PGG Wrightson (MIS100 2012)

2012 is slated to be a year of heavy investment in ICT for PGG Wrightson. New head of IT Roger Rennie, who joined the organisation in August 2011, was first tasked with developing and delivering an IT strategy to the board of directors.

While PGG Wrightson had previously outsourced the provisioning of its desktops to Dimension Data, it has chosen to expand its reliance on outsourcing and went to RFP in late 2011 for outsourcing of both servers and desktops.

“Outsourcing the utility functions of IT will free up internal staff who have good IP, with regard to our business, to focus on delivering added value rather than just keeping the lights on,” says Rennie.

In another key area of focus, PGG Wrightson will be exploring how to consolidate its ERP environment, which currently runs JDE E1 in one part of the business and JDE Enterprise World in another. In addition to consolidation, there is the goal of adding more functionality from add-on and standalone packages into the core ERP system.

ICT budgets and projects are up by more than 10 percent this year, as the company looks to enable a new commitment to IT. “In the past, this organisation has not invested as much as we should have done in IT. Now we have to play catch up,” says Rennie.

For Rennie, it is the opportunity to make a significant difference through IT by rejuvenating the infrastructure and consolidation applications to make the organisation more profitable.