SAP beats Oracle to Yellow Pages NZ

by The Dominion Post

SAP has beaten out Oracle to win a multimillion deal to supply Yellow Pages with business software.

Yellow Pages is having to invest in its own finance, payroll and billing systems after its sale by Telecom to private equity buyers in March for $2.2 billion.

Acting chief financial officer Greg Hurn says a significant change for customers is that once SAP's billing software is installed late next year the company will bill them direct for advertisements. "It is going to take us 12 months till we are ready to do that."

Till then, advertisers will continue to pay Yellow Pages through a charge on their phone bill, managed by Telecom through its ICMS billing system.

Telecom uses SAP software to manage its payroll and finances. Mr Hurn says this wasn't the main reason Yellow Pages picked SAP over Oracle, but it will make data conversion and user training easier.

"What tipped it was in terms of our future long-term road map, SAP had more options for us."

www.stuff.co.nz