As far as IT outsourcing goes BP Canada Energy Co. ascribes to the “”if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”” school of thought.
The Calgary-based company renewed its contract with EDS
Canada for $42 million over 10 years. Phil Cochrane, vice-president government and public affairs for BP Canada, says no other companies were courted when it came time negotiate. While he says it was aware of what other outsourcers were doing and offering, BP was satisfied with the service it had been receiving.
“”EDS basically provides all of our digital business function and support,”” he says. “”It’s pretty much the whole ball of wax.””
More specifically, EDS is responsible for server and desktop support, enterprise help desk management, new technology deployments, e-mail and telecommunications services according to Andy Boettcher, client delivery executive, southern Alberta for EDS. He says he hopes the IT infrastructure work will lead to providing enterprise application management.
EDS will have plenty to do in the mean time. BP Canada has about 1,500 IT users in more than 40 different locations. As might be expect of an oil and gas company, some of the locations are remote. Boettcher says it deal with the remote cites in one of two ways. Mississauga, Ont.-based NexInnovation has been contracted to provide tech support in certain remote spots over the Internet. He says it plans to increase its remote management capabilities over the course of the contract.
Despite being a global company with removed offices, Boettcher says BP is one of the best from an outsourcer’s perspective, calling it “”a world leader in providing a common operating environment.”” By maintaining a consistency between desktops, he says his job is made that much easier.
Boettcher says BP has adopted a similar outsourcing philosophy worldwide, but Cochrane isn’t sure where the competition’s strategy is.
“”I think every company has it’s own strategy and this is one that we have embraced and believe works well for our business,”” Cochrane says. “”The most important advantage is that our business needs are being met in a cost effective way.””
Comment: [email protected]
