EDS Strikes gold in Singapore - Largest ASEAN Outsourcing deal ever

EDS has been announced as the winning bidder for the long awaited Singapore government outsourcing engagement. They have been a key candidate for this, but it specifically is a strong momentum builder for them. Based upon my experience and memory, it is definitely the largest outsourcing deal outside of Japan or ANZ signed in Asia Pacific. It will definitely accelerate the EDS presence region wide and significantly help them reduce their reliance upon Australia and New Zealand for revenues.
The Singapore government has clearly chosen to the strengths of EDS. This type of deal is something that they are able to manage integrating large public engagements such as the South Australian Government. It is clear how important the overall retention of that deal has been to EDS. The focus that undertook on renewals in recent years has enabled them to re-highlight their capability and ability to integrate large technology messes. It will be interesting if CSC which is currently in a strong renewal cycle can parlay this to boosting their ongoing revenue growth.
28. February 2008 16:22 by Phil | Comments (1) | Permalink

Doug Elix Retires from IBM - Perhaps to run Telstra next

I noted today that Doug Elix will retire from IBM in April. He has had a significant contribution to IBM in Australia and globally, and is arguably the most powerful Australian in global IT.

He will be replaced by Frank Kern which will create ripples in AP with a new replacement being needed; there are of course a number of internal candidates from geography and the business. I have my tip, but for now will keep it to myself and write it on a piece of paper to reveal for better or worse when announcements are made.

It is ironic that both IBM and HP are replacing their head of Asia Pacific in the same time frame. Both Frank Kern and Tom Iannotti are returning to the US. Given Iannotti was replaced with Balu who ran India highlighting the importance of that market for HP. I believe that it will be symbolically important to have someone from AP run AP at IBM.

What is also interesting is to speculate on Doug Elix's retirement. He may move to a house by the beach like most Australian retirees. However there is another interesting angle. There is only one company big enough that he could run with some hands on experience. That is of course Telstra. There is a lot of interest in the role of Sol Trujllio and the John McCain presidential campaign. Without sounding like a gossip column, Doug Elix taking over Telstra is not out of the realms of possibility.

Ironically this was the discussion that I had with a couple of senior executives of an IBM competitor and Telstra provider yesterday.  Given the restaurant was virtually empty the place could be bugged ......

Time will tell of course, but it does present some interesting scenario's both internal and external.

27. February 2008 21:37 by Phil | Comments (0) | Permalink

Unisys Nabs Australian Department of Defence Outsourcing - Looks like Kaz will get cheaper still

Unisys has won the Australian Department of Defence Outsourcing deal that has been long up for renewal. This is an excellent win for Unisys, giving them momentum in Australia that has been less than ideal in recent times. It is more of a blow for KAZ in many ways. With the business up for sale, the loss of a key client with the Department of Defence, on the top of the loss of NAB will further reduce the value of KAZ and reduce confidence in the management team of KAZ being structured in such a way that it can win and keep the big deals.
25. February 2008 15:28 by Phil | Comments (0) | Permalink

BT To Acquire Frontline - Will it be different from other telcos

Having often rallied at the inability of telcos to enhance the value of IT Services companies, BT has announced plans to acquire Frontline. Fortunately, I mentioned that BT were one company that actually had some capabilities when it came to services, it should be a good match, and will give BT a degree of scale in the region, and consolidate some of its strength in the region. Hopefully it is an acquistion that can break the trend of poor services integration of Telcos, watching the death throes of Kaz at Telstra, and the fiasco that is Commander, it is clear to see that BT is an exception in this regard.

20. February 2008 18:43 by Phil | Comments (0) | Permalink

Downside to the trend for enterprises letting employees own their own phone or PDA

Many organisations tend nowadays to let employees carry the burden of owning their own mobile phone or PDA. This has benefits for the enterprise, particularly with the reduced cost that it has to bear. Increasingly from speaking with CIO's and IT Managers as well as services providers, the awareness of twin downsides for this is becoming clear.

There is the issue of data safety and integrity, particularly for sales and other holders of confidential information, once the phone walks out the office relationships and data walk with it.

Secondly and perhaps of most importance for IT directoris is the issue with the lack of compatibility of phones and systems, this makes management difficult, prone to error and less effective from a cost point of view. This is increasing as the penetration and capability of the PDA continues to increase significantly.

The simple answer is to have the enterprise own the phone, but that does not seem to be a price that enterprises are willing to pay yet, it will not surprise if this changes in the near future.

19. February 2008 23:47 by Phil | Comments (0) | Permalink

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