Logica has landed its second big (£100m+) UK deal since January (see Logica gets serious about crime – and Azure) announcing a €300m business process services (BPS) contract with Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell. Logica will operate and run fuel card processing software provider FleetCor’s Global FleetNet (GFN) platform for Shell across 35 countries in Europe and Asia. Firstly it will take on Shell’s existing fuel cards system, and gradually transition it to GFN, with the first pilot to be completed by April 2012, and the full roll-out by the end of 2013.
Logica has a long-standing relationship with Shell – back in 2003 it handled a Europe-wide SAP rollout across 10 countries including the UK. Today it also provides managed switching services to Shell, which was recently extended in scope and for a further five years, as well as a managed service for the private fuel card segment in the Nordics. FleetCor meanwhile, is already used as a fuel card payment service by Shell in some European markets, and it has other oil and gas customers such as BP, Arco, Citgo, Chevron and Q8.
The Shell/FleetCor deal is a classic example of what we are calling business process services (BPS) (see UK Business Process Services: spotting the opportunities). BPS covers the lifecycle of services that underpin and support the business process – so the systems design, supply, implementation, support, and maybe BPO. We think it provides a better way of explaining how business process services are actually being bought by customers.
Logica calls this a managed service. But we see it as more than that, because Logica is acting as the consultancy, supplier, integrator and supporter of the software and services for the business process. In our view this should give it a closer relationship with the customer, and put it in a strong position to benefit from any future BPS business.