Sydney, Australia - 04 Jan 1999: ... Ansett Australia -- one of Australia's leading airlines -- today announced that it has appointed IBM Global Services Australia to manage its desktop infrastructure. Ansett, based in Melbourne, Australia, operates an extensive range of domestic airline services and also flies to Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Bali and Fiji.
Under the terms of the nine-year multi-million contract, IBM Global Services Australia will take responsibility for:
- Desktop support including PC repairs, changes, installation and advice
- LAN server support including repairs, administration and installation
- Service centre including Help Desk facilities and service coordination
- Network support including support for hubs and routers, and
- Supply of end user computing hardware to the airline.
Ansett Australia General Manager IT Infrastructure and Operations, Hal Pringle said IBM Global Services Australia's appointment would significantly improve desktop services to the airline's end users while at the same time delivering substantial cost savings.
Ansett currently has approximately 6,000 IBM PCs and ThinkPads Australia-wide, a figure that is expected to grow to almost 9,000 over the next two years.
"Moving to a single supplier, particularly one of IBM Global Services experience, will provide Ansett with a 'world's best practice' service and reduce the complexity involved in desktop support," Mr Pringle said. "It also frees up Ansett managers and staff to focus on providing strategic IT services to the business."
Mr Pringle said the decision to contract an external provider of desktop support arose from a benchmarking study conducted by Ansett earlier this year.
The study showed that a move to a single external provider of the calibre of IBM Global Services Australia (the service was previously delivered by a mixture of external contractors and inhouse staff) would:
- achieve a more consistent end-to-end delivery of applications,
- assist the implementation of best practice EUC support at best cost,
- deliver substantial cost savings,
- allow Ansett to better manage EUC supply and demand, and
- deliver a more consistent and better quality support service to end users.
"The study highlighted the fact that Ansett had in effect 'outgrown' the level of end user service provided at that time, and that a quantum leap in service was required to ensure a full return on our end user computing investment," he said.
John Bligh, General Manager Travel and Transportation Services, IBM Global Services, Asia Pacific said the new contract with Ansett extends IBM's existing relationship with the airline as the provider of their Data Centre Services.
"Improving delivery of services to end users and enhancing end user productivity are becoming key focus areas for many Australian Corporations. I am very pleased that we have been chosen to deliver these additional services to Ansett. IBM Global Services Australia has a strong history of service delivery to Ansett and this contract is a further extension of our technology relationship," Mr Bligh said.
Meanwhile, Mr Pringle said Ansett's 28 permanent desktop services staff would work alongside IBM Global Services Australia during a transition period with most staff expected to be redeployed back into the airline. These arrangements follow consultation by Ansett with staff and employee representatives.
Contact(s) information
Amanda Garland
IBM
61-2-935-44881
amandag@au1.ibm.com
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