MIS 100 2007(1-20)

* Click on the triangle symbols to reveal the information for each organisation.
1 University of Auckland
2 New Zealand Defence Force

2006 Ranking: 3

Senior IS executive: Derek Locke, chief information officer
Reports to: Chief of New Zealand Defence Force
Size of IS shop: 300

PCs: 14000_
Mobile PCs: 3500
Terminals: 0
Hand-held devices: 500
Total screens: 18,000

Industry: Government and defence
PC environment: Windows XP, Compaq, Dell, IBM,Toshiba
Server environment: Solaris, Other Unix; Windows 95/98, 2000, NT; Compaq; HP9000; OEM Intel-based
DBMS: Oracle, SQL
Address: Defence House 15-21 Stout Street, Wellington
Website: www.nzdf.mil.nz
Key IS projects this year: ERP system upgrade; infrastructure and telecommunications upgrade; server replacement.


The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), which integrates and manages three services – army, navy and air force – faces some “big issues” in 2007. But these are good challenges that will make the NZDF more professional and agile, says CIO Derek Locke. They include rolling out a new strategic plan, and development of robust governance structures, with a new senior management team led by the Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant General Jerry Mateparae.
The combined organisation has a vision of being “the best in everything we do” with a mission to secure New Zealand against external threat, protect sovereign interests and take action to meet likely contingencies in areas of strategic interest to New Zealand.
To complete these strategic changes, NZDF has received additional funding of $4.6 billion over 10 years (beginning from the 2005/06 financial year) to support the Defence Sustainability Initiative (DSI). Locke says there is subsequently a lot of focus around new recruitment to support DSI and to counter a significant drop in personnel numbers.
Like many public organisations, Locke says NZDF is committed to a “huge” knowledge management project called Information Management and Exploitation which addresses storage issues around unstructured data. NZDF is also investing heavily in disaster recovery and business continuity projects, including pandemic planning, and is considering the effects of global warming on IT-supported systems.
Key NZDF IT systems are ERP systems supported by SAP software, email and other messaging systems, and operational systems that support war fighting. These systems must be capable of being deploying rapidly for overseas use, and there is pressure on IT systems and staff as a result of multiple military deployments, including ensuring NZDF has enough people, equipment and bandwidth. “Bandwidth at home is barely sustaining us and we are constrained by the lack of a high speed bandwidth network servicing the country. The demands of email, data and voice traffic are all exceeding our bandwidth capability, and yet we are still ensuring we meet our operational commitments. NZDF would be one of the biggest users of telecommunications in New Zealand,” says Locke.
He says ‘minimum broadband’ services should start around 100Mbps, particularly for large organisations with SAP-type applications that require “fat pipes” to be deployed to full potential. NZDF is investigating the use of dedicated satellite capability, and is in initial discussions with potential providers for a large satellite connection to be used mainly for data and in remote areas. Mobile technologies are important, says Locke, and NZDF is currently rolling out Blackberry devices to staff. “We have people travelling overseas for two weeks at a time and you cannot use anything other than GSM technology in the main for that.”
ICT projects for 2007 include investment in business intelligence tools and server virtualisation software from EMC – NZDF aims to reduce server numbers from 750 to around 200 within two to three years.
Defence is also extending its investment in Nortel, Cisco and Juniper VoIP technologies, and is looking at trialling 802.11-based wireless technologies. “There’s a lot of misconception about wireless technologies and data security,” says Locke. “We use wireless in our enterprise systems and there are more secure wireless solutions available now – there’s no reason that wireless can’t be used.”
3 Fonterra Co-operative Group
4 University of Otago
5 Telecom New Zealand
6 Ministry of Social Development
7 Fletcher Building
8 Carter Holt Harvey
9 ANZ National Bank

2006 Ranking: 7

Senior IS executive: Tomasz Smaczny, chief information officer
Reports to: Graham Hodges, CEO
Size of IS shop: 500

PCs: 8300
Mobile PCs: 1800
Terminals: 0
Hand-held devices: 0
Total screens: 10,100

Industry: Finance and insurance
PC environment: Windows 2000, XP; HP; Dell
Server environment: Windows 2000, 2003; Solaris; Citrix; AIX; HP; Dell; Tandem; Stratus; Sun; IBM
DBMS: SQL, DB2, Oracle, Sybase
Address: 1-9 Victoria Street, Wellington
Website: www.anz.com/nz and www.nationalbank.co.nz
Key IS projects this year: Telling platform replacement programme; sales and service platform replacement programme; direct link platform upgrade programme.


