Certus has been awarded Supreme Winner at the IBM New Zealand 2012 Business Partner Awards for the implementation of the country’s first integration of IBM Maximo Spatial Asset Management with GIS software. The customer was Westpower, an electricity distribution business on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island.

Director Maarten van der Zeyden says the award recognises a highly effective collaboration between Certus and Westpower, based on a shared understanding of the business outcomes required.

“We really value this award because winning it required more than just an understanding of the IBM technology employed. It demonstrates what we see as our most important point of difference. That is, how we build on and leverage our IBM technology skills by understanding our customer's business and the business outcomes required, and working closely with the customer as part of a joint team to deliver a real business solution,” van der Zeyden says.

“Great solutions require great customers. What Westpower has achieved – with some help from us – is truly industry-leading in the ANZ region. They’re responsible for maintaining secure electricity supply involving assets scattered around 17,500 kilometres of some of the most rugged and remote areas of New Zealand’s West Coast. The work we’ve done together has resulted in highly optimised maintenance, repair and operations processes. Spatial data, assets, financial data, work orders, job costing, service requests – all are integrated into a single asset management plan, with real time monitoring and management to ensure the plan is completed on time and on budget throughout the year.

“This is a great achievement by Westpower, and one which is being watched with interest by the wider utilities industry across the region,” van der Zeyden says.

The IBM New Zealand Business Partner of the Year Awards are sponsored by Reseller News. Read their story about Certus and the Westpower project here.