Old Mutual has denied the quality of service provided by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) is at the root of it looking at other potential service providers for its five-year, multibillion-rand outsourcing contract.
Reacting to an article published by ITWeb yesterday, Peter de Beyer, MD of customer solutions at Old Mutual, describes comments made by a source close to the process as "unfounded speculation".
The source commented yesterday that Old Mutual's decision to seek another IT services provider is based on the quality of service, rather than cost.
"Old Mutual has enjoyed a successful relationship with CSC over the past seven years. Furthermore, Old Mutual is satisfied with the services provided by CSC," De Beyer says.
He further states the Old Mutual Group (Old Mutual, Nedbank and Mutual & Federal) is considering rationalising its IT infrastructure, data centres and supporting structures across the group for the first time.
A closed tender process is under way to find the best end-to-end supplier for these processes.
Yesterday, ITWeb revealed IBM and T-Systems have made it onto the final shortlist for the $450 million-$500 million contract. CSC, which has relied heavily on revenue from its outsourcing deal with OId Mutual in the past, is said to be out of the running.
"Whatever the outcome of the infrastructure tender process, it should be noted that CSC will continue as Old Mutual's partner for managed network services," De Beyer adds.
According to Old Mutual, the managed network service deal is a separate contract, which will be run for Old Mutual only and not across the entire group.
A spokesman for the company could not put a value to the contract this morning, but says Old Mutual is a big company and the contract is, therefore, "substantial on that basis".
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