Private sector project of the year - the shortlist

The private sector for the 2008 Computing Awards is revealed

The Private Sector Project of the Year shortlist

Zurich Life UK

A new e-business system is cutting costs and boosting productivity at Zurich Life UK, where online applications including profiling and tax planning tools support sales processes and help financial advisers meet regulatory requirements. Half of new business is now submitted online, compared with none six months ago, while the time taken to issue business has been reduced by five days. Registered users hit 10,800 at the end of 2007, compared with a target of 3,000.

Waitrose

Supermarket chain Waitrose has revamped its forecasting methods to improve customer demand predictions, enabling it to supply the right products in the right areas at the right time. While the previous system was adequate for routine forecasting, it could not provide sufficient accuracy for promotions and events. The new forecasting system, which was successfully tested over the critical Christmas period, has reduced stock holding, store amendments and food waste, improving service to customers and delivering financial benefits for the business.

Taylor Woodrow

Property giant Taylor Woodrow has rolled out Google Apps to 1,800 employees, as part of a plan to modernise its working culture. Applications are provided through cloud computing and can be accessed from any device or location. Data backup and storage have also been moved to the cloud, and email capacity has been increased to 25GB per user. The project is expected to save around £1m over three years, and allows the organisation to better estimate future costs.

Red Bull Racing

Following an upgrade of its IT systems, Formula One team Red Bull Racing’s processing power was still under strain. So the group worked with supplier Platform Computing to implement a system that could intelligently manage and accelerate workload processing for applications such as aerodynamics testing. The system can identify IT resources across the company and incorporate them into a virtual cluster and deploy them elsewhere. “The system helps optimise design to reduce the drag the cars create on the track,” said Red Bull’s Nathan Sykes.”

Citi UK Consumer

Citi’s UK consumer team moved the entire banking structure of online bank Egg from Dudley to a new location in Derby, to create a flexible infrastructure for the entire organisation, allowing Citi and Egg to run as a single unit. Citi’s biggest single IT project in Europe for 10 years included the migration of 35 services across 80 servers, such as core databases, 400 banking systems and 280 file transfers, and the introduction of efficient blade servers to reduce environmental impact.

National Australia Group

National Australia Group has built a new second datacentre, undergoing a “lift and shift” migration that involved powering off equipment and services at the previous 15-year-old site and transferring them to the new facility. Over 790 devices were moved over a long weekend, following re-tracking and re-cabling of all equipment. The project was completed six months early and 10 per cent below its initial £40m budget.

Lewis Silkin

Driven by the legal sector’s critical need to protect sensitive information, Lewis Silkin worked with supplier Workshare to upgrade its document management system and improve network security, making sure the solution could integrate with its Microsoft environment. The project allows budget surpluses to be re-allocated to other strategic IT projects, while reducing the need for additio nal tools. Individual usage rights can be defined at document level, determining whether users can access, copy, print or forward information, and enhanced document control and security reduces the chances of information being leaked.

Farnell

Electronics distributor Farnell has offered its newly-developed i-Buy purchasing system free of charge to all customers, improving cost control and visibility, while reducing administration. The system, designed and implemented by Farnell, integrates with the firm’s recently-enhanced web site and can be tailored by users to meet their individual needs. Customers benefit from enhanced efficiency, as functions allow purchasing managers to set user spend limits and monitor spending by user or department.