New Zealand Engineering 1998 May

The mission of Hoare Research Software is to bring to New Zealand businesses the best technical software the world has to offer. The firm was formed in 1992 after Ray Hoare had been selling Systat (a statistics program) for several years, as a sideline to his environmental consulting business. Ray saw that many people were using spreadsheets, despite their limitations, because they did not know about the other tools that were available to do their work efficiently and effectively.

Ray Hoare and Andrew Highley discuss the results of a risk analysis model

HRS is now the exclusive distributor of products from SPSS Inc and from The MathWorks, as well as being the primary distributor of many other mathematically based products. SPSS Inc has been actively acquiring products of interest to engineers recently, including Systat (statistics and data analysis), SigmaPlot (technical graphs), TableCurve (curve fitting), and allCLEAR (a flowcharting program). The MathWorks makes MATLAB, long a standard tool for advanced engineers, especially in the signal processing and the control areas. For less advanced applications, where you want an easy to use, easy to audit, tool that complements your spreadsheet, Ray highly recommends Mathcad.

"One of the fascinating things about this business is the opportunity it gives me to see just how innovative people can be," Ray says. "I am strongly patriotic. I left a great research job in Canada to return to New Zealand, so my children could grow up as New Zealanders. It is great to be able to assist the leading New Zealand companies to make full use of the tools that their international competitors are using."

However, Ray says he has heard someone say "If I can't do it in a spreadsheet, I don't do it". This appalled him. "While people like this are stuck in the stone age, their competition is using advanced tools to do more things, more precisely, and more economically. I know the best firms in the world are making great use of these tools - I want to see a higher proportion of New Zealand businesses included in that category."

Also of concern is the claim in a recent Nature magazine that New Zealand is now a country with one of the lowest levels of total expenditure on research and development in the OECD. Other data (from MORST) shows that non-government R & D expenditure per GDP is less than 30 percent of that in comparable countries. "Our businesses are competing against bigger and better-resourced companies in a global economy," says Ray. "We can't compete on economies of scale, so we must work in niche markets and work smarter. My firm supplies many companies that are doing this, but the statistics show that more need to get the message."

The six staff at HRS have nine degrees amongst them, so are well qualified to service the needs of industry, science and education throughout New Zealand. About 6000 clients are kept updated on the latest advances, and Ray estimates there are about another 14,000 engineers, scientists and business analysts who have yet to see the virtues of using the same tools as their international competitors.

For more information on smarter tools for flowcharting, data analysis, modelling or data presentation, call 0800 477 776.