Howden Africa Holdings, a member of the Howden Group, has installed Ixchange`s NetChauffeur in a drive to simplify and standardise its in-house and inter-company e-mail messaging system.
The JSE-listed mechanical engineering firm specialises in the design and production of fans, pumps and air filter systems. The company and its subsidiaries provide services to Eskom power stations around the country and hold contracts in a cross-section of electrical, mining and industrial industries.
Anthony Druion, IT manager at Howden Africa, says e-mail is a critical part of the company`s workflow in sending and receiving data to and from its subsidiaries.
"Our business is geared towards electronic communications," says Druion. "E-mail is widely accepted by the network of companies we deal with day in and day out. It`s our primary form of communication."
The company`s production turnaround time has been significantly reduced since e-mail became commonplace at head office in Booysens. "Working in and around Johannesburg`s mine dumps makes the delivery of drawings on computer disks both slow and unreliable," says Druion. "We rely on generating AutoCAD DXF files at head office, and e-mailing them across to our laser cutting mills where our parts and machinery are produced."
Howden wanted a messaging product that could bridge multiple operating systems without incurring the cost of a permanent leased line. The company recently upgraded its Unix-based UCP system to a mixed NetWare and Windows NT environment, and discarded its Pegasus mail client in favour of the advanced scheduling and messaging features of Microsoft Outlook.
"Not only did NetChauffeur merge seamlessly with our existing systems, but it scaled to meet our users` needs," says Druion. "We have 50 users on our system, but it doesn`t matter if we had five or 75. NetChauffeur grows with us as and when we need it."
Electronic material, including drawings, word processor documents and spreadsheet files, is delivered almost exclusively by e-mail. "Manual delivery is too clumsy, and faxing not efficient," says Druion.
NetChauffeur is part of a range of facilities that have standardised the production workflow at Howden Africa. "It is completely integrated with our system, and maximises the features of our e-mail and messaging clients and servers," Druion concludes.
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