It’s been revealed that Rolls Royce has decided to move away from a single main IT supplier to an ecosystem of multiple best of breed vendors. EDS (now HP) has been the organisation’s sole IT supplier since it signed a 12 year, £1.3b, mega outsourcing contract in 2000.
As part of the arrangements, Capgemini has been awarded a three-year outsourcing contract, with an option to extend to five years, to take on the role of “service integrator”. Essentially, the company will be ensuring that multiple IT vendors operate effectively together. The value of the deal is undisclosed.
This is an interesting test for the “service integrator” role, as has it has been more than a decade since Rolls Royce has had to manage a multi-vendor environment.
It is a role which is becoming increasingly popular in UK Government, with the MoD, MoJ, DWP and others all going down the route of appointing a ‘SIAM’ (service integration and management supplier). However, we have already seen numerous interpretations of what this role should involve. Many UK Government CIOs would rather the SIAM was an independent role with no other IT responsibilities. However, there is also a realisation that, for numerous reasons, that is unlikely to be the case. That raises all sorts of questions about how the IT contracts are governed.
Interestingly, in the case of Rolls Royce, Capgemini will also take on a new contract supporting a number of key business applications including the majority of the company’s ERP and supply chain software systems. We understand that HP has retained a significant chunk of its existing business including the hosting contract. We will find out more detail when we meet with Capgemini management tomorrow.