New Zealand Lotteries (MIS100 2012)

“Information technology is at the heart of the NZ Lotteries business and the enabler of our future growth,” says chief technology officer Evan Lawrey. “We continue to invest in our core IT systems to maintain effective operational performance and reliability while delivering business growth.”

The state-owned entity reported record profits of $96.4 million in the first six months of 2011, and record sales of $478.6 million in the six months to December. ICT budgets remain stable, with staff numbers expected to increase by up to five per cent over the course of the year.

Key projects for 2012 include a major revamp of the commission’s online platform mylotto.co.nz, a recent relocation of the back-up datacentre and major upgrades across both gaming and business systems.

In September 2011, NZ Lotteries rolled out LCD promotional screens to almost 600 stores nationwide, in partnership with NZ vendor SignActive, the biggest rollout of its kind in New Zealand. The solution is based on content creation, management and distribution software from US-based Scala. Scala runs on a PC hardware platform and, in the case of NZ Lotteries, uses purpose-built digital signage player PCs from MediaVue Systems.

Investment focus in 2011 on BI and CRM gives way in 2012 to virtualisation, mobility, business continuity/disaster recovery, FMIS and knowledge management.

The NZL IT department supports all business functions. Retail store support calls are supported internally, with any required store visits performed by Datacom and Chorus technicians. Telecoms services are provided nationally by Gen-i.