ANZ National is New Zealand’s largest bank when it comes to customer numbers. The bank’s focus for the coming 12 months is on growing the business both in revenue and market share, with technology identified as critical to the execution of these business goals, says CIO Tomasz Smaczny.
“We must be positioned to partner and enable the business to achieve these goals. Accordingly, alignment with the business is a critical requirement for the Technology Team and we have invested considerable effort developing a Technology Business Strategy that reflects and supports delivery of the business’ goals,” says Smaczny.
The Technical Strategy of ANZ National also reflects this alignment. Smaczny says team structure follows strategy, and the technology team has recently moved to a new structure and operating model specifically designed to underpin its focus and engagement with the business. The new structure includes adoption of a business unit-oriented and portfolio approach to managing technology. This model has also been designed to encompass and deliver greater leverage of resources across the extended technology team.
“We recognise that people are the foundation of our success and have established a variety of programmes to ensure that we attract, retain and foster talented people. One such programme has been the development of clearly defined people and technical leadership streams, which provides our team members with viable options to pursue either career path,” says Smaczny.
Based on the new Technology Business Strategy, ANZ National has allocated substantial investments in its banking channels with channel IT projects for internet banking, telling, telephone banking, and call centres. These projects deliver the infrastructure that the business requires to transform its operating model, says Smaczny. Other projects include a sales and service platform replacement investment, hardware upgrades; server virtualisation and implementation of VoIP infrastructure. Business continuity and disaster recovery planning are further focus points for 2007.
The largest areas of IT project expenditure are the telling platform replacement programme, sales and service platform replacement programme and direct link platform upgrade programme.
10 Massey University

2006 Ranking: 9

Senior IS executive: Gerrit Bahlman, chief information officer
Reports to: General manager, strategy and finance
Size of IS shop: 90

PCs: 7197
Mobile PCs: 965
Terminals: 0
Hand-held devices: 0
Total screens: 8162

Industry: Education services
PC environment: Apple Mac; Linux; Windows 2000, XP; HP; Advantage; Toshiba
Server environment: Apple Mac; Linux; VMS; Windows 2000, 2003; HP Intel-based; HP Others; IBM
DBMS: SQL, Ingres, Oracle
Address: Highway 57, Palmerston North
Website: www.massey.ac.nz
Key IS projects this year: Telecommunications upgrade; storage
disaster recovery; desktop standard operating environment; virtualisation
Computer Laboratory leasing refresh; consolidated printing and photocopying; online enrolment and student programme management.



