Counties Power has enjoyed a period of rapid growth through business diversification. While acknowledging the benefits of this growth, its legacy customer information system could not support the organisation’s changing needs. Counties Power needed help in managing this growth and to add value to its rapidly expanding customer base.

Dylan Andrews, Information Systems Manager at Counties Power explains, “Counties Power has undergone a revolution rather than evolution since our leadership change in 2001. Although effective management of our electricity network remains paramount, our new businesses’ range of products and services requires management systems that understand relationships, not just connections.” 

“In addition, we need to consistently demonstrate the value we bring to the community, as a locally owned business. Our systems and processes needed to support this commitment and ensure our business and services are not compromised by growth.”  

Best fit scenario
Counties Power partnered with a specialist in software selection, firstBASE, to assess the market offerings and service providers in the ERP space. In an untraditional approach, Counties Power spent over a third of its project budget on determining precisely what its business needs were and selecting an appropriate application.

“It was a calculated decision on our part,” said Andrews. “We needed to invest this resource to find a partner that had a proven track record in the implementation of similar solutions.”

“We put money upfront so that the preferred vendor was able to spend significant time onsite, to validate their understanding of the business before committing to the entire project.”

“Naturally, we considered all the main players in the mid- to upper-tier ERP market including JD Edwards, SAP, Greentree and Epicor, but our final decision was in favour of Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision implemented by Fujitsu.”

Flexibility, scalability and support
The decision by Counties Power to implement the Navision application with Fujitsu was based on a number of criteria. According to Andrews, the drivers behind the decision included software flexibility, scalability and support.

“Our requirements were very clear: We needed a solution that could provide financial, customer and asset management functions delivered by a partner that would grow with us.”

“Microsoft Business Solutions’-Navision proved itself to be a highly flexible, scalable product built on open, accessible technology. The Microsoft solution was chosen partly for the company’s reputation for support and product reliability and partly for Microsoft’s standing in the ERP space.”

“Navision was in the right place for us and fits well with our business,” says Andrews. “The other options evaluated were potentially limiting in their functionality and/or would have proved too expensive in the long term to extend or upgrade. With Navision we have many customisation options, the ability to develop on top of the out-the-box product and access to future upgrades.”

Andrews also adds that the decision to implement Navision was based on more than the right software fit.

“It was the complete package offered by Fujitsu that we were attracted to during the scoping exercise. It was clear the software would map to our organisational requirements but it was the in-depth knowledge of the application from Fujitsu that really sold us.”

“Fujitsu’s differentiation in the market place was their commitment to the project which has consistently been at 100 per cent. This was reflected in its decision to have a staff member onsite at Counties Power for the entire project.”

Helping to grow business
While a formal ROI following the implementation of the software has not yet been completed, there are early signs of increased productivity, increased staff efficiency and enhanced relationships with external contractors and suppliers.

A key area where this is being demonstrated has been in the development of Wired County, which is providing broadband options in the Auckland and Waikato region. According to Andrews, Wired Country would not be in the position it is now without the decision to build on the Navision platform.

“Wired Country has been created to meet the need of broadband customers who were dissatisfied with the current offerings in the market.  To succeed, we needed systems that were flexible, reliable and we were sensitive to the cost per connection. Navision allows us to modify processes and introduce new services in days, rather than weeks or months.” 

Meeting the needs of the business
“With this information available from the Navision system, all team members in our customer care section (call centre) are able to make decisions for the business. For example, any outstanding balances from any of our divisions are immediately visible to the customer care team regardless of the caller’s enquiry.”

With Navision in place, Counties Power now has one point of entry and one location for all its customer information.

Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision has also provided the platform for increased financial control for the business.  Andrews says, “The ability to establish new business units and to slice and dice data allows improved analysis and understanding of what is really happening. Several future developments have been identified that will lead to improved efficiency.”

Andrews believes staff training and induction have also been simplified: “We can now train new staff in a matter of hours instead of days. This is important when your business needs to manage up to a twenty fold increase in phone enquiries during a storm.”

Maximising the Microsoft platform
Navision has seamlessly integrated into an existing Microsoft technology infrastructure. Using Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Counties Power is making extensive use of the ability to share information with other systems internally and externally.

“We have successfully integrated our payroll and HR and parts of our Geographic Information System (GIS). Our network department now has real time information on customers through the GIS system linked to Navision to accurately determine who will potentially be affected by our network supply decisions.”

“Microsoft technology has also helped us streamline our disaster recovery processes. With SQL Server we are able to create full offsite system restore points every half hour. In the event of a complete system breakdown we can reduce our downtime in a disaster to minutes, not days. If the business requires it, we are able to implement real-time replication using MS SQL’s inbuilt functionality.”

Counties Power is a highly dynamic business with a clear vision to provide superior value to its customers. According to Andrews the decision to go with Navision reflects this overall cutting edge approach to technology and is testament to an underlying business structure that harnesses the full capacity and power of a technology application.

TUANZ recently gave their 2004 Chairman's Award to the Counties Power CEO for revolutionising the NZ telecommunications industry. The NZ Government has awarded the key Auckland PROBE contract to Counties Power’s Wired Country broadband division that demands systems need to be capable of accommodating the expected growth in business and new services on the horizon. The company is confident of the capabilities of Navision to achieve this.

For more information about this case study contact
Anne Frith
09 362 5865
askdynnz@microsoft.com
Microsoft New Zealand
PO Box 8070, Symonds Street, Auckland

Fujitsu
+64 9 921 8093
www.fujitsu.co.nz

January 2005

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