Integrating disparate systems and software from companies it had acquired presented one CIO with the inevitable task of trying to figure out how to pull it all together.

Nick Brown, CIO at building product, earthmoving tyres and automative parts marketeer Alesco Corporation, said it was a massive challenge.

Brown said Alesco had identified that the SAP platform that Parbury Building Products was running--it purchased Parbury in early 2000--was the most stable for the growth it was trying to achieve for the business. "[We were] trying to use technology as a marketing aid, plus it had the supply chain functionality built into it," Brown said.

Parbury had been running SAP, so Alesco decided to upgrade to mySAP Supply Chain Management (SCM). This included the rollout of advanced planning and optimisation, and business warehouse modules, which the company hoped would improve the efficiency of its entire supply chain.

"All our business units faced increasing competition on the one hand, and customer demands on the other hand," Brown said. "The only way for us to stay competitive and maintain our leadership in our niche markets was to have efficient production and business operations."

Parts of Alesco's business have already gone live, with rollouts in other divisions due to be completed either this week or early September. "I think the major challenge is actually ascertaining the business processes required, and then applying SAP to those," Brown said.

With a relatively small team--a permanent staff of eight and consultants when needed--Brown said it's been a major IT project for the IT team.

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