Marks & Spencer has signed a £19
million IT managed services contract
with Computacenter that will help
support the retailer’s strategic
business objectives and growth while
delivering year-on-year cost savings.
The five-year agreement provides Marks & Spencer with a service featuring end-to-end accountability for more than 4,000 head office users located across six UK sites.
Damone Quigley, head of infrastructure and application services at Marks & Spencer, commented: “The partnership with Computacenter will enable us to align IT more closely to the business and deliver tangible results at lower and predictable costs.”
The contract with Computacenter will help increase M&S’ IT agility by ensuring its head office staff have better access to core technology, tools and processes. Additionally, Computacenter will support the Marks and Spencer ‘Plan A’ objective with environmentally-friendly hardware configurations and a WEEE-compliant asset disposal process with zero per cent of IT going to landfill.
The deal expands a previous agreement and comprises 10 new service streams, which include release management, build management, software asset management and security administration. Computacenter will be responsible for delivering these services across some 7,000 servers, desktops, laptops and the cabling infrastructure.
Simon Walsh, services managing director commented: “We will be drawing on the expertise of our Shared Services Factory to provide Marks & Spencer with known service outcomes at a fixed price, which will aid budgetary and quality control in the IT department.”
The Shared Services Factory enables organisations to take advantage of proven, repeatable and ITIL-compatible processes that accelerate innovation, improve service quality and deliver cost savings.
“By agreeing a consolidated contract with Computacenter, we have been able to reduce risk and create a more joined up, service-focused IT operation,” added Quigley. “The new managed service will enable us to provide a more efficient response to head office users, which means they will be able to focus on extending current and developing new offerings that will drive profitable growth.”
