Computing awards: Outsourcing project of the year

ClearSpeed Technology

ClearSpeed outsourced its high-level manual testing to supplier Test and Verification Solutions. ClearSpeed chose a model that offered a permanent team based at the partner’s site, introducing management processes to reduce reliance on in-house engineers, who now spend more time on intellectual property development.

Lloyds TSB

Lloyds TSB expects a 25 per cent reduction in costs during 2008 thanks to the introduction of a new offshore delivery model, which involved a number of IT roles moving offshore to suppliers TCS, Cognizant and Wipro. Virtual desktops are securely managed across the organisation and multiple operating systems can be run simultaneously on the same PC. The project has also eased access to key skills, and the ability to exploit a flexible resource pool depending on business needs.

Iceland Foods

Iceland moved its 15-year-old internal IT service desk to a new location, hosted by supplier Getronics, which offers a shared desk model, allowing Iceland to incorporate knowledge from other companies into its own best practice. This has allowed Iceland to analyse and identify weaknesses in the infrastructure and make changes, such as the recent consolidation of the printer estate. And improved recovery following errors and incidents has halved downtime.

Highways Agency

The Highways Agency is saving £4m a year after outsourcing its IT services ­ a move that has also allowed it to reduce carbon emissions by 50 per cent. The organisation transferred 160 staff, including 60 civil servants, into the private sector as part of its plan to deliver a higher service at a reduced cost. The supplier operates a pay-per-use bundle and the agency is benefiting from improved economies of scale, cost transparency and effective knowledge transfer.

Skandia

A $200m (£110m) service-oriented architecture contract is improving productivity at financial services firm Skandia and has led to the outsourcing of a variety of IT functions, leaving the firm to handle its own customer-facing activities. The five-year outsourcing deal with Indian supplier HCL is allowing Skandia to react faster to changes in customer demand. And by taking advantage of HCL’s near-shore facilities in Belfast, Skandia says it is combining Indian outsourcing expertise with local knowledge and resources.

The Financial Services Authority

The financial industry watchdog has introduced an application development framework ­ an outsourced onshore/offshore model for applications management and solution development that allows three suppliers to bid for new development work. Over the past year the organisation has delivered projects worth £42m, saved £4.5m for its mandatory electronic reporting project, and achieved a 70 per cent rise in productivity.