Massey University has three campuses and 26 points of presence throughout New Zealand. The three major campuses in Palmerston North, Wellington and Albany, Auckland cater for some 38,000 local and international students of which approximately 18,000 students, in New Zealand and offshore, study by distance education.
The five-college structure provides a diversity of degrees, diplomas and certificates. Massey University specialises in the fields of sciences, agriculture, creative arts, humanities and social sciences, education and business. It also has the biggest business college in New Zealand.
Gerrit Bahlman, chief information officer, says Massey has a strong focus on research and research-led teaching and encouraging success at a postgraduate level. Leading edge research is undertaken on all three campuses and the University has invested in equipment in support of its commitment to research. This includes high-performance computing, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometry, advanced research data networking and a variety of collaboration technologies. A major upgrade of the core network of the University has just been completed and rollout of a consolidated printing and photocopying environment is currently underway. A full refresh of all undergraduate computer laboratory equipment is scheduled for the middle of the year.
While Massey does selectively outsource a number of IT function areas, Bahlman says there is growing concern that outsource suppliers are stretched and unable to provide the level of service necessary to pursue such strategies. He says mergers and acquisitions result in smaller, highly-focused providers being swallowed within larger cultures that do not understand the nature of the business. This introduces risk into the outsource environment.
“The larger the IT provider, the further removed their management is from context sensitive service delivery. In general, the quality of service provision lowers as the size of the IT provider increases. Large organisations cannot provide an intimate long-term understanding of their smaller customer needs,” says Bahlman.
Massey University has just completed an in-house redevelopment of its student management system. As with most educational institutions, the online environment continues to be an important channel and services include full registration, record information access, online payment and universal email. Internal administration on the web provides academic and general staff with access to online support structures and services.
A major project underway is the redevelopment, extension and integration of Massey University’s online enrolment capabilities, with student programme management facilities. Bahlman says this replaces an innovative but aging existing web enrolment capability.
Other key IT projects in 2007 include a telecommunications refresh, disaster recovery focus, and moves toward a desktop standard operating environment. Massey University will also embark on a financial systems upgrade, and investigate CRM and VoIP technologies. Efficiencies gained through server virtualisation and consolidation strategies will also be extended.
Bahlman says IT area concerns going forward include staffing and workforce planning in the face of a labour market skills shortage, and emerging and existing issues surrounding data security.
11 Progressive Enterprises

2006 Ranking: 13

Senior IS executive: David Morrison, manager IT
Reports to: Managing director
Size of IS shop: 64

PCs: 1900
Mobile PCs: 100
Terminals: 2000
Hand-held devices: 400
Total screens: 4400

Industry: Wholesale and retail trade
PC environment: Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, CE; Compaq/HP
Server environment: OS4000; Unix SVR4; Windows NT, 2000, XP; Compaq; iSeries; NCR
DBMS: DB2, Oracle, SQL, Teradata
Address: 80 Favona Road, Mangere, Auckland
Website: www.progressive.co.nz
Key IS projects this year: Systems integration.


A focus on sales, customer services and integration of IT systems are key priorities for Progressive Enterprises in 2007.
Acquired by Woolworths Australia in 2006, Progressive Enterprises continues to seek to leverage synergies in New Zealand with the new parent company.
David Morrison, IT manager for Progressive, says significant improvements are to be expected in the supply chain as a result of implementing Woolworths’ supply chain systems. From these changes IT will help their primary customer – the supermarkets – to deliver competitive advantage to Progressive Enterprises.
The support of senior management for IT, along with the necessity of an upgrade following the acquisition, is reflected in the IT project line-up for Progressive over the coming 12 months.
Progressive Enterprises is a light outsourcer, outsourcing IT education, some applications development and HR payroll.
12 Air New Zealand
13 Inland Revenue Department
14 Auckland University of Technology

2006 ranking: 23

Senior IS executive: Liz Gosling, director IT services
Reports to: General manager, service and operations
Size of IS shop: 70

PCs: 5692
Mobile PCs: 1103
Terminals: 0
Hand-held devices: 396
Total screens: 7191


Industry: Education services
PC environment: Apple Mac, Windows XP, Linux, Cyclone Computers, Toshiba, Apple, Lenovo, IBM
Server environment: Linux, Novell, Windows 2000; Apple, Cyclone Computers
DBMS: Oracle, MySQL, SQL
Address: 55 Wellesley Street East, Auckland
Website: www.aut.ac.nz
Key IS projects this year: Web portals; CRM; infrastructure upgrades; information architecture.


