Holistics Information Solutions

When Hollie McDowell and Ross McConnell returned to New Zealand from their OE in 2004, they set about creating a global research and information solutions business that leveraged Hollie’s relationship with Microsoft and the expertise she had gained while working overseas.

The couple launched Holistics Information Solutions Ltd in Auckland after successfully convincing Microsoft UK to outsource their licensing profiling business to New Zealand.

Licence profiling is essentially the process of establishing a company’s software licence position to help them implement more effective Software Asset Management (SAM) processes. 

“It’s actually quite a complex process,” says Holistics CEO Ross McConnell, “given that large, multinational corporations can purchase their software licences in hundreds of different names in different parts of the world and through a variety of purchasing arrangements. It can be very hard for both Microsoft and their customers to keep track of.

“We research the structure of the companies worldwide and pull together a full picture of their organisational hierarchy and use that to create a comprehensive licensing picture. Over the past few years we’ve done this for literally tens of thousands of companies, including many of the largest and most complex organisations in the world.”

For the past three years Holistics has been Microsoft’s major provider of licence profiling services worldwide. Its strategy has been to secure the largest possible share of the global market for this niche service; to do this it has recruited a multi-lingual research team that can respond to service requests from literally anywhere in the world.

Mr McConnell says there’s no single qualification Holistics looks for when recruiting staff, but what they must have is a meticulous approach to research and an excellent eye for detail.

In the last 18 months Holistics has extended its services to support a broader range of Microsoft SAM activities worldwide. This has been undertaken in collaboration with Accordo Group, another New Zealand provider working in the SAM space.

“Together with Accordo we have already secured SAM projects in Latin America, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong. It’s great that two New Zealand companies are working so closely together to secure opportunities around the world.”

Mr McConnell says SAM is a growth area, and done effectively helps companies save money, reduces the risk of non-compliance and increases return on their software investment.

“Hollie was fortunate to work with some of the leading pioneers in SAM while we were based in the UK, and we’ve managed to transfer that experience back to New Zealand to create a successful global business. We hope that Holistics’ story will encourage other Kiwi professionals around the world to try the same.”

Holistics now delivers its services to countries in every continent, with exports on track to approach $3 million again this year.

The majority of sales growth to date has been generated through repeat business and customer referrals from its Microsoft client network.

Holistics managers travel around the world several times a year to meet with Microsoft customers and ensure they are fulfilling their changing needs. It has also recently transferred a senior team member from New Zealand to Microsoft’s US headquarters in a liaison role.

As well as extending its services in SAM, Holistics is looking for other opportunities to leverage its multinational research team, and sees great potential in industries such as market research, insurance and finance.

Only four of Holistics’ 25 staff are New Zealanders, the rest are New Zealand migrants, originating from all over the globe, including Russia, China, Belgium, Argentina, Japan and France.

“If you want to operate internationally, I really believe you need to find a way to employ people from different parts of the world,” Mr McConnell advises. “Our multi-lingual, multicultural team has been a huge factor in our success, allowing us to respond to opportunities from all over the world. We’re looking for more industries and opportunities that will utilise their talents and abilities.”

He says building an export business demands a lot of sacrifices, particularly in terms of the time you have to spend away from home travelling to make sure business is secure or to respond to new opportunities.

“But the satisfaction of having built an international export team from New Zealand makes it all worthwhile. And there’s also the financial reward - we’ve found a way to live in New Zealand and earn Pounds, Euros and US dollars, which was an obvious motivation when we were getting things started.”

Contact: Ross McConnell, CEO, Holistics Information Solutions, phone 09 309 3183, email ross@holistics.co.nz, www.holistics.co.nz