Bringing together two organisations under the one roof was a challenge for the business and choosing the right partner was key to its success.

Topaz was keen to assess how technology could enhance and support both the consolidation of HQ personnel and the company’s wider business objectives. Challenges included:

• How to integrate staff into one combined organisation, whilst maintaining process efficiencies and productivity
• How to improve the way in which staff communicate, collaborate, and work together
• How to build on the competitive momentum driven by the merger
• How to support the desired post-amalgamation culture change which the HR department is striving for
• How to efficiently migrate its ERP system from SAP to CODAS
• How to eliminate paper through use PDFs and EDI technology
  

The eircom Advisory Services team was engaged to work with Topaz to provide guidance on a long-term ICT master plan for the newly-enlarged group. Working with senior members of the Topaz management team, eircom assessed and analysed Topaz's core business processes and ICT infrastructure.

"eircom's Advisory Services team were not only focused on the IT angle, they reviewed everything from a business perspective, which was important to us as we moved our combined organisation forward," said Tim Dolphin, Chief Information Officer, Topaz

eircom Advisory Services recommendations at a glance
Topaz believes its future success is highly dependent on its team of people and how they can be supported through technology. Taking into account Topaz's people-centric mission statement, eircom Advisory Services devised a unified communications and collaboration infrastructure strategy. The strategy will enable Topaz to deliver on its core objectives and ensure the group leverages its staff, as well as its ICT infrastructure, to their full potential. Recommendations include:

• An end-to-end Microsoft platform: Topaz had already invested in Microsoft Windows and Active Directory so eircom recommended retaining the Microsoft infrastructure
• An IP-based telephony solution and contact centre application integrated with the Microsoft platform
• Implementation of an IRM (Information Rights Management) client to support intellectual property protection and facilitate a move away from paper
• Development of an organisation-wide staff portal to facilitate e-learning, online collaboration and content management
  

The ICT roadmap recommended by eircom allows Topaz to enhance productivity by making it easier to find, use and share information, as well as making it easier for people to communicate with each other. In the long term being able to implement an electronic trading system and a customer relationship management (CRM) system on its network will improve Topaz's ability to meet customer requirements.

"Our needs were diverse, as we merged our two organisations into one," explained Tim. "We needed expert advice on how to efficiently consolidate our two companies; how to improve our infrastructure, and crucially, how to lay a solid foundation for the future. eircom Advisory Services grouped our needs into a logical package, which took the form of a six-phase process," he continued. "Stage one and two are essentially about laying foundations for the future. We were so satisfied with the Advisory Services team's recommendations that we are currently implementing stage one and two."

Visit our website to find out more about eircom Advisory Services or contact your eircom account manager

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