Feds select Fujitsu for business reporting program

Peter Dinham
Tuesday, 25 August 2009 08:49

IT Industry - Deals

The Treasury has selected Fujitsu to supply and support software for the federal government’s Standard Business Reporting (SBR) initiative which has been launched by the government as part of its strategy to reduce the regulatory reporting burden on Australian businesses.

Fujitsu Australia says it will supply and support Interstage XWand software – a custom technology development by Fujitsu Japan – for the SBR in an initial two-year contract valued at around $4 million.
 
Fujitsu Australia, group executive director, federal government, Michael Blake, said today the Interstage XWand software is available to be used by both government agencies and software developers to produce XBRL enabled financial applications that will reduce the business reporting burden for Australian businesses.

Blake claimed SBR would simplify business-to-government reporting and save Australian businesses around $800 million annually when fully implemented.

According to Blake, Fujitsu was selected to deliver its customised technology as Fujitsu represented “the best value-for-money solution, and demonstrated a willingness to work flexibly with the SBR Program to assist achieve its goals.” He said Fujitsu’s in-country development and support capability provided by Fujitsu Australia Software Technology (FAST) was a key driver of the success of the initiative.

 Blake said FAST was the first Fujitsu software development organisation to be located outside of Japan, with FAST staff including systems & enterprise application integrators, software designers and developers, solution architects and project managers.

“FAST software development expertise extends across Internet, open source and mainframe environments, providing unique e-business services,” Blake said, adding that Fujitsu was “excited to be exploring new business opportunities to leverage our footprint with the SBR project and to further assist operational efficiencies for all Australian businesses.”