Europe's biggest IT outsourcing deal on track

IBM has marked the first anniversary of its strategic outsourcing contract with Cable & Wireless Communications - valued at nearly £2bn - with the announcement that 1100 CWC staff have now been transferred to IBM employment.

The process was handled through a comprehensive HR programme that included a series of induction and training sessions, a dedicated helpdesk and mentors for all 1100 people involved.

"For any business, retaining and motivating staff is an ongoing requirement," says IBM's managing partner for the CWC project Bill Kleinhofer. "It's no different in an outsourcing partnership. If anything, it's even more important."

Preparations for the transfer proceeded in parallel with the replacement of desktop computer services for 14,000 workstations.

Explaining the background to the project, CWC's Andy MacLeod expressed sentiments that would warm the heart of any outsource provider: "Information technology is now so powerful a strategic weapon and pivotal to our business success that it needs to be planned and managed with a depth of expertise and a range of resources that were beyond us."

Elliott Chase