THE SITUATION
Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) has a far reaching responsibility to ensure that the maritime environment is safe and serves a wide range of customers ranging from large bulk carriers to recreational craft, yachties, adventure tourism operators and more.
The scope of customer interactions is vast, and MNZ was stymied by the failing capabilities and costs of maintaining its 10 year-old legacy IT systems that could not be made to be internet facing. NZ made a decision and commitment to make a strategic investment in the organisation’s IT landscape, and embarked on selecting preferred vendors with expertise to partner them on their IT roadmap, appropriately named “the Poseidon programme.”
THE PAIN
Operating on legacy systems that lacked the tools to analyse their business, MNZ set a clear business direction to refresh their IT capabilities right across their whole business.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM - the first step to business intelligence
MNZ’s core requirement was to put a strong CRM platform in place to provide an accurate and robust customer database. After dismissing a custom-build approach, MNZ made a strategic decision to go with a Microsoft CRM package that could provide an immediate platform, with the capability of delivering broader customer functionality in the future. MNZ’s then information systems manager, Peter de Wit, says their selection of partner was made based on Intergen’s proven track record and size in the market place.
“Intergen demonstrated considerable strengths around development and creativity. With a significant name in the market, they were more flexible and more dynamic. They showed they could respond to our needs, and recognised that this project was central to our whole programme of projects.”
The Microsoft CRM platform went live in June and as a single consolidated customer database, it has given MNZ the advantage of analysing and interrogating information in a much more dynamic manner. As such, it supports a vast array of MNZ’s business contact points, including, for example, the registration of ships, seafaring qualifications, vessel management, ships inspections and search and rescue.
Hundreds of customer interactions occur on a daily basis, and quality, timely and accurate data is essential. Monthly reporting is now more analytical and business performance more measurable. With Microsoft CRM now in place, it will be a launching point to assist MNZ in undertaking more predictive business analysis in the future.
The Poseidon Project is a voyage of discovery
As Microsoft CRM cements the foundations of a strong and scalable business intelligence platform, it is the first of about 20 projects under the Poseidon strategy. MNZ will continue to leverage their IT investment, and the next year will see further business streams of work come into play, the first of which will be a safe shipping management project. Intergen business development manager, Paul Murray, says it is fitting to use the term ‘voyage’ to describe the Poseidon programme. “For the past two years, Intergen has been working with the team at MNZ. Maritime’s ability to provide a clear and accurate business direction and their energy for the project has allowed us to partner with their team extremely effectively. We look forward to the next phase of the Poseidon programme, when the Maritime team will see even greater benefits from their technology choices.”
THE GAIN
No champagne smashed across the bow, but the Microsoft CRM platform has launched successfully, and MNZ now has a robust customer database and a core business intelligence platform to leverage from.