IBM has won the first of its new Workplace outsourcing contracts, which bundle together enterprise desktop services, from Zurich Financial. Under the deal, IBM will manage 65,000 'electronic workplaces' in five European countries, the United States, and Canada. A Zurich Financial spokesperson says the Workplace concept is attractive because employees are not tied to specific workplaces. The deal includes an increasingly popular monthly payment schedule where Zurich Financial will pay IBM according to the amount of usage. Zurich Financial announced a new global IT strategy in May, aiming to streamline its IT services and costs through centralisation and consolidation. In July, for example, the company merged its two European data centres. The strategy is meant to increase profitability. The bundled desktop outsourcing deal with IBM is part of that plan and will involve 470 Zurich Financial IT staff transferring to IBM. Copyright 2003 INFORMATION, INC. |
