UK-based health and fitness club chain David Lloyd leisure has
signed a six-year IT outsourcing deal with Computer Sciences
Corporation (CSC) worth £6.5m
Eleven IT staff from David Lloyd will transfer to CSC under the
deal, which is an extension of the £50m outsourcing contract its
parent company Whitbread Group signed with CSC last August.
David Lloyd Leisure's IT director Roger Cunningham said the move
had not been forced on the company by Whitbread, but was necessary
to support its expansion plans. He said the company planned to
double the number of UK health and fitness clubs from 48 to 100 and
it was "the right time to put about a new IT strategy".
"We are confident CSC will deliver on their obligations," said
Cunningham. "They are into Whitbread in a big way - we are worth
£56.5m to them." However, he admitted that there was "a service
credit regime" in place to enforce service levels.
If CSC fails to fulfil its obligations in four or five key areas,
including payment of staff, managing the membership system and
controlling the direct debit function, it will risk penalties.
"There are financial penalties in the contract for these things,"
said Cunningham.
He denied suggestions that the deal would create an us-and-them
attitude, pointing to the number of Whitbread staff already working
for the company.
"We will treat CSC as a partner," he said. "It'll be tightly
integrated with our business."
CSC will also provide customer analysis, take over the company's
datacentre operations, cover the IT helpdesk, manage desktop
deployment and oversee the opening of new clubs. But performance in
these areas will not be governed by penalties, said
Cunningham.
karl.cushing@rbi.co.uk