LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Getronics, the global ICT services group, today announced a five-year deal to transition and transform how Unipart Automotive, the UK’s largest independent supplier of car parts and workshop consumables, consume and provision IT services in the Getronics cloud.
Getronics is partnering with Unipart Automotive to implement Workspace as a Service to 2,000 users across 170 sites throughout the UK, making business critical business applications accessible from multiple employee devices as they move to a BYOD environment. As part of the deal, Getronics is migrating four of the company’s data centres into the Getronics cloud and replacing legacy desktops with a thin client environment. This is fully supported by the Getronics service desk.
In 2011, Unipart Automotive was acquired by PEC from Unipart Group, which saw H2 Equity Partners take a major stake in the business as part of a major turnaround strategy for the company. In line with this change, Unipart Automotive required a fresh IT strategy that would deliver a flexible, future-proof platform for growth, whilst driving business efficiencies including a 20 per cent target reduction in annual IT spend.
Getronics worked closely with Unipart Automotive to make recommendations on how to address the immediate requirements of the new board’s short timeframe. Getronics successfully won the contract due to its understanding of how best to shape and deliver an IT strategy that achieved business transformation through the adoption of new technologies.
Dominic Ruscillo, CIO at Unipart Automotive, comments: “The holy grail for any CIO is to drive competitive advantage through technology. Unipart Automotive’s vision is for technology to become an enabler for profitable business growth.
Getronics developed a roadmap that demonstrated how to embrace both emerging and standard technologies to deliver against our objectives and ensure we keep evolving. This not only encompassed the rapid change we needed to undertake following the separation from Unipart Group but beyond as we prepare for growth.
The commercial flexibility of the contract was imperative to us because of the dynamic journey that we, our end users and customers are on, let alone the pace of technology change. This gave me great confidence that we had found a partner that would not lead us down a technology cul de sac but instead keep us innovating.
In six months, Getronics quickly got under the skin of our organisation, helping us to streamline our IT operations, improve productivity and the service we deliver to our customers. We were impressed by the calibre of Getronics, their in depth understanding of our business, our objectives, as well as their agility.
In terms of quick wins, the initial savings we’re on track to achieve, both in terms of employee productivity and IT spend, are around £1M, already in line with our targeted 20% savings.
Standardising our systems has driven increased customer satisfaction and improved end-user experience. We have introduced new devices, systems and services that facilitate flexible working practices.
As an example, we have deployed a new portal for our end users to access our EDI system, with revised business approval processes. This has successfully combined an existing process on to a new, user friendly technology platform. Scenarios such as this improve working practices, drives efficiencies and are an enabler for positive business growth.”
Next on the agenda for Unipart Automotive and Getronics is a comprehensive Unified Comms programme which comprises a VOIP solution to improve customer experience and optimise sales potential, whilst future-proofing for the creation of virtual call centres longer-term. Also in the plan is the deployment of Microsoft Lync to improve inter-branch communication and collaboration.
Unipart Automotive’s digital strategy is also under review, with a new website launched that will support advanced cataloguing, ecommerce, and mobile apps to drive improved sales performance.
Last but not least, is a Managed Print Services deal to roll out a Samsung print estate to automate the order-to-delivery process, in a project targeted to generate £100K savings on consumables alone. This project will form the basis of a wider Business Process re-engineering project to improve Unipart Automotive’s critical business applications environment, the purpose of which is to deliver a better service to customers.
Mark Cook, Group CEO of Getronics, says, “Helping clients move through M&A activity smoothly is very familiar territory for Getronics. Having not only helped numerous clients as they’ve been part of corporate carve outs, or mergers with new organisations, but also having gone through this ourselves, we understand the pressures and priorities involved in executing this activity well.
Investing time in getting to know Unipart’s business was a critical factor in being able to deliver an IT strategy that will stand the company in good stead for future growth and employee productivity. We are proud to partner alongside Unipart Automotive as they enter this exciting new chapter of growth.”
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About Unipart Automotive
Unipart Automotive, including its garage equipment arm Garage Equipment Services (GES), is the UK’s largest independent supplier of car parts, workshop consumables and garage equipment to the aftermarket.
Unipart Automotive has a nationwide network 200 branches trading under the Unipart Automotive, Partco Autoparts, and Express Factors brands. This extensive branch network allows clients, who include Kwik-Fit, Nationwide Auto Centres, National Tyres and the AA as well as independent garages, to receive a service level of delivery within 30 minutes across 30,000 lines. Unipart Automotive has a one million square foot distribution centre that stores around 1.7 million parts and dispatches 20 trailers of Unipart Automotive products each day.
Unipart Automotive also directly supports over 700 independent, owner-operated garages through its Unipart Car Care Centre programme. Each Car Care Centre trades under the owner’s name but benefits from business and marketing support and from Unipart’s UK-leading parts service.
About Getronics
The Getronics family is an ICT Services group consisting of the Getronics and Connectis brands and is owned by the AURELIUS Group, a holding company headquartered in Munich, Germany. With an extensive history that extends over 125 years, the Getronics family has approximately 4,000 employees in 13 countries across Europe, Asia Pacific & Latin America, and has a complete portfolio of integrated ICT services for the large enterprise and public sector markets. This includes Workspace, Applications, Communication, Data Centre, Cloud, Consulting, Product and Managed Services.
Getronics is the lead in the Getronics Workspace Alliance, a unique model that provides customers with a consistent IT service throughout the world, with one single point of contact and billing entity. According to independent research by Ovum in September 2012, the alliance collectively manages 7.4M client end-user devices, positioning it within the top 3 players in the world.
