Food company Uniq has outsourced its IT operations to European IT
services provider Atos Origin in a multi-million pound deal.
Formerly known as Unigate, Uniq has signed a seven-year deal with
Atos to support its general IT infrastructure, food production
systems, SAP operations, helpdesk, data networks and telephone
systems.
The company conducted a lengthy selection process with outsourcing
consultancy Morgan Chambers, resulting in Atos beating seven other
firms, including ITNet and CSC, to the contract.
Uniq's director of IT, Huges de Maussion, said he is 100% confident
that the deal will result in significant cost savings.
"Outside of the economic reasons [for outsourcing its IT] we
recently reorganised our business, which means we were providing
services to areas that are no longer parts of the company. Also,
the central IT department was providing services primarily to the
UK side of the business and we needed a pan-European common support
[infrastructure]."
Sixty five people within the Uniq IT department have now
transferred over to Atos. John Mottershead, sales support manager
at Atos Origin, told CW360: "The toughest challenge for us will be
in providing the flexibility requirements of the business because
we cannot say what the business will look like in six months or a
year's time."
While the companies have not revealed the financial value of the
deal, Mottershead said it was "in the millions" and "very
significant".