Europe`s second largest Internet service provider (ISP), Tiscali, is using leading South African IT services company, IOCORE, for a rapid roll-out of Oracle Financials at its branches throughout Europe.
IOCORE, one of SA`s leading IT services companies, was Oracle`s first applications reseller in this country and the first company in Africa to be certified as an Oracle Application Partner for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
According to Debbie Hill, IOCORE`s director, the Enterprise Business Systems (EBS), says the deal goes back to 1998, when IOCORE was commissioned by VodacomInternet Company - which soon thereafter became World Online - to implement Oracle Financials.
The successful project led to IOCORE being further contracted to work on a similar assignment for World Online in the Netherlands, in September 1999. When Sardinian-based Tiscali bought out World Online early this year, it took over the IOCORE contract. The entire contract will amount to approximately three million euros by December.
Says Hill: "The past two years have been a period of intense growth; first for World Online, which was already on an ISP buy-out mission in various countries throughout Europe, and then for Tiscali, which took over with a similar goal of growth through acquisitions."
Between January and December 2000, IOCORE had implemented, on behalf of World Online, Oracle Financial 11.0.3 modules including General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Purchase Orders, Fixed Assets, Order Entry, Inventories and Cash Management modules, in 10 European countries.
IOCORE`s staff moved to Italy in February 2001, after the Tiscali take-over. It continues to assist Tiscali in the integration of its operations into a manageable platform, based on Oracle Financials. The work involves database conversions, integration of existing systems, new implementations, and implementation of additional functionality in all the branches.
It is aimed that by the end of this year, IOCORE will have completed implementations in Tiscali operations across 15 European countries.
IOCORE is also one of Oracle`s FastForward partners in SA, providing small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with an opportunity to quickly implement comprehensive e-business solutions at predictable costs. According to Hill, IOCORE has conducted the implementations using what she calls a `hybrid Fast Forward approach`, based on the common finance model built for Tiscali. The company has succeeded in having each new office up and running within three months.
Hill comments: "The project has not been without its challenges - not only from the viewpoint of having to interface with a host of different Oracle consulting firms, languages, cultures and localised legal requirements."
From a technology perspective, IOCORE`s main challenge was to create a standardised finance model within each of the Tiscali branches.
"The individual systems in place at the branches were highly fragmented, with each branch adhering to their own business models, and with their own approach to accounting procedures, billing and other aspects of financial management.
"In what is called the Unit project, we are now trying to align and standardise them all into a unified financial system that will enable Tiscali to optimally manage its group-wide operations," she says.
Using Oracle`s multi-org functionality and by the sharing of value sets, IOCORE has been able to innovatively address local and international management and legal requirements, while ensuring standardisation across the organisation.
"We are hoping that by the end of this year, all reporting will similarly be done in Oracle, which is where the real value will be felt. We are currently working on building on a chart of accounts using value sets, which will assist us in this aim."
Hill believes that the successful project is as much a tribute to IOCORE`s people skills, as it is to its capabilities on the technology front. She explains: "Our role has extended beyond that of technical partner, to embrace issues such as creating a sustainable user pool.
"Within the 15 countries, we are grouping together key users within a region to be able to interface with each other; for example, Norway, Denmark, Sweden in the Nordic region; and the Benelux countries - Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands - in another. Tiscali`s offices in France and the UK are also encouraged to help each other.
"In this way, we try to spread experience throughout the group," she says.
"With all the changes in the group over the past three years, IOCORE has remained the one constant, which will assist us greatly as we move from a system implementation role, more into a support role," she concludes.
The contract is being jointly managed by IOCORE`s Cape Town and Johannesburg Offices
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