CIO 100: Genesis Energy

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GENESIS ENERGY IS New Zealand’s largest electricity and gas retailer, with a diversified electricity generation portfolio and an investment in the Kupe oil and gas fi eld.

Genesis Energy has 643,721 customer accounts, which ref lects the continuing growth of the Energy Online brand and the steady growth of its electricity and LPG business. Energy Online has grown into a national provider with more than 80,000 customers.

The company says it is investing in and driving end-to end digital business models that meet customers’ needs through their digital channels of choice, and supported by a ‘hands off’ digital back office that delivers efficiency.

This ‘digital by default’ focus is a major factor for the ICT projects it will pursue this year.

Genesis Energy has also appointed Shayne Tong, formerly of Fletcher Building, as interim CIO. He took over from Chris Trigg, who is now with Southern Cross Health Society as Head of Information Systems and Business Transformation.

Trigg, who was interviewed for this year’s CIO100 profile of Genesis Energy, says major business technology projects in the next 12 months are a CRM implementation, build-out of a new integration platform, a move to IaaS, continuing the implementation of a digital strategy and a focus on end-user computing including Windows 10 and enterprise mobility.

This year, its ICT team will be working on at least 10 per cent more projects compared to 2015, says Trigg, with a focus on building a strong foundation capability and executing digital initiatives.

Trigg says ICT’s work on the Customer Excellence Centre environment has been of significant focus resulting in improved customer experience and more automated business processes. The rollout of new customer-facing mobile apps have delivered immense benefits with a reduction in customer calls and creating a friction-free experience for customers.

Agility and speed of deployment, managing complexity (systems/apps) and moving to digital platforms are some of the challenges the team will face in the year ahead, says Trigg.