Phones 4U signs £70 million outsourcing deal

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Phones 4U has signed a $100-million (£70.31 million) deal to outsource almost its entire IT operations.

The deal between he mobile phone retail chain’s holding company, [a href="http://www.4u-group.co.uk" target="_blank"]4U Group[a] and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) covers a wide range of managed IT services, in addition to large programme management.

TCS will also run elements of the telecommunication and financial services as part of the group’s business change programme.

Darren Billings, 4U Group's chief technology officer, stated: “This relationship with TCS is part of our ongoing commitment to further enhance our business, deliver on our strategy and meet the ongoing needs of our customers.”

The IT functions outsourced under the agreement include service management; application support, maintenance, management and development; data centre and desktop services; helpdesk; networks and communications; business support; and management of all third-party contracts for the organisation’s retail operations.

The announcement stated that the new services would enable the group to improve IT service, increase capacity, boost skills, create a more “flexible IT model” and “ultimately enhance the business to meet current and future demands”.

Ian Brown, Ovum senior analyst agreed that, while there was global market unrest, “this contract demonstrates that there is still interest and investment going into outsourcing contracts”.

He added: “However to close the deal, vendors need to show how they bring value to the table, in terms of high quality delivery, extensive skills and competitive pricing.”

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