Engineering Informatics pushes Australian expansion

Engineering Informatics` presence in Australia has got off to blistering start. Beginning its first project in January 2004, the Information Engineering specialist company is currently at work on its sixth major project `down under`.

`We are on the verge of registering Engineering Informatics Australia as a locally managed company in Melbourne, and ultimately we will be looking to use Australian skills in the business,` says Rob Cells, Engineering Informatics South Africa Business Development Manager. `In the short term, however, the Australian business is leveraging our South African skills base, which is amongst the best in the world.`

Engineering Informatics South Africa began life as a certified SAP Specialist Partner, operating in the DMS (Document Management System) / PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) sphere.

The SAP DMS module is a small component within the broader SAP system. As such, execution of the module has been largely ignored by corporations, who have focused on establishing their ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems in an operational context.

Nevertheless, DMS / PLM efficiency greatly enhances the flow of information across an organisation, and offers considerable bottom line return on investment. Now that most companies are on their ERP feet, operationally speaking, optimising the flow of information across the organisation has become a significant point of competitive advantage.

`Engineering Informatics grew as the only South African specialist in ERP DMS execution,` says Cells. `This means that we developed world leading EDMS (Enterprise Document Management System) abilities, when most other global players were focusing on more conventional ERP implementations.`

Thanks to strong ties with SAP internationally, Engineering Informatics was invited to Australia late in 2002, to assist SAP Australia with a DMS orientated tender. The company then embarked on a country wide road show in 2003 to articulate the business benefits of EDMS to the Australian market. That marketing drive is now bearing considerable fruit, with Engineering Informatics Australia engaged in the following 2004 projects:

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* National Australia Bank: EBP DMS implementation.
* KPMG Australia, Melbourne: Easy DMS proof of concept project.
* Zinifex (Mining): Technical Drawing Office and Health and safety orientated DMS intervention. A phased approach will see the project roll out into Tasmania, and possibly the Netherlands and the USA.
* Powercor / CitiPower, Victoria: Enterprise Content Management Strategy. Recommendations will go forward into the next budget cycle, and the roll out of the EDMS (Enterprise Document Management System) will begin in 2005.
* WMC Resources (Mining): Development of DMS prototype for Project Documentation.
* WMC Resources Group Projects: SAP DMS implementation for the effective management of Project Documentation.

Although currently leveraging its South African skills base for the Engineering Informatics Australia business, the South African mother company is launching a priority skills upgrade training programme in Australia, to avoid stretching its skills across two continents.

`The skills upgrade is very important,` says Cells. `The reason the Australian company has been so successful is that we possess skills that are in high demand globally. We have to get those skills over to Australia to make that business optimally efficient.`

Indeed, Engineering Informatics South Africa is busy enough to make use of all the skills it has within the country. The company is currently rolling out projects at the following major South African industrial companies:

* Iscor Flat Steels (Vanderbijlpark)
* Kumba Resources
* PetroSA
* Sappi
* Sasol Polymers/AIP Cluster
* Sastech
* Richards Bay Coal Terminal
* Clariant Southern Africa

So, why is Engineering Informatics enjoying such success, both in South Africa and Australia?

`We realised a good few years ago that companies need to leverage every bit of value from their ERP investment,` says Cells. `In addition, we saw the niche in Enterprise Document Management - we realised that effective flow of information would become critical to companies once they had become operationally efficient with ERP.`

`The upshot is that we have developed skills over the last ten years that are now in high demand in the global sector - particularly in mining, where the players are all globally connected and utilise a common skills resources. There is a big vacuum of skills in this sphere in Australia, and we can fill that vacuum immediately. It`s a great situation for us. The growth potential is enormous, and the rewards are already there in black and white.`