CLIENT PROFILE
ABOUT TOYOTA FINANCIAL SERVICES (TFS) – NEW ZEALAND
Operating since 1989, TFS has evolved to be the biggest motor vehicle manufacturer-owned finance company in New Zealand. TFS offers vehicle financing, leasing and insurance through the 45 Toyota Dealerships throughout New Zealand.
TFS is a subsidiary of the TFS Corporation based in Japan, part of the giant Toyota global group and one of 31 such subsidiaries globally. The corporation has USD$95 million in assets, providing services to over 11 million customers and employing around 8.000 staff.
THE CHALLENGE:
TOO MANY VENDOR PARTNERS, TOO LITTLE TRANSPARENCY
TFS is a busy organisation where IT manager Chris Poulter was overseeing a complicated multi-faceted I.T. Network. Help desk issues were looked after internally, and a further five third parties were contracted to look after servers and storage, email, security, networks, and services (such as antivirus, patching).
Within this management structure, communication and transparency challenges emerged, whereby issues occurred in one area and filtered ‘around the circuit’ of the third parties. Without ‘visibility’ outside specialised areas, problems which flowed through different parts of the network hit ‘road-blocks’ and took much longer to resolve than they ought to.
It was this headache which led Chris to go to market, looking for a single third party Vendor who could not only manage the day-to-day network management, but take control over the entire network. If problems or issues occurred - they would be dealt with swiftly and professionally by a single party, with a team that had specialist knowledge in different areas of I.T. working together with effective communication and process. Chris wanted issues logged, for future reference and wanted a partner who would act to facilitate issue-resolution if any third party expertise had to be employed.
“What I wanted was a solid Help-Desk support option which was linked directly to ‘multiple’ I.T. expertise” says Chris.
THE SOLUTION:
CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT, TOTAL SUPPORT
Chris embarked on a thorough RFP process seeking a new single I.T. partner in two stages: starting with 7 or 8 possible Vendor partners, Chris whittled down the serious contenders into the second phase of meetings. During this process Chris looked at cost (“…although Origin wasn’t the cheapest!” laughs Chris) but a matrix of other attributes were also required. One of the key elements required was company culture. Toyota globally is premised on two fundamental principles: respect and continuous improvement (‘kaizen’).
“Toward the end of our process it became glaringly obvious that Origin was the right choice as our partner” says Chris. “One of the compelling reasons was the great culture of improvement also at Origin which we noted early on. We made many phone calls and it was clear Origin ‘walked the walk’ and genuinely practised what they preached in their values as well as being the right size to deal with our needs”.
Chris continues “The ONEFEE approach really was the final element that got us – I could explain the costs easily and quickly to the executives here on an operational basis – the easy scalability made it a no-brainer for our Exec to understand”
What confirmed it was Origin Director Michael Russell arranging to meet TFS CEP Brent Knight. “Brett came to me after that meeting” says Chris “ And said ‘I know their Director now, I know about his family, and common friends. This personal contact was huge, that feeling of going ‘shoulder-to-shoulder into battle together’ with I.T. issues”.
THE OUTCOME:
SIMPLE, EASY, PERSONAL
ONEFEE Platinum has enabled Chris to work on big projects (such a virtualisation of the TFS servers) with the Origin Consultants while the day-to-day Network maintenance and monitoring tasks were taken care of by Origin.
“The comfort level of ONEFEE Platinum has been huge” says Chris “Having someone on-site for staff to deal personally with is fantastic. Dialling up capacity when needed is total peace-of-mind for me. When Origin started working with TFS Chris expected to have someone on-site, but to roll them back at some point. “What happened instead” says Chris “Is that we needed someone on-site all the time”.
Chris continues “The Origin Engineers on-site with us...everyone knows them. They have a great relationship with our people, and to the point now where it feels as though they are part of the staff”. He also likes the occasional rotation of the Engineers as it ‘gives us new, vibrant approaches to I.T. issues, rather than getting stuck with one approach all the time’.
The fact that Origin was first to market with a fixed-fee IT management offering in the Auckland market has led to it having today the most evolved and streamlined offerings and cost structures, an advantage not lost on Chris. “ The fact all your competitors are copying you is telling” he says “and we have appreciated that with ONEFEE you know how to deliver just the right cost structure but keep it simple at the same time. I’d sum ONEFEE up in 3 words: Simple. Transparent. Easy”
