Basman | Explore: IT Outsourcing

Atos Origin signed a contract with EPZ, a Dutch nuclear and coal-fired power station. EPZ outsources its ‘Generic IT Service’ to Atos Origin who has been given the assignment to reduce the service costs and increase the quality of services provided to internal customers. The contract runs for three years with an option for two extensions by one year. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the contract value.

EPZ supplies energy through a nuclear power station and a coal-fired power station powered by coal and biomass, and provides a total of six percent of electrical energy output in the Netherlands. Until recently EPZ used the services of several suppliers for its Generic IT Service. This service encompasses the IT infrastructure, the help-desk, workplace services and the application management. EPZ decided to transfer its entire end-to-end service to one supplier in the aim of reducing costs and also offering a higher quality of services to the (internal) customers.

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Accenture has signed a 10-year, US$100 million business processing outsourcing (BPO) agreement with AIG Europe S.A. to provide an IT platform and insurance support services to AIG Entrepreneur, an AIG unit specializing in Property and Casualty insurance for small and medium enterprises. The agreement which aims to maximize operational efficiencies and enhance services will be implemented in several European countries starting initially with France.

Services will be provided to AIG Europe by Accenture Insurance Services – an Accenture business that offers insurance BPO services to life, annuity, pensions and P&C insurers globally – through Accenture’s service centre in Bucharest, Romania. The underwriting, policy and claims services will be supported by an IT platform using Accenture’s proprietary insurance solution software. The implementation is expected to be completed in less than six months.

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ECCO Sko A/S, the global shoemaker, and IBM announced a 5-year services agreement for IBM to support the company’s existing SAP R/3 environment and the implementation of a new ERP business solution with several new modules that will enable the company to continue its aggressive growth and global expansion strategy. The contract has the potential value of more than $12M.

As a leading brand manufacturer, ECCO has tanneries, shoe factories, selling companies and more than 500 own or franchise shops in 60 countries. The shoemaker has decided to implement a more flexible and modern version of SAP with several new modules including customer relationship management, supply chain management and supplier relationship management. IBM Global Business Services consultants will implement and manage the new modules, while also supporting ECCO’s current SAP installation.

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ACS announced that it has been awarded an expansion to its multi-million dollar contract with Symetra Financial, a leading life insurance and financial services company. The expanded agreement will add desk-side support services to ACS’ existing five-year contract, which commenced in 2004.

ACS provides complete information technology (IT) infrastructure services for Symetra’s affiliated companies, as well as cross-functional and business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions. These include data center services, distributed computing, data network services, voice communications, service desk, mail, and image processing services. Under the terms of the expanded agreement, ACS will now provide desk-side support services for Symetra’s headquarters facility in Bellevue, Washington.

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ACS announced that it has been awarded a new five-year, $87.3 million contract by the Florida Healthy Kids Corporation (FHKC) to administer the State’s Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The contract may be extended for up to five additional years at FHKC’s option.

Under terms of the contract, ACS will provide information technology development and third-party administration services for the Florida CHIP program, Florida KidCare. This program provides healthcare to children who are not eligible for Medicaid. ACS will process applications for eligibility, collect premiums from eligible members, enroll members into appropriate health plans, and operate a call center to assist those participating in the program.

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Convergys Corporation announced it has purchased the assets of AOL’s contact center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The transaction closed in late December.

A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL had announced last fall that it intended to close the facility as part of its ongoing restructuring, a move that would have impacted about 800 employees at the facility.

“Convergys quickly assessed the opportunity and began to review the AOL site and the possibilities for existing staff members with our current clients” said Dennis Ross, Vice President of Client Support in Convergys’ Customer Care business. “As a result of the purchase agreement announced today, Convergys has begun operating the former AOL facility.”

Convergys is the largest provider of outsourced contact center services in the world with more than 68,000 employees. Convergys operates 75 contact centers globally speaking nearly 35 languages.

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CSC Supports Wealth Management Applications for One Million Annuities and Positions John Hancock for Growth

CSC announced that John Hancock Financial Services, a division of Manulife Financial, has extended its applications outsourcing contract with CSC for two more years, through May 2011. The newly negotiated contract provisions have an estimated total contract value exceeding $50 million and cover services to be delivered during the next four years.

CSC will continue to provide John Hancock’s U.S. Wealth Management Division with applications and infrastructure support for the administration of more than one million fixed and variable annuity policies. Services include applications development and maintenance, mainframe infrastructure support, 24×7 help desk support, and network connectivity between CSC and John Hancock’s Operation Center.

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WM-data, a LogicaCMG company, today announces that Volvo Car Corporation has extended its existing outsourcing contract. Volvo Car has outsourced its operations and support services to WM-data since 2002. WM-data is responsible for developing, implementing and supporting Volvo Cars’ global client and server platform for about 17,000 clients in Sweden and national sales companies across the rest of Europe.

