Clothes retailer Gap has signed a 10-year, $1.1bn
(£650m) IT outsourcing deal with IBM.
Gap, which operates more than 3,000 stores worldwide, is hiring
IBM to streamline its IT operations and reduce costs.
The move includes transferring around 400 Gap employees to IBM.
As part of the contract, IBM will provide data centre, server and
network outsourcing to Gap, in addition to help desk
operations.
The overall cost of the outsourcing deal will depend in part on
the clothing retailer’s actual consumption of IT services.
In another innovative aspect of the contract, Gap will pay for
services based on changing market rates over the duration of the
contract.
Gap said it would be performing regular benchmarks to make sure
it was not paying above the odds.
Gap chief information officer Michael Tasooji said, “Delivering
capabilities that drive our retail business, provide competitive
advantages and serve our customers are our highest priorities.
Transferring our technology infrastructure operations to IBM
enables us to deliver and implement these solutions faster.”
