Datacom 'well-kept secret' of IT

By Michael Foreman

Datacom, with more than 1000 full-time staff and with revenue running at about $200 million annually, lays claim to being New Zealand's largest native IT company.

Lately it's also claiming to be the country's biggest Web development house.

Greg Davidson, general manager of internet development for the Datacom Systems division, said the company was a well-kept secret in the New Zealand IT business.

"There are about three or four organisations in New Zealand that get a bit of press about the internet work they do - Terabyte, Clearview, Glazier and Webmasters - but I'd say that we would be the largest developer of Web applications in the country."

Mr Davidson joined Datacom Systems in early 1998 after leaving Terabyte, where he had been technical director for five years. He now heads a team of 31 developers including programmers and HTML and graphics specialists based in Auckland.

Roughly two-thirds of Datacom's 250 system developers are engaged in internet development work of all kinds, ranging from simple Web sites through intranets to highly transactional applications that use the Web as the delivery mechanism. Web customers include Telecom Directories, law firm David Forman and racehorse pedigree specialist Arion.

"Until recently, apart from one or two medium-sized companies, Web development has been dominated by small outfits," said Mr Davidson.

"Corporate players haven't really understood Web development but it's in the mainstream of application development now."

Systems and Services are the two main divisions of the Datacom group. Services primarily provides helpdesk fulfilment with about 30 IT clients such as Microsoft, Electronic Arts and Compaq.

For Microsoft, Datacom runs helpdesks in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, and it has recently been awarded a contract to represent the company in Hong Kong. Microsoft is the main reason for Datacom's offshore presence, with roughly a quarter of Datacom's total staff now based overseas. The Services group also encompasses Datacom Employer Services, which provides payroll and human resources services and business outsourcing.

Datacom Systems includes an engineering division, which counts among its contracts maintenance for Compaq computers. It also runs IT for Fletcher Challenge Corporate, New Zealand Post and Telecom Directories. The company has established secure data centres in Auckland and in Wellington with a further facility about to open in Sydney.

The diversity of IT business has enabled Datacom Systems to build up its Web expertise by carrying out development for various operations within the group. An example of this is a soon-to-be-launched service from Datacom Employer Services that is tentatively called e-Pay. Aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, e-Pay lets firms process their payroll online.

"It's similar to what we have been doing as a traditional payroll bureau for years," said Mr Davidson.

"It will allow businesses to log detailed information about the hours their employees worked and how much they should be paid. It's quite difficult to keep up with all the legislation and IRD rules, so I think this system where people can come and access all this via the Web is quite a compelling alternative."

Like most in the IT industry, Mr Davidson said the main limit to Datacom's growth was finding good people and retaining them.

So is demand exceeding Datacom's ability to supply it?

"No, we haven't had to turn down business, but that's largely because we've got such a big workforce. Mind you, if we went out there pro-actively and shouted about ourselves a bit more ... it might be a different ball game."