To create a more efficient and secure IT environment for Volvo Car, WM-data has implemented new services to support the virtualisation, consolidation and monitoring of the servers, the authorisation administration and has developed solutions to meet regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes Oxley. The extension of the existing agreement means that WM-data will also assume responsibility for administration and development of Volvo Cars’ Tivoli systems management platform.

To outsource operations and support enables Volvo Car to focus on its core business. The services that WM-data deliver to Volvo Car combine predictability and high availability with cost effective solutions.

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HP announced that Rockwell Collins , a global leader in aviation electronics, has awarded it a seven-year, $175 million global services contract to provide industry-standard solutions for IT infrastructure management, including help desk, desk-side support and server management.

“This agreement will allow Rockwell Collins to focus its e-Business resources on core services aimed at sustaining business growth and improving operational performance,” said John-Paul Besong, senior vice president, e-Business and Lean Electronics, Rockwell Collins. “In addition to lowering our overall IT costs, this relationship with HP will allow us to focus our energies on creating strategic business solutions that enhance productivity, facilitate collaboration and enable faster innovation for Rockwell Collins’ products and services.”

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The Norwegian Armed Forces and IBM signed a contract earlier this week for the continued development of a Joint Integrated Management Information System for the Armed Forces. The project is called The Economy project. The contract includes solutions for accounting, management and logistics, based on SAP.

The value of the IBM contract is 300 million NOK or $48 million at today’s rates, including VAT. The Norwegian Parliament unanimously approved the Government’s proposal to go ahead with the project on December 15, 2006.

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Unisys Belgium, a subsidiary of Unisys Corporation , announced that lux-Airport, the operator of the new airport terminal to be opened in the first half of 2008 in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, has awarded Unisys a five-year outsourcing contract to build and manage an IT infrastructure to support the airport’s operations.

The Unisys solution is designed to make airport operations more secure and efficient and make it easier for travellers to go through the airport. The IT infrastructure is intended to be operational to coincide with the launch of the new terminal. The Luxembourg airport will then be able to accommodate around 3 million passengers a year.

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The German Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) have commissioned a consortium consisting of Siemens Business Services (SBS) and IBM to modernize and manage its non-military information and communications technology. The 10-year contract is worth approximately 7.1 billion euros including value added tax and will go into effect immediately. Through the HERKULES project, the German Federal Armed Forces will bring their data centers, software and applications, PCs, telephones, and voice and data networks up to the latest standard.

A company called BWI Informationstechnik GmbH (BWI IT), which is based in Meckenheim near Bonn, has been set up to supply the relevant IT services. SBS and IBM — who are equal partners in the consortium — together hold 50.1 percent of the shares, while the Federal Government holds 49.9 percent.

As part of the process of modernization, IBM and SBS will support the German Federal Armed Forces in revising workflows and replace the software currently in use with standard software. Together, they will also set up a help desk for users. Within the project, IBM and SBS will focus on these distinct areas:

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Steria, is busy preparing for the 2007 introduction of one of the most ambitious programmes of Public Sector reform in Western Europe, after securing a contract on behalf of the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) to centralise records management across all departments. This contract aims at greater efficiency accross the Civil Service in Northern Ireland.

This project represents an important step towards avoiding duplication and promoting greater efficiency across the Civil Service. Steria will be responsible for implementing an Electronic and Document Records Management (EDRM) system to enable over 16,500 civil servants to operate more efficiently.

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Siemens Business Services will support large portions of Deutsche Bank’s information technology for a period of five years, managing the IT infrastructure in all German branches, corporate departments and additional locations in Italy and Spain. The contract enables Deutsche Bank to improve its IT while at the same time reducing its costs, and is the latest addition to the long list of major IT contracts awarded to Siemens Business Services by Deutsche Bank in recent years.

Siemens Business Services will support 19,000 so-called thin clients for the Deutsche Bank staff in Germany, Italy and Spain. With a thin-client infrastructure, employees don’t have their own PC, working instead on keyboards and monitors that are linked to central servers on which the programs are executed. In the future, Siemens Business Services will support the countries’ servers and thin-client workstations from Germany, take care of the software distribution to users and operate a help desk to answer users’ hardware and software queries. In addition, Siemens Business Services will support 10,000 conventional PCs and more than 5,000 ATMs, self-service terminals and other equipment in Deutsche Bank’s branches throughout Germany.

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Northrop Grumman Corporation was awarded a task order to help improve information technology management and operations for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Under the Information Technology Support Services (ITSS-3) contract, Northrop Grumman’s Information Technology (IT) sector will provide IT and security analysis, training, Web content, task and asset management, and applications, operations and help desk support for the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division Office.

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