Drinks giant Diageo has signed an "on demand" outsourcing
contract with IBM that could be worth more than £300m over seven
years.
Diageo, best known for brands such as Guinness, Smirnoff, Johnnie
Walker and Baileys, is seeking to update and simplify its
ITinfrastructure after a series of mergers and sales of
subsidiaries.
The deal calls for IBM to redesign, standardise and consolidate the
drinks company's global IT infrastructure, including its helpdesk,
desktop platform, global network and datacentre operations. Diageo
will also outsource the management of its IT infrastructure to IBM.
Robin Dargue, chief information officer at Diageo, said, "This
agreement will help to underpin Diageo's drive for consistent and
sustainable profit growth by providing a simpler, more efficient
and flexible infrastructure."
Diageo has refused to put a value on the contract, but Meta Group
analyst Stratos Sarissamlis, who was briefed on the deal, estimated
the total value to be between $400m (£254m) and $500m.
Diageo is using IBM's pay-per-usage model, which Sarissamlis said
would give "consistent service quality across different operations
in various countries. It is important for them to revamp their
infrastructure and have a consistent architecture."