Positive signs in IT management

By Adam Gifford

INFORMATION technology outsourcer Comtex is getting a slow but promising response to its new assets management and human resources divisions.

"People understand about getting someone else to handle their IT, but they say 'I know how to do property management' or 'I can do HR'," says David Fullarton, head of assets management.

That confidence might be misplaced in the coming business environment, as technology and the Internet change everything, including where and how people work.

Mr Fullarton comes to Comtex (formerly Team Comtex) after a long career in civil engineering, managing projects and consulting for Worley Group, broken by a short spell on secondment as general manager of the Housing Corporation.

It was that experience which convinced him there were smarter ways to manage assets.

He says some British firms are already shifting into full-service outsourcing, and there is a natural fit between IT, HR and asset management.

"Companies, if they are looking to improve on the bottom line, need to look to some of those non-core service costs.

"Having your own resources in some of those areas means you have to cover the overheads, and you are not getting the learning from other companies which an outsourcer can offer."

Mr Fullarton says Comtex will be able to offer a more strategic vision.

"Too often companies will reengineer their business but not look at the property needs that creates. They end up with not enough property or too much."

Comtex managing director Murray McCaw says progress is positive.

The IT side of the business now employs 260 people, 48 more than at the start of the year.

"We have 16 people in HR outsourcing. We haven't sold any major outsource deals yet, just a couple of small ones, but we're starting to do pieces of work which will lead to an outsourced environment in time," Mr McCaw says.

"HR is no different than IT. You start by building up trust in areas of technical weakness clients may have."

HR specialist Esther Livingston has been brought in to run the new division.

Mr McCaw says the HR requirements of many companies now need wider and deeper skills than they can maintain in-house.

Outsourcing, he says, is "business enablement - we do the non-core stuff and enable companies to do their core business."

Like other companies in the IT sector, Comtex has gone from providing technology or keeping it running to "being in the knowledge business ourselves.

"We are using information for our customers' competitive advantage. When you look at that and say how do you do that, the key is not only proper IT but good HR systems. People become a key component in the way knowledge is used and the way companies interact with the market place."

To keeping the highly-skilled and mobile staff needed to stay competitive, he says, Comtex has developed good HR policies which are proving transportable.

Among Comtex IT clients are the Nurses Association, tourism business Totally Wellington, Health Benefits Ltd, tomato grower Cedenco and Creative New Zealand, along with a number of HR and recruiting firms.