Smiths Group signs global mobile working deal

Smiths' staff will have better remote working facilities

Industrial technology manufacturer Smiths Group expects to save $25m (£14m) over five years under a new deal with communications giant AT&T, linking 400 locations across 50 countries and enhancing mobile working facilities.

AT&T will provide services including remote access for mobile workers, managed security, videoconferencing and consulting, to improve productivity and reduce costs across Smiths' five business divisions.

The deal will save the group at least $5m (£2.8m) a year on IT and communications costs. It forms part of a wider business transformation project, as the firm moves towards a consistent IT policy across its global locations, aimed at avoiding duplication, improving purchasing, efficiency and supplier management, while simplifying administration and service support.

Mobile access has become a critical part of collaboration, according to Brian Jones, group chief information officer at Smiths.

"It's the way it has to be now. You need to be able to collaborate wherever you are," he said.

"So we're overhauling our infrastructure and bringing in new collaborative technologies. We expect to be able to better serve our customers and deliver increased value to shareholders through this relationship."

Smiths is deploying a pilot programme for corporate BlackBerry users and has given 2,000 employees access to AT&T's unified communications platform, AT&T Connect.

The platform allows real-time collaboration through audio, video and IP-based conferencing from individual desktops, and migration is expected to be complete by January 2009.

"You want a supplier that makes it easy to do business, and do it quickly," said Jones.

"AT&T's confidence in accepting responsibility for delivery was a differentiator, because one of my priorities is to manage risk and AT&T keeps that risk low."