The IS facility of the Department of Defence (DoD), Infoplan, has purchased a five-year licensing and support contract on behalf of the DoD from Computer Associates Africa (CA) that allows them to use unlimited CA product within the value of the agreement.
The agreement is the result of a long-term association between CA and Infoplan, which also uses CA product in its own internal systems, according to J.C. van Niekerk, general manager of Infoplan. "We were examining all our supplier agreements in relation to our software requirements. We like CA`s willingness to assist as well as their understanding of the environment in which we operate. They saw that during times of economic pressure, the DoD would have unique requirements and they came to the table so that we could reach a mutually beneficial agreement," van Niekerk explains.
Roelf Swanepoel, executive manager for operations management services at Infoplan adds, "The product under the license agreement relates specifically to the DoD`s MVS platform and not to decentralised computing."
The five-year contract will enable Infoplan to get past the Y2K issue, of which the DoD has a very high level of awareness and perceives to be a real problem. "We have faith in CA`s ability to produce new products that will continue to meet our evolving needs," Swanepoel states.
Another part of the philosophy behind the relationship was the need for Infoplan to reduce the number of software suppliers within the DoD. "There were in excess of 13 suppliers in the DoD," van Niekerk comments. "Infoplan opted to reduce this to five preferred software suppliers that were able to add value to the business relationship."
As Infoplan is merged into the State IT Agency (SITA), this license agreement with CA will be ceded into SITA. This provides CA with access to a wider user base and also brings Infoplan`s best practice into SITA, says van Niekerk.
According to Swanepoel, another dynamic in the decision was the fact that Infoplan is in the process of changing its previously self-dependent culture relative to internal infrastructure that was a legacy of the sanctions era. "We are moving more and more of that responsibility onto our suppliers. They are required to provide the internal infrastructure through licensing and support," he says. This represents a paradigm shift in Infoplan`s internal processes for handling software and licensing.
"Previously, software licenses represented about half our costs with support being the other half within that portion of the IT budget," Swanepoel explains. "We are managing that down now, via this new agreement. The emphasis is being shifted back to the supplier to provide system support. We are pleased with the improvement in the level of technical support skills in CA and are confident that they will be able to provide this."
Jeremy Smith, MD of CA Africa is delighted with the agreement: "Infoplan has been a good customer of ours for several years. We were pleased to be able to reach a flexible arrangement with them that best suited their unique requirements. The fact that Infoplan will be merged into SITA is also very exciting from our perspective, since it will provide us with other opportunities within the government agency."
Share