Outsourcing pact provides technical infrastructure services to 60 countries.
IBM signed a $1.4-billion, seven-year outsourcing agreement with AstraZeneca. The deal renews and expands on the scope of an existing contract and covers the provision of IT infrastructure services to 60 countries.
“Leveraging IBM’s global delivery capabilities and economies of scale will allow AstraZeneca to focus its efforts on adding value to its scientific, commercial, and supply operations, thereby helping the company to deliver more medicines that make a meaningful difference to patients,” notes Richard Williams, CIO of AstraZeneca. “In allowing IBM greater autonomy on methods of delivery, the agreement will result in cost efficiencies when compared with running in-house systems.”
IBM will provide a single global technical infrastructure, managing IT services for AstraZeneca across its global organization. This includes server and storage hosting, service desks, PC management, network and communications services, including e-mail, and computer operations support. AstraZeneca will retain control of its overall IT strategy and the development and support of its application systems.
“This innovative agreement with IBM will enable AstraZeneca to deliver greater value to the business by providing consistent infrastructure services globally, enabling a faster and more efficient rollout of new technology with improved levels of service,” according to Williams.
