Systems Union beats Cognos in BI deal

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 05 October 2005 10:00

IT Industry - Deals

Financial and performance management software provider, Systems Union, has beaten Cognos to sell a suite of business intelligence and online reporting solutions to adult education services group, AMES.

Employing 865 people, AMES is a not-for-profit organisation with 19 sites in Victoria, 6 sites in New South Wales, and a turnover of $71 million in 2004. It is Australia's largest provider of specialist multicultural language and employment services and delivers its educational and support services to over 49,000 people every year. The new system will be used at AMES' head office as well as over the company's Intranet to the 25 AMES sites throughout Victoria and NSW.

Previously, AMES used a mixture of systems and applications to manage its financial and operational management. The consolidation and aggregation of data and information from these multiple data sources was handled manually.

Dave Burgos, project manager for AMES said: 'Fundamentally we were looking for an integrated solution approach across our financial and wider management systems that were also cost effective to operate.  More specifically we needed effective technology and tools that would easily integrate with our IT support capability thereby minimising expenses such as skills upgrading and ongoing cost of ownership.'

AMES originally considered 6 business intelligence vendors for the software implementation which included a pilot trial of the software prior to the final decision being made.  Systems Union was short-listed against Cognos and claims it won the deal based on its ability to deliver the exact requirements AMES was looking for in terms of both solution offering and a long term strategic partnership. In addition, Systems Union solutions are closely aligned with Microsoft which was a significant advantage since AMES is familiar with, and uses Microsoft-based systems.

Tony Farrell, CEO for Systems Union Australia, said: 'This is a highly significant win for us, clearly illustrating the scope, breadth and relevance of our business performance solutions offering to a diverse range of users and their exacting information needs."