International aid organisation Austraining International has turbocharged its information systems infrastructure since selecting Vectra Corporation as its technology partner in early 2009.

In the words of its external auditors, Austraining had previously run “Ferrari technology” that delivered “Volkswagen performance” due to constraints imposed by internal IT support services.

Since Vectra got behind the wheel of its IT systems, Austraining has achieved significant productivity improvements including greater website uptime, easier remote access, reduced downtime from unplanned disruptions and standardised solutions to problems that were previously handled individually.

Austraining Chief Operating Officer Ray Ash indicated that IT costs had reduced since Vectra came on board. “We’re making the best use of our infrastructure now,” he said.

“Rather than a big cost increase through the need to buy extra servers, there have been efficiencies and savings.”

Austraining International www.austraiining.com.au  is a specialist project management and international development organisation that manages bilateral and multilateral projects throughout the Asia Pacific, the Middle East and most recently Africa.

The commercially funded organisation, which is owned by the South Australian Government, employs about 60 people in its head office in Adelaide and has 21 international offices including Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Cambodia.

Each year, the Adelaide-based company is involved with managing 400 Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development and 250 international development volunteers to work overseas on international aid projects. It also manages about 1000 scholarships a year that enable students from other countries to study in Australia with some 150 students travelling from Australia to overseas countries.

Mr. Ash said Austraining had outsourced its IT support to Vectra after recognising that it needed access to a broader skill base to manage its technology infrastructure successfully. “Our main reason for selecting Vectra was that we wanted an organisation that would understand our business,” he said.

“We do things that are a bit unique in the IT area, so we needed an IT partner that was able to respond and to be flexible. We needed someone with the time and expertise to understand our business and to help us implement our business solutions.”

Vectra’s role with Austraining requires it to set up and manage the company’s IT infrastructure including communications for staff located at offshore offices.

Mr. Ash said Vectra had been very responsive. “It has been a big improvement,” he said. “We had been told by an external auditor that we had a Ferrari system operating as a Volkswagen – Vectra has boosted that performance substantially.

“When you do it internally, resources are limited. Vectra can supply the resources needed to get jobs done in the timeframe we are looking for. Vectra was very good at streamlining our IT infrastructure. The first thing it did was audit and restructure our systems.

“We are now getting better performance from our websites and remote access while Vectra has designed standardised corporate solutions for a lot of problems where we previously had individualised solutions.

“As well as significantly reduced downtime, Vectra has improved our ability to respond to changes in the international environment and this is happening in agreed timeframes.”

For more information about Vectra Corporation, visit www.vectra-corp.com.

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