M&S extends outsourcing deal

M&S hopes to improve IT service delivery with a revised Computacenter deal

Marks & Spencer (M&S) has offloaded more of its IT services function to supplier Computacenter in a bid to improve performance in its technology division.

After devising a plan for its IT transformation, M&S awarded a £19m managed services deal to Computacenter in 2007. Under the deal, the retailer bundled up contractor services to generate savings and reduced its 400-strong supplier base to 40 companies.

The contract extension will see Computacenter taking over responsibility for areas including support of head office systems underpinning applications used in more than 600 M&S stores.

Test, development and production virtualised server environments, as well as implementation of head office IT infrastructure behind the company's new store point-of-sale systems, will also be part of the supplier's new set of duties.

M&S said that the outcome-based managed service model with the supplier will help in risk mitigation and improve the quality of IT service.