Barclays has awarded a five-year €200m (£137m) deal to IT services firm Getronics for desktop and application management for more than 30,000 users.

The deal is part of a review within the bank of the management of desktop systems and follows the termination of a seven-year, $350m (£200m) contract with EDS signed in 2003.

‘Following a review of its needs, Barclays Bank has decided to terminate services with EDS,’ a spokesman for EDS told Computing.

‘Under the terms of the contract, Barclays has terminated for convenience.’
Barclays says it is continually assessing its support contracts, which led to the decision to award the IT support deal to Getronics.

‘As part of our continuous assessment of IT support to meet the changing needs of our business, we have reviewed our current supplier arrangements,’ said Paul Idzik, chief operating officer at Barclays.

‘Getronics’ workspace and application management services provide us with the support and flexibility we need to continue to evolve and optimise our IT environment cost effectively.’

Barclays says Getronics will take a lead role in IT desktop and laptop capability, with a focus on two separate phases.

The first phase will be the transition of the bank’s existing technology and business practices. This will be followed by the installation and integration of new technology to improve the efficiency of its workspace management system.

Analyst Ovum says Getronics, which has been working with Barclays for some 18 years, will be happy about the deal on two counts.

‘Firstly, it is the company’s largest ever financial services deal; and secondly, it beat off the incumbent provider, EDS, to take on the new business – on top of what it already had with the bank,’ said Ovum analyst Kate Hanaghan.

Barclays has been reviewing its contract with EDS since at least September last year (Computing, 8 September).