Hewlett-Packard has signed an outsourcing deal with a
major Canadian bank.
The deal, worth C$420m (£171m), will see Hewlett-Packard Canada
upgrade and manage TD Bank Financial Group's national automated
banking machines (ABMs) and point-of-sale (POS) transaction
infrastructure over the next seven years.
HP will take over the delivery, upgrades and management of about
2,400 of TD's Green Machines, ABMs and POS networks, as well as
taking ownership of all equipment and transfering 50 TD
employees.
HP has provided TD with service desk, datacentre operations,
integrated management and communications as well as HP ProLiant
servers and HP NonStop switching gear in the past, but this is the
first true outsourcing relationship between the parties.
HP Canada president and chief executive Paul Tsaparis said it
was an "honour for HP to be entrusted with the delivery and
management of TD's Green Machine network".
For Chuck Hounsell, senior vice-president with TD Bank Financial
Group, the deal represents a strategic transformation of TD's ABM
and POS services and will provide an always-on network of Green
Machines.
"This relationship will produce significant benefits," Hounsell
said. "[We will] reduce operating costs, increase
productivity - there is a shift from fixed technology costs and a
reduction in technology risk."
The deal, which has been two years in the making, will also
enable TD to go after new market opportunities in the merchant
business space. Hounsell said that although the technical changes
have yet to commence, the planning and development is well under
way.
"A strong partner makes it easier for us to come up with new
solutions," Hounsell said. "This is a dramatically larger deal than
what we have been doing so far. We are not taking an existing
solution and asking someone else to manage it. We are developing a
new solution and that is part of the reason why it took us two
years to get here."
Tsaparis added that both corporations took the time to ensure
the products developed would meet both the current and future needs
of customers.
The biggest milestone, according to Hounsell, will be in 2006
when the bank's entire network is able to service people with
disabilities, a goal the HP deal will help realise.
"We will probably be the first to have our network fully
compliant and have 100% of our machines able to service people with
disabilities and this new technology infrastructure will make that
reliable and provide easier interaction," he said.
HP has called on The Diebold Company to provide ABM terminals
and first- and second-line maintenance; ACI Worldwide will provide
its BASE24 core switching solution and applications development and
maintenance services; and Phoenix Interactive Design will bring ABM
application software and application development services, while
Intria has been brought in to provide business process outsourcing
services, including cash management and forecasting.
Carly Suppa writes for ITWorldCanada