Reuters inks $1 billion IT outsourcing deal
Company CIO David Lister says deal with Fujitsu Services will see annualized savings "in the region of 25 percent."
Around 300 IT staff will transfer across to Fujitsu as part of the 10-year deal, leaving an in-house service delivery team of 25. Reuters said there will be no layoffs.
Reuters CIO David Lister told Silicon.com, a CNET News.com sister site, the deal will see annualized savings "in the region of 25 percent."
"We see our role as service aggregator not service provider," he said.
The contract covers Reuters' core IT internal services, including e-mail and desktop, and consolidates a number of existing deals. Fujitsu will also be responsible for the management of some of Reuters' other outsourcing suppliers such as Satyam.
"It addresses a lot of our legacy issues. We have acquired a lot of different systems and platforms over the years. This allows us to move onto a single, standardized, virtualized on-demand platform," Lister said.
Virtualization--both on the client and server--will be a key part of the contract, and Fujitsu has already begun work on an 18-month transformation plan.
"Whether inside an Internet cafe in Australia, at home or in the office, employees can access workplace applications," Lister said.
Andy McCue of Silicon.com reported from London.