IT niche leader puts his faith in Kiwi know-how

By VICKI JAYNE

Julian Beavis is a refreshing antidote to the nervous navel-gazing that breaks out whenever some New Zealand corporate announces its imminent transtasman takeoff - as debt collector Baycorp did last week.

That is because he not only believes that growth overseas can be driven from New Zealand, he is busy doing it.

Amid warnings that we need to scatter financial incentives before fickle corporate feet if we are to avoid seeing New Zealand's knowledge wave break on distant shores, he offers proof of our existing competitive advantages.

When appointed vice-president for Australia/New Zealand of Teradata Solutions Group - a division of the $US6 billion ($13.72 billion) corporation NCR - he was happy to buck the westward drift, opting to run the Australasian division from NCR's Auckland office.

It was a deliberate choice and one he has not regretted since taking on the task. There has been a lot of travel but that has not fazed him.

"It's seen as a relatively big deal here, but there are plenty of people working in the United States who regularly travel several hours a day, commuting between different states."

Beavis has notched up more than 40 transtasman flights in the past year, overseeing an operation that spans offices in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Auckland and Wellington. The enterprise employs 140 people, with another 60 to be hired before the end of the year.

As a knowledge-based business, its success rests more on people than on location.

"When you look at our business and what we are trying to achieve, the key to us being successful is the calibre of the people we employ. They are what gives the company its competitive advantage."

He says that is true across the IT industry as companies become highly focused niche foragers.

Success depended on picking the right niche and being good at it.

"That comes down to how clever your people are and no one has a monopoly on clever people. If anything, New Zealand is well endowed compared to other places."

The niche Teradata Solutions mines is data. Spun off as a separate division of NCR last year, it combines a powerful data warehouse with advanced analytical applications for such areas as customer relations or business performance management.

It provides the know-how to knit disparate data strands into new patterns of knowledge that companies can use to make decisions, expand services or drive growth.

New Zealanders have proved good at this.

"Years back I went with a New Zealand retailer customer to a retailer in America.

"Because the New Zealander was responsible for the whole thing, he could talk intelligently about every function involved in a particular system.

"In America, there was a different person for every function. There was no one person with an overview of how all the bits fitted together."

Beavis says it is a mark of faith in local know-how that New Zealand had been asked to make the first worldwide installations of new data-warehousing systems.

"I see it as a big compliment from [parent company] NCR that they are prepared to let that happen so far from major centres in Europe."

His own history with the company probably helps. He joined just after graduation 16 years ago and found plenty of challenge under the same corporate roof.

"My role has changed significantly every two years or so - different parts of the business, different countries.

"The letterhead may be the same, but this place is nothing like it was three years ago, which is nothing like it was three years before that."

His decision to make living in New Zealand a condition of his new role with NCR was based on various reasons.

He had not long returned to the country, there was a new house being built and a new arrival in the family. It was also a choice that could be made.

Distance was no longer a hurdle. Technology-wise, the company had a good internal network, ensuring that Beavis has ready access to the same desktop wherever he is.

Beavis suggests that New Zealanders have to work harder than their Australian counterparts.

Could that be why there is a growing network of them in management roles across the Ditch? - a migration that did have an upside.

"The fact that wherever you go in Aussie there are New Zealanders in senior management positions is quite handy for us because it gives us another in," he says.

Besides, many of the migrants did return.

"I know it's a bit of a cliche, but people are coming back here to raise their kids.

"I can think of at least half a dozen extremely well-paid professionals who have returned in the past six months for that reason."

Lifestyle was definitely a driver in his decision to stay.

He says Auckland has to be one of the few Western cities where it is possible to live on a lifestyle block just 25 minutes' drive from the office.

"That's another reason for not moving. We needed space for the horse - and a few sheep.

"A lifestyle block gives you a great alternative to plane travel and wearing a suit.

"I like the chance to get into some physical work outside. It's very grounding."

* vjayne@iconz.co.nz