Export Award For Inventive Wellington Employer

Thursday 2 May

Export Award For Inventive Wellington Employer - The Sysdoc Group

Inventive Wellington business the Sysdoc group has won a Trade New Zealand Export Award for increasing annual exports from zero to $10 million in two years.

Media are invited to attend the presentation of the Sysdoc group Trade New Zealand Export Award by the Minister of Commerce the Hon. Paul Swain, on Thursday 2 May, at 11.15am, at Level 5, 195-201 Willis St, Wellington. The Export Awards are sponsored by DHL Worldwide Express.

Founder and Director Katherine Corich says Sysdoc is a knowledge management company that has services which rapidly improve clients’ efficiency and profitability.

“We capture, manage and disseminate a company’s intellectual property – all the information that might be in people’s heads, books, manuals and computers, and come up with a simple way of organising it so that the people who use it become more productive.

“We also help clients implement practical process improvements throughout their organisations. We have a very pragmatic model that brings quick wins and business benefits for the client.”

Ms Corich says Sysdoc is winning business against much bigger competitors through a combination of top calibre staff and expertise in knowledge management, business process improvement and learning approaches.

“Very few organisations combine all three areas of consultancy expertise to offer clients’ integrated services and solutions. That gives Sysdoc a real competitive advantage.”

Sysdoc’s blue-chip clients include the likes of Telecom, Carter Holt Harvey, IBM, Britain’s Cable and Wireless (with partner IBM), Railtrack UK and ICL in the Netherlands.

Ms Corich says the key to Sysdoc’s export success is its staff. She says its inventive and award-winning human resources model enables the company to attract and retain the best people in the industry.

“Our staff can vary hours in any month depending on what projects are on and a very high percentage of staff work part time so they can spend more time with their families. A bonus structure is designed to motivate the individual – some take extra leave, others opt for more money. Recently a number have taken three month sabbaticals to complete a goal, including climbing in the Andes, kayaking in the Grand Canyon or hiking around Canada. Permanent staff are also given a fully paid overseas holiday every two years.

“I wanted a business that was based around family values and encourage all staff to have balance in their lives – if they do they are much more effective employees.”

Ms Corich says managing multiple international projects, flexible staff and a high percentage of part-timers take significant time and resources, but she says the benefits outweigh the negatives.

“Our business is only successful if we are out there doing chargeable work, but we find that people are as productive working four days as when they work five. Our skilled teams have proven that we can develop information two times faster than the industry standard.

“We provide quality innovative ideas and solutions for our clients, but we are very flexible around that, so we can usually come up with a solution that fits the client’s timeframe or budget.”

Trade New Zealand Account Manager Richard Hall congratulated Sysdoc on its Export Award win.

“Sysdoc is a specialist consulting firm led by an innovative director who has built the organisation from scratch. A commitment to customer satisfaction means the business delivers real value to its clients.

“The company’s ‘triple R’ marketing strategy focuses on repeat business, referrals and references – a strategy that has provided strong and steady growth in New Zealand and internationally.”

Established by Katherine Corich in 1987, Sysdoc started exporting its services in 1999.
She explains the decision to expand into export was three fold.

“Part of it was risk mitigation. We were very focused in New Zealand with three or four major clients and we wanted to mitigate our risk if there is a downturn in the New Zealand economy,” says Ms Corich.

“We also had a lot of staff who wanted to do their OE and we thought instead of them going overseas and Sysdoc losing that intellectual property forever, we could have projects for them to work on so they’d get work experience as well as do whatever else they wanted to do. We are countering the Kiwi braindrain. Initial market investigation was also indicating a strong international demand for Sysdoc’s services.”

“A key focus has also been building our New Zealand operation to support and provide the infrastructure for continued expansion overseas,” says Robyn Williams, CEO of the Sysdoc group.

Sysdoc set up a permanent UK operation in 2000 and opened an Australian office last year. Future plans include increasing its Australian business and leveraging off its success in the UK to expand into Continental Europe.

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