A £30m outsourcing deal at furniture retailer Magnet has
allowed the company’s IT department to innovate and boost
competitive advantage rather than simply operate systems.The project, which has seen IT, finance and
accounting functions outsourced to services firm Liberata, has made
the IT department central to the success of the business, said Marc
Bertrand, human resources director at Magnet.
“The IT function internally had become very
reactive and driven by issues such as system failure,” he said.
“Outsourcing will allow IT to become more strategic, delivering
solutions to improve the business.”
The Liberata contract, which was negotiated by
outsourcing consultants Orbys, has helped Magnet overcome technical
issues it would not otherwise have been able to do, Bertrand
said.
“We wanted to put a broadband network in our
stores, but BT does not offer broadband in some town centres as not
enough people live there,” he said. “Liberata overcame this by
providing an IP-based service which its runs from its business
centre.”
By outsourcing its non-core activities to
Liberata, Magnet will be able to focus on improving sales and
customer service, Bertrand said.
“We want to focus on our core activities,
because as a retailer and manufacturer our business is complicated
enough as it is,” he said. “We will measure the success of the
project on how well we cut costs, improve efficiency and customer
service.”