Following a rewrite of its strategic plan in 2006, Auckland University of Technology (AUT) now has five key objectives for the next five years: Providing excellent education, conducting excellent research, actively engaging with communities, attracting and retaining excellent staff, and effectively managing its resources.
Liz Gosling, director IT services, says AUT’s focus is always on practical applied education, enabling opportunities in the modern professions and disciplines of today’s economy. Challenges include the need to maintain and grow student numbers in a tight education market, driven by low unemployment in New Zealand. Gosling says it is also a challenge to maintain technical support that is robust, easy to implement and cost effective.
The following key IT groups report to Gosling: The Client Services team, which is responsible for first and second-line support, training and audio-visual equipment; an Information Systems team focused on projects and system integration; a Technology Services group forming third-line, back room server, and telecommunications infrastructure support; and an on-site digital printing copy shop called PrintSprint.
Gosling says AUT is a large purchaser of telecommunications and as a result has been able to negotiate satisfying commercial deals with core telecommunications’ supplier TelstraClear. However, she says what’s important to AUT is access to e-learning and that is dependant on home broadband performance. “Cheap, good quality broadband available to New Zealand homes is vital to us; we can then deliver content-rich course content over our e-learning platform. What we can deliver at 56Kbps or less is less engaging.”
Key projects for 2007 include business intelligence, CRM and financial software upgrades. AUT is also committed to the cost savings afforded through server virtualisation and VoIP technologies and has implemented an organisation-wide Cisco VoIP System.
Wireless and mobile services are being extended and Gosling says AUT has around 70 Blackberry devices that it finds simple to support. On the e-business front, AUT is changing the structure of its key website from ‘one size fits all’ to separate portals — one for staff and students, and a transactional portal.
15 University of Canterbury

2006 ranking: 19


Senior IS executive: John Vargo, interim director information and communication technology
Reports to: Chief operating officer
Size of IS shop: 130

PCs: 5200
Mobile PCs: 700
Terminals: 200
Hand-held devices: 50
Total screens: 6150

Industry: Education services
PC environment: Windows XP, Linux, Apple Mac OS, Cyclone, Toshiba, Insite
Server environment: Windows 2003, Linux, Sun, VMS , HP, IBM, Apple
DBMS: Oracle RDB, SQL, Jade, Sybase, PeopleSoft
Address: University Drive, Ilam, Christchurch
Website: www.canterbury.ac.nz
Key IS projects this year: New data centre; super computing; hardware refreshments; server consolidation; equipping and restructure of central print production.

The University of Canterbury has merged with the Christchurch College of Education (CCE), a lengthy process that necessitated the integration and rationalisation of IT systems along with logistical and administrative integration of sites and resources, says John Vargo, interim director of information and communication technology for the University of Canterbury.
A key project is the development of a new data centre, to be located on the new University of Canterbury College of Education (UCCE) campus. Planning is underway, with the new data centre expected to be available in 2008. At that point, the existing data centre will be used as a second site to support disaster recovery strategies and the University will initiate a larger programme of server consolidation, says Vargo.
Like most tertiary providers, leveraging the international high-speed KAREN research network to provide fast broadband connection for researchers, campus students, distance learners and university sites is high on the wish list for the University of Canterbury. Vargo says “fat pipes” are important, particularly with the extension of campus size through the University’s merger with the former UCCE. Towards this, the University of Canterbury has started a campus data network upgrade, with plans to progressively extend on-site network performance to a peak of 10GB/sec. Vargo says the upgraded network will also help deliver video-based, distance learning tools already used by the UCCE as well as video conferencing. “There will be more extensive video conferencing and a whole range of other initiatives – really, we are just getting started.”
IT projects for 2007 include assessment of document and knowledge management needs with a view to Public Records Act compliance, and continued rollout of 802.11-based technologies as needed. The university has also issued an RFI with a view to outsourcing telecommunications products and services, and to review mobile technologies and mobile services strategy. Web-facing channels are in the spotlight, with new e-commerce and e-business sites under development.
16 New Zealand Police
17 Land Transport New Zealand
18 ASB Group
19 Bank of New Zealand

2006 Ranking: 21

Senior IS executive: Paul Tait, chief information officer
Reports to: Chris Bayliss, general manager technology and operations
Size of IS shop: 300

PCs: 4000
Mobile PCs: 1685
Terminals: 385
Hand-held devices: 1268
Total screens: 7338

Industry: Finance and insurance
PC environment: Apple Mac; OS/2; Desktop Unix; Windows 2000, XP; Dell; IBM
Server environment: AIX; HP Unix; SCO Unix; Sun; Windows 2000, 2003; HP Intel-based; xSeries, iSeries, zSeries
DBMS: DB2, Informix, Oracle, SQL, Sybase
Address: State Insurance House, 16 Willis Street, Wellington
Website: www.bnz.co.nz
Key IS projects this year: Re-use of components through service oriented architecture; strengthening online and mobile banking capabilities.


