British American Tobacco outsources application support

Multi-year deal expected to bring "step changes" to the firm's IT set-up

BAT's IT application work will be largely delivered from India

British American Tobacco (BAT) has hired Indian IT services provider Wipro to provide application support services for its global business operations.

The engagement will see Wipro providing an application support delivery model across the 130 countries where BAT operates, which is expected to reduce costs and allow the introduction of a wider range of services to internal business users.

BAT’s decision to outsource application support is also expected to bring “step change results in productivity, IT costs and service quality”.

According to the tobacco giant, the multi-year deal is the “right way forward” when it comes to its wider IT strategy.

“We will be considerably more effective across our global enterprise. These changes will help us improve the application support service quality, facilitate better integration, enable enhanced knowledge sharing and, ultimately, help us become more competitive,” said Ben Fourie, BAT’s head of global IT services.

Financial terms have not been disclosed, but the deal was one of the highlights of Wipro’s results, released last week.

Last summer, BAT signed a five-year deal with Accenture to improve the design, as well as development and implementation of IT systems supporting its business operations.

Accenture will deliver the work through a joint application development centre, which will use the supplier's resources based in the Philippines and India, as well as BAT’s Spain-based staff.