Over the last 10 months, our plans have taken a massive leap forward as we’ve established a Lateral presence in Melbourne, where we are now working with Honda MPE on a key e-procurement system. We came to our client’s assistance, courtesy of a recommendation from our On Demand resourcing partners Computer Skills, when it became clear Honda MPE wouldn’t be able to find suitable IT talent on the east coast.

Honda MPE required a business-critical website upgrade. They needed to enable up to 1,000 dealers to place forward orders six months in advance, generating individual monthly orders in the back-end Movex system and then automatically filling them wherever possible. No mean feat.

Bill Lambert and Peter Heffernan, the man spearheading this ongoing project and our Melbourne presence, have already overseen the successful completion of Phase 1 and Phase 2, which focused on Honda MPE’s Power Equipment, Motorcycle and Parts divisions.

With the new website system up and running, orders that are placed for the current month can be picked, dispatched and invoiced within hours. Since launch, over 4,500 forward orders have been placed via the website. This constitutes 98,000 order lines for 248,000 individual items.

Previously, orders were received via fax and had to be entered manually into the system. Perhaps then, it’s little wonder that the introduction of the new website has directly resulted in improved customer satisfaction. Not only is the system more robust, but it has reduced the burden on Honda’s administrative staff, freeing up more time for them to handle customer queries

It all adds up to another compelling case study for us as we diversify, both geographically and technically.

What’s next for our Melbourne operation? Phase 3 of the project is well underway. Bill and the team are currently working to enhance the look and feel of the whole site, bringing it in line with other Honda websites. And with our Computer Skills alliance going from strength to strength, we’ll be looking to secure more clients in Melbourne and beyond.