Strategic priorities for the Bank of New Zealand in 2007 include building retail banking presence through excellent service. This will be achieved through offering customers new and unique ways to save money on fees and mortgage interest, as well as ways to earn higher interest on deposits.
“We’ll also be looking at ways to streamline the customer banking experience further, making it easier, cheaper, and faster to bank with us. Our latest offering ‘TotalMoney’ encompasses all of these things and based on the extremely positive response we’ve had from new and existing customers, it’s the packaged solution they’ve been waiting for,” says CIO Paul Tait.
Tait says a key business challenge for the BNZ is in creating the ability to be as nimble as smaller niche banking players. “However in saying that, our success at the Cannex Banking Awards shows that not only are we the best value for money in terms of the large banks, but our home lending, personal lending, and credit cards offerings are strongly competitive with anything available on the market.”
The regulatory moves afoot in respect of unbundling and opening up the Telecom network, as well as portability, are all positive and will enable improved service opportunities for the BNZ, says Tait. “The other major challenge is the cost of mobile termination fees as a result of the high interconnect fees that are being passed on to customers. These significantly threaten the profitability of pushing our services online at costs customers will find acceptable. For example, it is expensive to preserve free calling into our 0800 numbers for account enquiries from mobile phones. Some innovative thought is required to continue to deliver cost effective personal mobility for customers, something we are working on presently.”
20 healthAlliance

2006 ranking: 22

Senior IS executive: Phil Brimacombe, chief information officer
Reports to: CEOs of Waitemata and Manukau DHBs and healthAlliance COO
Size of IS shop: 98

PCs: 4700
Mobile PCs: 350
Terminals: 300
Hand-held devices: 0
Total screens: 5350


Industry: Health and community services
PC environment: Windows XP, HP
Server environment: Linux; Windows 2003, Windows 2000, Windows NT; Solaris; AIX; HP Intel-Based; Sun Microsystems, IBM RS/6000
DBMS: Oracle, MS SQL
Address: Middlemore Hospital, Otahuhu, Auckland
Website: www.healthalliance.co.nz
Key IS projects this year: Mental health clinical information system; chronic care clinical information system; electronic referrals; electronic medication record.

Responsible for providing IT strategy, operations and services to two Auckland District Health Boards — Waitemata and Counties Manukau — healthAlliance takes a long-term strategic view of the needs of both DHBs, says CIO Phil Brimacombe.
To support the two DHBs, healthAlliance develops and deploys clinical information systems that provide valuable information for both primary and secondary healthcare providers. Brimacombe says there is a need to reduce fragmented and paper-based information systems and continually develop and provide an integrated information view. That way, clinicians can get one view of the patient’s radiology reports, outpatient notes, test results and notes from other clinicians involved in that patient’s care. “For example, it’s very important to get the health of children right as the health problems of early life tend to become more complicated later in life. We developed the Well Child information system, which went on to become the national immunisation system, and want to expand that further to electronically capture and integrate more Well Child information and involving external providers such as Plunket.”
The three greater Auckland region DHBs are jointly implementing a mental health information system. It will eventually be linked to GPs and other providers so decisions on mental health care are not made in isolation. Similar integrated information developments are in place or in development for community health workers.
“A lot of people don’t need to be in a hospital and instead receive care from community health workers like district health nurses and physiotherapists or occupational therapists. At the moment a lot of the information these workers gather is manual and paper-based,” says Brimacombe.
healthAlliance will soon embark on a business intelligence project to deliver better financial information to DHB managers and on a large server virtualisation project. Brimacombe says healthAlliance finds virtualisation “quite challenging” due to the complex clinical applications the DHBs use. “It’s quite easy for organisations with off-the-shelf applications to virtualise, but our highly specialised applications demand their own quirky hardware. That said, we have to do it because we have hundreds of servers.”