purchasing behaviours are affected, says CIO Donna Wright. From an ICT perspective she says a key focus is to review the number of ICT vendors the organisation deals with. Overall ICT strategy is focused on application rationalisation through implementation of SAP technologies. The largest ICT projects by budget for 2009 are development of a mobile sales force tool, a call centre technology upgrade and expansion and integration of VOIP technology.
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
MediaWorks
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
Ministry of Economic Development
Deloitte
Senior IS executive: Eugene Piercy, IT manager
Total screens: 1306
Industry: Business management and scientific services
Website: www.deloitte.co.nz

Deloitte has more than 1000 specialists operating in quality professional services including audit, tax, technology and systems, risk management, corporate finance, recovery, forensics and business advisory services.

It has offices in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Centralising knowledge and intellectual property is a key goal for Deloitte in 2009, says national IT manager Eugene Piercy.

He says key IT investments designed to leverage these goals include document management and unified communications systems, along with server virtualisation and consolidation. Other projects include a Windows Vista operating system upgrade, as well as relocation of the Deloitte Auckland and Hamilton offices.

While ICT budgets have decreased slightly from last year, ICT people numbers remain steady at the firm, reflecting its ongoing recognition of ICT as a platform for business excellence and outstanding client service delivery.