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Icon Film Distribution (IFD) is part of the group which includes Icon Productions, the independent production company founded in 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson to finance his production of Hamlet. Since then it has become a leading distributor of independent films and DVDs in Australia and New Zealand, including Bend it Like Beckham, Slumdog Millionaire and Knowing. In September 2008, IFD entered the exhibition business by purchasing Dendy one of Australia’s largest independent film distributors and quality cinema chains. Overnight IFD Australia expanded from 1 to 5 sites, from 8 to 200 staff, and moved head office from the Sydney CBD to Newtown.
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Challenge
As IFD General Manager, Greg Hughes recalls “At the time, IT wasn’t our major focus so we hadn’t ‘checked under every seat’ to see how robust the environment was. After we moved in, we realized we had legacy POS software, a small business solution for accounts, no integration or connectivity between sites and no ability to scale up.”
The newly-merged company had to co-ordinate cinemas in Sydney, Canberra, Byron Bay and Hamilton (QLD), manage the rights for all film licences for Australia and New Zealand, and provide full network and communications support for its 200 personnel centrally, so it urgently needed to replace legacy software with robust, scalable enterprise systems. To expedite the process whilst validating approach and value, IFD asked 3 companies for proposals. According to Hughes, Blue Apache was chosen due to its known track record, considered project recommendations and competitive pricing.
Solution
To meet IFD’s immediate needs, Blue Apache provided helpdesk and onsite support via its emPOWER Managed Services offering, including monitoring to manage the network and proactive support for users and their legacy systems. Blue Apache then audited the existing hardware and software for re-usable items and procured and stress tested all new hardware
Results
14 months after the merger, Hughes is delighted. “With the old system and 8 people, downtime was regular and a real problem. Now we aggregate transactional data from 5 sites, we support far more users and data, we engage with cinema managers and patrons in real time and we have no downtime. More than that, the IT investment proved our commitment to the cinema business and sent a strong, positive cultural signal within the company’. Hughes says that IFD gained exactly what it wanted and that the solution is still evolving. IFD was never going to invest
in a full future-proof solution and Blue Apache’s staged approach has proven its value many times.
Feedback
In summing up, Greg Hughes says: “As with any complex enterprise implementation, Icon has encountered a number of challenges over the past twelve months including the typical ‘bedding in’ period for a new IT infrastructure. Blue Apache’s support has been invaluable throughout this change process and their ongoing service and guidance will ensure successful user acclimatization and the continued optimization of our new IT solutions.”
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