With about A$80 billion (US$62.6 billion) in funds under management and administration, AXA claimed its existing system was slow, underutilized, poorly integrated, and could not keep pace with the company's needs.

The new system is based on IBM Corp. software developed by local IBM business partner Coordimax.

From 2002 to 2005 AXA's partner business had grown from tracking a handful of licensees and 1000 advisers to 600 licensee groups and 15,000 advisers.

AXA Australia's national sales promotion manager, Barry Wyatt, said with such a large pool of advisers, the company needed a robust activity management system.

"It took 17 seconds to open a page in the old system and the information on it was sketchy, so the salespeople just weren't using it," Wyatt said. "We needed an information system that encouraged business development managers to use it and see it as a beneficial tool."