MSC begins foray into Australia

By RICHARD WOOD

Local customer relationship management specialist MSC Solutions has been cloned for the Australian market by the company that bought it last year.

The Australian operation has already acquired as a client the State of Victoria's roading and freeway provider, Trans Urban Citylink.

UCMS of Australia bought MSC last year to pick up its system integration capabilities as well as get an entry into the New Zealand market.

Managing director of the New Zealand business Mark Maddren was then put in charge of building an equivalent Australian offshoot called UCMS Solutions, which began life in December. He says MSC Solutions was growing at 100 per cent year on year before it was taken over.

He expects the combined New Zealand and Australian solutions operations to continue that growth this year.

Mr Maddren said the downturn of the customer relationship management market last year only affected applications from the big software vendors.

"Our interpretation of [customer relationship management] is a bit broader than a vendor," he said.

"We're interested in helping companies in any technologies and business requirements in customer management. That includes call centres, marketing information systems, sales force automation, help desk, and e-business web integration."

MCS New Zealand clients include NZ Dairy Group, Ravensdown Fertiliser, Carter Holt, Dominion Breweries and NZ Post.

Parent company UCMS is privately held by investors in Britain and Europe but operates only in Australia.

It has 1000 staff and revenues of more than $A100 million. Customers include Vodafone, Telstra, and the Ambulance Service of Victoria.