Downer(MIS100 2010)

By Jess Meyer | Thursday, May 27 2010

2009 ranking: 74

Senior IS executive: Rhys Gould, CIO
Reports to: CFO
Size of IS shop: 14

PCs: 919
Mobile PCs: 1045
Terminals: 304
Hand-held devices: 154
Total screens: 2422

Industry: Construction and engineering services
PC environment: HP, Windows XP
Server environment: HP, IBM, Windows 2003
DBMS: SQL, Progress, Oracle
Address: 14 Amelia Earhart Avenue, Airport Oaks, Auckland
Website: www.works.co.nz
Key IS projects this year: Not listed.

In the process of a major rebranding, DownerEDi Works and DownerEDi Engineering have merged to create a single entity — Downer NZ. Vital to this merger, and other potential acquisitions, is the provision of a stable platform upon which to help the business grow. IT will be used to assist with the enablement of shared services initiatives, explains Downer NZ CIO Rhys Gould.

Key technology projects and areas of focus this year will include business intelligence; fleet productivity; streamlining of finance and administration activities through the use of technology; payroll/HRIS; SAN replacement; business continuity/disaster recovery; integration platform; and improvement of project management and service management processes. Previously initiated VoIP and virtualisation projects will continue in 2010, with the goal of greater functionality and increased access to the organisation’s more than 4600 New Zealand staff.

“IT will help deliver business value through the provision of business systems and services to both internal and external information users,” says Gould. Gen-i will continue to manage the merged entity’s datacentre and service desk needs.

Gould is focused on carefully evaluating the value proposition of new projects and technologies for the merged business, to ascertain actual, measurable benefits prior to adoption and deployment. “The IT industry,” says Gould, “needs to focus on delivering the basics very well, and less on the marketing hype about new technology.”