Technology Developments at YPL Help Create
Yara-Interactive (Yara-i)
YPL Technology Department (Left to Right): Simon Palmer, Clyde Dealtry and Andrew Sefton with Dr Kevin Moran, Director of Technical Services
With the Megalab, Intranet and Information Services that have been developed over the years, Phosyn were always at the ´leading edge´ of information delivery to it´s markets. Now that we are Yara, the much larger company network can benefi t from YPL´s expertise in information delivery and Yara Interactive (Yara i) is a good example of this being developed rapidly from concept to a fully working system within four months. But this was only possible because of the steady investment in IT infrastructure that Phosyn had made over the previous decades and the movement into the latest .NET technology being developed by Microsoft which is now used by the YPL IT team.
This month, the YPL IT team installed a new high capacity server here in Pocklington based on the very latest web server technologies. This will be the new Yara-i server and the performance quite honestly is ´blistering´, delivering product recommendations from the ´Greenbook´ system and Tank Mix requests as never before. Speed is an issue for Yara-i which is aimed at the retail level to provide enhanced operation where internet may be based on slow DSL connections or even ´dial-ups´ in some markets.
In order to continue progress towards integrating the YPL systems into the wider Yara Network I take this opportunity to announce some changes in roles for key people in the YPL IT department.
I will still lead the team reporting to the Director of Technical Services, Dr. Kevin Moran, and will take the new role of ´Information Services Manager´. This allows me to become more a part of the Yara Marketing Services Team that James Craske has set up in Oslo and which meets every two months there, in Hanninghof and Pocklington on a rotational basis. This role will allow me to work hand in hand with James´s Team to develop many of the downstream marketing tools which are becoming critical to differentiation of the global operation of Yara and to keep them at the cutting edge of service expertise.
Clyde Dealtry takes on my previous role of ´Information Technology Manager´ and will be in charge of the network infrastructure and telecommunications here in Pocklington. These systems are vital to the efficient operation of Megalab.net and Yara-i. Clyde will also be key to future integration of our systems with IBM when they take over as Yara IS supplier. Simon Palmer will therefore become ´Network Support Manager´, and will report to me, but provide cover for Clyde in the smooth running of the network. He will be more focussed on end user support and coordinate any training needs of staff.
I trust you join me in congratulating Clyde and Simon with their new positions and wish them well in the busy time ahead with the forthcoming IBM integration and SAP installation.
Author: Andrew Sefton, Global
Published: March 2007