NatWest calls in ICL to support online arm

ICL has signed a multimillion-pound outsourcing deal with NatWest for its online banking division.

In a three-year deal, ICL will provide support for NatWest's online banking customers from 7am to 11pm, seven days a week.

The contract is a continuation of an original partnership which began in 1998. This saw ICL deal with only advanced technical or 'third line' problems. The renewal will see ICL completely take charge of 'first' and 'second line' queries in a complete outsourcing deal, effective immediately.

NatWest claims that this deal will allow it to focus on its online banking services and develop a variety of services for customers. NatWest is one of the few companies which has taken the total outsourcing approach to technical customer support.

In a recent survey by the National Computing Centre, it was discovered that only 10.3 per cent of UK companies outsourced their helpdesk support.

The ICL helpdesk, based in Kent, has 300 to 400 staff as well as 30 employees dedicated solely to the helpdesk. ICL says its employees can hotdesk to facilitate user demand, depending on the time of day and call volume.

"Now there is a single point of contact and resolution," said Dave Chapman, IT infrastructure business manager at ICL.

The helpdesk is multi-lingual and supports a variety of operating platforms, from PCs to Wap phones. ICL claims it is currently dealing with more than 600 calls a day.

"It improves the image of the site and people will use the service more if they're not put off by technical problems," Chapman added.

The contract will also see ICL provide support to users deploying emerging technologies, such as personal digital assistants. ICL confirmed that it is in talks with NatWest to add more services to this agreement, including online support.

First published in Computing