Skip to main content.

The Optimation story

Optimation was founded in 1992 and is proudly New Zealand-owned. We've been in the thick of it as the industry has gone through seismic shifts, from mainframes to cloud computing, from 'portables' that weighed in at 10 kilos to iPhones that carry the world in your pocket, and from paper-based systems to the web. We've seen our share of ups and downs, but we're happy to say that many of our original customers (and a few of our original staff) are still with us today.

Optimation is one of New Zealand's longest-standing locally owned IT companies, and was founded back in 1992 by director and majority shareholder Neil Butler.

It was a boom time for IT, as businesses sought to extend legacy environments and reduce costs with new 'open systems' technologies. Butler spotted a promising niche providing expertise on complex projects with significant networking and security requirements. He started Optimation with a small but dedicated team who were able to offer customers closer relationships and a better understanding of the needs of New Zealand-scale businesses than the multinationals.

IRD - the first Optimation client

Our first client was a big one - the Inland Revenue Department. The work done there was transformational, with Optimation implementing its own Unix-based software to connect new open systems networks to mainframe computers and dramatically lower the department's costs.

During the early 90s, Optimation went on to gain a reputation for top-end consulting and implementation skills at marquee clients like Air New Zealand, New Zealand Post, the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand and Westpac. Meanwhile, the company's close-knit culture let it attract top local and international talent.

Helping business go online

As the decade unfolded, the internet became a tool for business and not just for boffins, Microsoft was on everyone's lips (and desktops), and we started to see the potential in a little something called the World Wide Web. Optimation, now grown to over 50 people (a major milestone for any New Zealand company), moved into new areas such as:

  • Application development and support
  • Software architecture
  • Project management
  • IT strategy
  • Complex systems integration

By the later 1990s, major customer projects highlighted the growing trend to online business and gave Optimation a crucial proving ground to build its core skills in e-business solutions and integration.

Over this time, some of the projects we worked on included:

New Zealand Post

  • Online billing and transaction engines for one of the first local companies to enable customers to pay bills over the internet

Sunshine Books

  • Secure online subscriptions and payments applications for this international publisher

Westpac

  • Development and support of DeskBank, a secure business banking platform that processes tens of millions of dollars in payments every day

Vodafone relationship marks important growth phase

Vodafone's eruption onto the New Zealand scene in 1998 marked the start of an important growth phase for us. We've been involved with the company almost from its inception, and have now delivered over 2000 projects alongside the Vodafone team. We've provided consulting, architecture, development, integration and testing expertise for everything from complex integration of IT and telco systems at the back end to customer-facing web and mobile applications.

A philosophy of consistent improvement

But business-driven innovation isn't just a feature of our customers' projects. We're constantly looking for ways to improve the way we operate and to explore new opportunities, which over the years have included partnering relationships, a product business and an international joint venture.

Optimation was early to sense the potential in the burgeoning IT industry of the Indian sub-continent, developing its first off-shoring relationship with Satyam back in 2001. Working with Indian IT partners enables us to offer customers the scale and cost-efficiencies of on-shore/off-shore delivery across a wide range of enterprise solutions.

Recognising the role strong governance plays in driving sustainable business growth, Optimation was also one of the of first privately owned NZ IT companies to appoint independent non-executive directors.

Through boom times and bust

The IT industry greeted the new millennium with vigour, riding a dot.com boom that was fuelled by the seemingly bottomless pockets of venture capitalists. But like all bubbles, this one eventually burst and the fallout was made worse by the sustained worldwide slump occasioned by 9/11.

The industry faced unprecedented challenges and many companies didn't make it. Optimation suffered along with the rest, losing its biggest customer with just a month's notice. But good governance and strong underlying business fundamentals helped it survive, along with an ability to give customers strong ROI with outcomes-based engagements.

With recovery came a more pragmatic approach to IT. Companies were over the flashy websites and empty dot.com promises, but they still saw the web as crucial to reducing their costs while improving customer service and getting to market faster. Air New Zealand stands as the classic example, experiencing its own renaissance as it stormed back from near-collapse to become the most successful e-business New Zealand has ever seen.

Public service excellence

Optimation has rolled out a number of remarkable projects in the public sector.
One we really love is Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, the world's first fully web-based national encyclopaedia, where we've provided:

  • Software development
  • Content management solutions and expertise,
  • Workflow development
  • Architecture and integration
  • On-going support

Other recent highlights include:

Ministry of Economic Development

  • Developing Envirostep, a free web-based system that allows businesses to assess, benchmark and improve their sustainability

NZTE and the Business Capability Partnership

  • Developing the online New Zealand Business Assessment system, which helps companies improve their competitiveness in global markets

Medical Council of New Zealand

  • Streamlining IT architecture and workflow processes, and developing a web-based practitioner registration system

Department of Corrections

  • Delivering major software development and ERP projects through our global-local engagement model

A new era

In 2008, Optimation reached the end of an era with founder Neil Butler stepping down from the chief executive's chair and taking up the role of Chairman. In 2009, Martin Butler joined the company as Managing Director.

Looking back across the years and the huge variety of projects we've completed, it's clear many things have changed - not least the technologies we work with and the things customers want to do with them. But one thing has remained the same, and that is the strong bonds we've formed with the people who have worked with us. Optimation's longest serving employee has been with the company for over 15 years, and many others have been here beyond five and even 10 years - a virtual lifetime in the IT industry. We enjoy equally enduring relationships with our customers, many of whom have been with us since the early days.