Keeping the core alive
US retail giant Sears Roebuck and Co. has reportedly entered into an
outsourcing deal worth $1.6 billion with Computer Sciences Corp.
Nothing really that significant except that its a ten-year deal, which is
pretty long term by industry standards.
But what's interesting is the fact that while Sears has decided to
outsource maintenance of most of its infrastructure, it will continue to
exercise control of its core retail systems.
According to CSC, the deal covers desktop, server, voice and data network
support, as well as systems services for Sears-related Web sites.
Meanwhile, Sears will retain responsibility for its overall technology
standards, architecture and service policies, as well as for its
mainframes and core retail systems, which it will maintain in-house.
Sears already has an existing contract with IBM to maintain its mainframe
servers which it probably brought from the latter.
On the other hand, there are companies that follow a somewhat contrasting
outsourcing mode although this varies according to business model.
Networking gear maker 3Com, for example, acknowledges that it derives its
competency from outsourcing itself.
3Com farms out both the design and manufacturing of its products to
several manufactures and R&D companies around the world from US to India
to China.
This way, according to 3Com chief Bruce Caflin, the company is able to tap
into the best service available and squeeze every ounce of advantage over
its competitors.
