The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has announced Telstra is to be the beneficiary of a 10-year, up to $1 billion, managed service contract ahead of a planned telecommunications network upgrade aimed at creating a future-proof IT platform.
Telstra replaces Telecom New Zealand's Gen-i as the provider after Gen-i opted not to compete for the deal last year.
Under the outsourcing deal worth up to $100 million a year, Telstra will provide next generation telecommunications capabilities and fully managed services to the bank’s branches, contact centres, eftpos network and non-branch ATMs.
The significant business transformation project is also aimed at increasing customer convenience and accessibility which will help support the bank’s customer satisfaction goals.
In an ASX statement Michael Harte, group executive enterprise services and CIO, said the agreement, which is part of the organisation’s "Smart Sourcing" strategy, would help align execution with business outcomes.
“Our arrangement with Telstra is a partnership which is directly focused on customer satisfaction through well defined shared goals, commitments and business outcomes,” he said. “This is the first time we have stuck a deal of this kind.”
The Smart Sourcing strategy, as articulated by the CBA, aims to progressively review service provision to drive enhancements within the business.
David Thodey, Telstra Enterprise & Government Group managing director said the company’s Next IP and Next G networks would play a fundamental role in achieving CBA’s transaction and customer service objectives.
Telstra will begin transitioning the management of the CBA’s network services from current provider Gen-I today, however Gen-i will continue to continue to work on other projects and provide strategic support. The deal follows similar business transformation outsourcing announcements from the banking sector.
A statement from Gen-i today says the transition of services to Telstra is expected to take up to two years. Gen-i says it remains a key partner to the bank delivering other services outside the scope of the RFP, including the Sydney MAN extension (links to support the bank’s strategy by consolidating the CBD, Homebush, Parramatta and Norwest datacentres in Sydney) and contact centre services.