Qantas offshores software development
Australian airline signs multimillion pound deals with Indian suppliers
Qantas has signed a seven-year outsourcing contract with Indian suppliers covering application development and maintenance services for hundreds of applications, to improve operational efficiency.
The airline’s deal with Tata Consulting Services (TCS) for AUS$120m (£48m) and another with Satyam Computer Services are designed to provide resource and cost flexibility for current and future IT projects, and follows a 12-month review of applications development, support and maintenance functions.
Qantas would need an investment of AUS$100m (£40m) to develop its in-house capability to industry best practice standards, which it could not support given the extensive capital expenditure programme already underway, says the firm’s chief executive, Geoff Dixon.
‘There is an increasing concentration of suppliers with the skills we need for the ongoing support of these applications, and these suppliers are achieving a scale and efficiency that airlines like Qantas simply cannot match,' he said
‘The applications support and maintenance work relates to over 300 applications that use a wide range of computer languages and technologies. Much of this work involves ageing systems.’
Dixon says the transition to TCS and Satyam will take place over 15 months and mean the loss of up to 340 Qantas IT positions.
Under the contract, TCS will assume responsibility for more than 75 per cent of the total scope of Qantas’ applications services and transformation outsourcing programme, and will be the lead partner for the transition phase.
TCS will also provide support and maintenance to all of the airline’s key IT applications for airport operations and commercial systems.
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