GPT Group re-defines workplace with activity-based
layout
Property management company GPT Group began a total
change program four years ago that has moved its business from
the Stone Age to best of breed.
Challenge
The listed property trust had desktops
that were running Microsoft XP and Microsoft Office 2003, along
with legacy systems and no real automation of the business
processes. Its document management was in a shared folder that had
millions of files, making it difficult to find anything. The
business operated in distinct silos, which hampered the exchange of
ideas.
The total change program began by ripping out the back-end of
systems to rebuild networks and the core infrastructure. This took
about 18 months.
Solution
GPT put in SAP as its ERP system and integrated its legacy
systems, going live in October 2010. It also installed SharePoint.
As part of the SAP project, Logicalis put in the SAN (storage area
network).
That same year, new chief
executive Michael Cameron started a cultural reinvigoration
program. The company opted to "go the whole hog" and drive a best
practice workplace into its Sydney site at the MLC Centre. It has a
total of 420 staff.
GPT first upgraded to Microsoft Windows 7 and Microsoft Office
2010. It put in Cisco wireless technology. Logicalis also ran the
wireless project and was responsible for procuring and installing
video-grade wireless. Most staff use soft phones to enable
anywhere, anytime work.
Benefits
The office now runs over three floors rather than five. The
company has 320 people based at the new paperless office, with 272
desktops. "No one sits in the same seat on any particular day,"
Miller says. "If I need to talk to someone down on level 50, for
example, I just work down there for the day."
GPT has slashed its paper usage in half and lighting bills are
70% down, while general electricity is also 50%.
Read the full article in
The Australian.
Testimonial
"I'd say 90%of the staff are absolutely supportive of what we have done and think that it is the right way to work," Ross Miller says. "Ultimately, I can see this becoming what the future of work space is"
Ross Miller, CIO