NZ subsidiary to be Movex pilot project

By ADAM GIFFORD

IT distributor Tech Pacific's New Zealand operation is the pilot project for a €70 million ($146 million) worldwide roll-out of Intentia's Movex software within its parent company, the Dutch Hagermeyer distribution service group.

The chief executive of Tech Pacific Group Australia and New Zealand, David Arnott, said the Swedish-built ERP (enterprise resource planning) system, which replaces a 15-year-old system, should be live by September. The Movex software helps businesses plan and manage inventory, accounting, orders and shipments.

Mr Arnott said it should give sales staff a stronger and more flexible platform from which they could identify business development opportunities, and which included web technologies and flexible interfaces to third-party products.

"It's about turning information into knowledge. In the IT industry, because of the shortness of product life cycles, our people need to understand product road maps and promotions," he said.

"Distributors are aggregators of that knowledge from vendors to resellers."

"There are also internal efficiencies we can get from the system, by being able to manage transactions more effectively."

The software will run on IBM AS/400 servers. The New Zealand operation was chosen for the pilot because while it only has 110 staff, it has three branches and a high level of complexity, representing the majority of the company's business processes.

"It's a large transaction marketplace, one of our largest subsidiaries, and it's close to Intentia development resources in Sydney, so it's ideal for the pilot," Mr Arnott said.

Tech Pacific Australia selected Movex after an extensive search early last year. The decision was referred to Hagermeyer for approval, but was deferred while the parent company carried out its own evaluation on Movex's suitability for the larger conglomerate.

The expanded 10,000-user worldwide contract was signed on December 19. It is Intentia's largest contract, with the licences accounting for €25 million of the €70 million total cost..

Intentia Australia and New Zealand managing director Steve Ironside said the deal involved the development of two core solutions with Movex: the Tech Pacific solution being done in New Zealand; and a solution for the Hagermeyer electrical equipment distribution and services business, which was being done by Intentia Europe.

Hagermeyer is also using Intentia Trading Portal technology to create a global trading portal, MRO4all.com.

Hagemeyer wants to move from a decentralised business model to a highly integrated, centralised business process environment, taking advantage of all opportunities within e-business.

Mr Ironside said Intentia Australia would earn about $A10 million ($12 million) in services revenue for the Asia Pacific component of the Tech Pacific implementation and a similar amount for rolling out the software into the Hagermeyer electrical group in this region.