Agribusiness group Elders will consider the business case for “wave two” of a systems modernisation program in June or July, which will establish a “single platform across the business”.
Managing director and CEO Mark Allison told investors that “wave one” of the modernisation - which has seen the company implement Workday and Adobe Experience Manager - is “largely completed”.
He characterised the implementation as “really great”, but said the bigger package of work is in the coming “wave two”.
“Each wave will have its own business case with its own sign-off,” he said, adding that wave two’s business case would come before the board “around June or July”.
A slide deck [pdf] described technologies including “Elders intranet” and Dynamics 365 as being “en route” - it wasn’t immediately clear if this is part of what will form wave two.
The deck notes that a full statement of work is still being finalised with an unnamed systems integrator; about $800,000 in capex related to wave two was recognised in Elders’ half-year results.
Aside from improving cost and capital efficiency, the systems modernisation is expected to deliver an enhanced customer experience, “cyber security and cloud technologies”, as well as mobile and digital enablement for employees.
“The systems modernisation project will be setting a very significant growth platform through FY24, FY25, FY26 and onward,” Allison said.
Elsewhere in the slides, the modernisation is described as a “generational investment” in IT, and one that also encompasses analytics and a data lake.
The modernisation is one of eight ‘points’ or components of a broader ‘FY24 Eight Point Plan’ that Elders is progressing.
Elders reported a statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) for the half of $48.8 million, which was 46.5 percent down on the prior corresponding period.
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