Philip Hill, one-time head of the unsettled IES division at Ernst & Young, has established the UK arm of the US software developer Computer & Engineering Consultants, CEC. This is Hill’s second start-up since he departed Ernst & Young last year. He and three Ernst & Young colleagues formed Systems Innovation Ltd, which acts as a holding company for Bachman Information Systems Ltd and CEC. According to Stuart Dunlop, Computer & Engineering’s technology director, Systems Innovation is also the holding company for several operations that have yet to start trading. He says that the non-trading companies are involved in computer services, but refused to confirm that they are software engineering- and IEW-based. With Bachman Information Systems providing products, and CEC providing services, Hill seems to be attempting to avoid any Ernst & Young-type conflict between sales and consultancy. Sam Holcman, the US president of CEC, also has a holding in the UK company, but that has still to be specified. CEC plans to expand its operations across Europe, and will open offices in Frankfurt, Brussels, and The Hague. European ex-pansion is imminent, and Dunlop says that the company is looking at non-European countries, although he refused to be more specific. CEC is based in Sunninghill, Berkshire and currently employs 15 consultants, nine of whom came from Ernst & Young. The company has already won three contracts worth UKP500,000 with BMW, MSAS Cargo International, and the American Express subsidiary, Acuma. BMW bought the IEW and Bachman products last year to assist with systems analysis and design. CEC has been working with the company to develop a methodology for AD/Cycle that will implement those products. MSAS has been developing a new freight management system, and adopted IEW to replace its manual-based methodology. The change took place mid-project, and CEC helped in the implementation. When the system is complete it will run on a worldwide network of AS/400s.
