The £7bn merger of pharmaceutical chain Boots with
Alliance UniChem will require the integration of very different IT
infrastructures.
The Boots Group is a heavy user of SAP enterprise systems across
its business divisions, and substantial parts of its IT
infrastructure are outsourced to Xansa.
Four days before the merger announcement, Boots had extended its
£90m outsourcing arrangement for a further two years to 2011.
Xansa, which runs Boots' central applications development and
support functions, will also run IT systems for Boots' Advantage
Card business under the contract extension.
However, Alliance UniChem uses different suppliers. Its retail
planning, replenishment and enterprise management software are
provided by the Evant Replenishment system from Manhattan
Associates.
Alliance UniChem awarded Manhattan Associates the contract to
replace its existing replenishment and retail planning systems in
June this year, just four months before the £7bn merger was
announced. The first deployments are due later this year.
Alliance UniChem uses a financial management system from
CodaSciSys.
The merged company, which will trade on the high street as
Alliance Boots, will have nearly 2,400 stores in the UK.