gen-i Ventures Into Making Businesses Smarter

AUCKLAND, 26 March, 2001 – Geared to providing innovative and smart e-business solutions for clients, Internet Integrator gen-i’s Ventures group announced further growth today with the appointments of Vanessa Abbott-Martin, Malcolm Paul and Brendan Bain.

The Ventures division specialises in building and integrating complex business solutions, internet sites, intranets, extranets, and implements and supports a wide range of e-business & traditional applications. Some of the enabling technologies that the group specialises in include Mobility technology (m-commerce, PDA applications, Wireless, WAP), Content Management, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and leading software development tool sets such as Jade, Visual Basic and Java.

“gen-i Ventures is recognised as providing leading e-business solutions and as having the best people in the market to build and support customised business applications,” says Cherry Vanderbeke, General Manager of the Ventures Group.

“Clients rely on us to make technology fit with their businesses – both strategically and operationally – and we excel in helping them capitalise on the opportunities which technology provides.

“Our strategy of enabling clients to adopt smart technologies for business advantage with relatively low risk means we are being successful where our competitors are struggling,” adds Cherry.

Vanessa Abbott-Martin’s role as a Client Marketing Executive will be to focus on new business development for Ventures. In this position she will be responsible for creating new business, particularly in the areas of content management, knowledge and information management, imaging applications, and internet-enabled solutions.

“Our goal is to assist clients in making their businesses smarter and more competitive,” says Vanessa. “As the majority of our customers want their businesses enabled with leading-edge technology and also their costs managed effectively, we work closely with them to provide tailored solutions.”

Prior to joining gen-i, she was Business Development Manager at Systems Integrator, the Simpl Group.

Brendan Bain is the new Managing Principal for Ventures in Auckland. This role covers responsibility for the management and operations of the group, new business development and successful delivery of IT solutions for clients.

“After experiencing a turbulent year of e-business hype and empty promises, the marketplace wants pragmatic solutions,” says Brendan. “Our focus is to use leading technology to deliver real business results to our clients, which will ultimately improve their competitiveness and customer service.”

Prior to joining gen-i, Brendan was e-Business Manager for Unisys New Zealand. He was involved in creating new business development, rolling out its global e-business strategy into Australasia and also managing its partnership strategy for e-business.

Brendan has also worked for the New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board as a Project Consultant, National Health Service (UK) as a Corporate IT Manager and Tegel Foods as an IS Operations Manager.

Malcolm Paul is the new Principal Architect for the Ventures Group in Auckland. This role requires him to investigate, recommend, integrate and implement new software technologies for clients.

“As an innovative group with flexible solutions, Ventures has the ability to provide clients with insight into the latest IT trends and technology applications, particularly those solutions which are the right size and price for the New Zealand market,” says Malcolm. “For example, we are currently building Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and B2B Mobile/Wireless Computing/Communication solutions for our clients using leading-edge technologies that we have sourced and introduced to New Zealand.”

Before joining gen-i, Malcolm was a Solutions Architect for Unisys, Technical Consultant at Relational Technology International, Technical Support Manager for Save and Prosper Ltd (UK) and also Systems Manager for Ford Motor Company (UK).

Vanessa, Brendan and Malcolm will report to Cherry Vanderbeke.

gen-i is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cullen Investments Limited. gen-i's blue chip clients include Air New Zealand, Department of Corrections, Department of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, National Australia Bank, New Zealand Dairy Board, Simpson Grierson and WestpacTrust.

ENDS

About gen-i
gen-i limited is the first and largest New Zealand-based e-business Internet integrator, focussing on designing, building, implementing and supporting e-business solutions and systems for large corporate customers. With over 400 people at offices in major centres in New Zealand, gen-i extends customer support worldwide – both online and through a network of service partners.

gen-i has four major areas of focus and expertise: Infrastructure, Ventures, Field Force and Procurement. gen-i Infrastructure is geared to providing and supporting all the hardware, software and networks required for today’s e-business – and to achieve that in a number of new ways. gen-i Ventures is an Internet innovation operation geared to providing knowledge and experience in building e-commerce sites, Intranets, extranets and implementing and supporting a wide range of e-business & traditional applications. gen-i Field Force is New Zealand’s leading technology engineering onsite capability, expertly trained and ready to deploy or maintain the country’s leading technology networks. gen-i Procurement provides a fast, easy and cost-effective way to select, purchase, install and maintain office technologies.

Prior to its name change in 2000, gen-i traded successfully for more than 20 years as Wang New Zealand.

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