The Farmers Trading Company(MIS100 2010)

By Jess Meyer | Thursday, May 27 2010

2009 ranking: 63

Senior IS executive: David Lean, head of IT
Reports to: CEO
Size of IS shop: 25

PCs: 1300
Mobile PCs: 170
Terminals: 729
Hand-held devices: 823
Total screens: 3022

Industry: Wholesale and retail trade
PC environment: IBM; HP; Dell; Toshiba; Windows NT, 2000, XP
Server environment: IBM; HP; Dell; AIX; Windows 2000, NT, 2003, 2008
DBMS: Oracle, SQL, DB2
Address: 21 Laidlaw Way, East Tamaki, Auckland
Website: www.farmers.co.nz
Key IS projects this year: Migration to DB2 database for SAP and BW; technical Upgrade of SAP to ERP6; POS upgrade to AR v2.3; implementation of CRM; implementation of new CMS system for external websites; introduction of new collaboration toolset.

Business continuity and disaster recovery will be a focus this year for Farmers.

The IS department for the Farmers’ Trading Company maintains ICT for the Farmers stores, as well as providing SAP support to Prouds and Angus & Cootes stores, and SAP support plus EFTPOS and POS support to Pascoes stores around the country.

Key SAP projects for 2010 will include migration to an IBM DB2 database from the current SAP Business Information Warehouse, as well as a technical upgrade of SAP to ERP6. The company’s external websites will be implemented with a new CMS system and a new CRM system will be deployed by the in-house ICT team.
“IT plays a pivotal role in helping the business achieve its objectives, be it through applications and systems or process. IT is retail focused and will support the business in all aspects,” comments head of IT David Lean.

This support from IT is evidenced in technologies adopted last year to support business objectives, including application systems for time and attendance scheduling and merchandise planning.

Business continuity and disaster recovery will be a focus this year for Farmers. Other significant projects will include a POS upgrade to AR v2.3, along with the introduction of a new collaboration toolset.