The relationship between BSkyB, the UK's largest digital
TV company, and systems integrator EDS, which was commissioned to
install a cutting-edge CRM software system, has ended in
court.
BSkyB has filed a legal claim against EDS for "deceit, negligent
misrepresentation and breach of contract" during the implementation
of a multimillion-pound CRM system to support operations at BSkyB's
call centres.
The media giant rolled out the system with EDS in 2000, but
severed the relationship in early 2002 and, after failed
discussions, decided to take legal action.
The original contract was worth $109m (£60m), according to an
EDS spokesman. He said, "We're going to vigorously defend our
position, and there will be a counterclaim in the several millions
of pounds for unpaid bills. It's absolutely outrageous."
At issue is a system that was to be built around CRM software
from Chordiant Software, which specialises in business-to-consumer
applications. The system, running on Sun Microsystems hardware, was
to be housed at BSkyB's contact centres in Livingston and
Dunfermline in Scotland, where as many as 1,000 agents field calls
at any given time.
A BSkyB spokesman declined to offer details about the project or
discuss the amount of money the company is seeking. However, in an
announcement in 2000 about the EDS-Chordiant roll-out, BSkyB said
it planned to integrate previously disparate data sources and
create more comprehensive customer profiles.
Richard Freudenstein, the company's chief operating officer,
said at the time, "EDS provided a technically advanced solution
that will make a valuable contribution to BSkyB's drive to lead
innovation in customer service and maintain Sky Digital's
industry-leading levels of customer retention."
In addition, subscribers would be able to access account,
billing and other information and services via agent, phone, the
web or the television service itself.
However, according BSkyB's court statement, the relationship
between the two companies ended after EDS "failed to perform its
contractual obligations". After the severance, BSkyB subsidiary Sky
Subscribers Services, which supports the company's operations, took
over the integration work for the project.
BSkyB has spent $310.8m on software, systems integration,
infrastructure costs and the revamp of the call centre facilities.
Moreover, the company said it expects to spend another $91m during
the next four years to finish the current implementation and
continue to "maintain leading-edge" CRM systems for its growing
subscriber base, which now stands at about 7 million
customers.
The BSkyB spokesman confirmed that the Chordiant software is
still running but declined to offer further details on the
implementation's status until completion.
Marc L Songini writes for
Computerworld