Software sale helps Genie expand into Asian market

By ADAM GIFFORD

Auckland e-commerce company Genie Systems has gained an important Asian partner with the sale of its OrderWare electronic procurement software to Keppel FELS Energy and Infrastructure, a Singapore-based manufacturer of jack-up oil drilling platforms.

While the price is confidential, Genie chief executive Mike Hendry said the sale was of similar magnitude to the company's deal with Babies 'R' Us, a subsidiary of the US retailing giant Toys 'R' Us.

Keppel FELS is part of the Keppel Group, which has interests including the Port of Singapore, shipbuilding, engineering, telecommunications and banking.

Keppel is keen to partner Genie to get OrderWare into Asia. "Where this takes us is ... it's a stepping stone into Asia," Mr Hendry said.

Keppel FELS will use OrderWare to automate purchase requisitions for its rig construction activities, including the automatic consolidation of purchase orders and the automatic preparation of requests for quotations.

The system will also integrate to a portal being developed by the major Singaporean marine engineering and shipbuilding companies.

"The application provides the client with the flexibility to deal with its core business and with online exchanges," Mr Hendry said. "OrderWare will support its design, automation and procurement processes."

Genie chief technical officer Peter Garden said the sale demonstrated that OrderWare could support direct procurement, "which is the holy grail of business-to-business e-commerce."

Most web-based procurement systems are designed to deal with the relatively simple processes of requisition, approving and purchasing consumables, IT supplies and other simple products - less than 10 per cent of total procurement.

"At Keppel FELS there are many buyers, engineers and approvers involved in the process, with a large number of drawings, specifications and plans attached to purchase requisitions," Mr Garden said. "All this has to be routed and managed according to complex business rules."

Information Technology Minister Paul Swain, who yesterday opened Genie's Mt Wellington offices, said the firm was an example of the type of knowledge-based industry the Government is trying to encourage.

"The challenge is to make the transformation from an economy which is overly dependent on commodities to one based on knowledge and information, where knowledge and information not only add value but create value."