Diamond giant De Beers has purchased ActaWorks software from Global Technology Business Intelligence (GBI) in a deal worth over R10 million.
The decision to purchase this new-generation extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) tool was primarily an architectural decision supporting the group`s business intelligence strategy. De Beers has signed an enterprise licence agreement, which, in addition to providing group access to the product`s capabilities, illustrates its strong long-term commitment to the implementation of a standard data platform across the group.
De Beers runs a multiplicity of systems worldwide, including legacy, technical applications and SAP R/3.
"De Beers intend to use ActaWorks to ensure enterprise-wide data integrity and consistency, regardless of back-end or front-end systems," says Marc Scheepbouwer, marketing director at GBI. "De Beers did not want to be constrained by its choice of technology at the front-end or back-end. By choosing ActaWorks and installing it as a critical architectural component, De Beers gains freedom of choice when selecting solutions, as well as a platform to facilitate the integration of legacy or other system data."
The ActaWorks data platform is expected to impact a number of strategic initiatives within the group, both locally and internationally. These initiatives include the implementation of a standard ERP (enterprise resource planning) system across the group, the implementation of suitable technical systems and the deployment of business intelligence solutions to the business community.
The primary components of ActaWorks that are of interest to De Beers are its dynamic data warehousing capabilities, inheriting data structure logic regardless of the source, its ability to access the application layer of products such as SAP R/3 or JD Edwards, and its ability to conduct secure transactions within the ERP suite on a real-time basis using the Internet.
Group IT executive Kevin Burford believes the decision to implement ActaWorks will positively affect the strategic delivery capabilities of IT to the group, helping to provide the correct information to the business well into the future.
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