"Interchange
are the natural choice for a solution because of the work
they had been undertaking for us successfully over
a long period "
A
Leading provider of solutions and services
to the professional users of ICT
Largest
ICT organisation in Benelux
Delivering
services in 44 countries
Workforce
of 34,000
"We
are now moving to a complete solutions
approach, with a strong focus on value
added services"
Getronics
is one of the world's leading providers of solutions
and services to the professional users of information
and communication technology (ICT) and is the largest
ICT organisation in Benelux. With the recently announced
merger with Wang Global, the company is now one of the
world's top five ICT firms - delivering services
on a global basis in 44 countries and employing
a workforce of 34,000.
Headquarters are in Amsterdam, with regional head offices
in Boston, London, Singapore and Washington DC.
The company comprises a number of complementary business
units - each specialising in a specific area of
information and communication technology - grouped into
seven competence centres. Getronics works with many
of the world's largest companies to help them maximise
the value of their technology investment and customers
include major corporates, financial institutions,
government and leading organisations in the non-profit
sector.
Now part of Getronics, Wang Global was a prominent leader
in networked technology services and solutions, with
a turnover of $3 billion, employing over 20,000
people worldwide and serving major commercial and government
customers and leading IT vendors.
"We
provide a wide range of business solutions to
help customers achieve business goals across a
variety of market sectors," says Ernst Greefhorst,
Getronics project manager for process implementation
and IT infrastructure. "These include lifecycle
services and support of infrastructure, products
and systems - with service level agreements designed
to meet all levels of customer need."
Since 1986 the company has been using service
management software supplied by Interchange, to
support its third party maintenance business strategy.
More recently, new challenges prompted further
Getronics recourse to Interchange consultancy
expertise. These were the need to resolve Year
2000 systems compliance issues and the introduction
of the Euro. Getronics also wanted to improve
the quality of its internal IT systems and increase
the effectiveness of its customer facing
services.
"Our business is constantly growing and changing,"
said Greefhorst. "Whereas, in the past
we sold PCs and associated equipment and systems,
delivered them, handled installation, networking
and upgrades, we are now moving to a complete
solutions approach, with a strong focus on value
added services. With the added challenge
of addressing the Year 2000 and Euro issues,
we decided that an increased level of Interchange
resource was required."
In 1997, the company signed a five-year contract
with Interchange - the two major elements
of which are to provide service management consultancy
and programming skills. Consultancy covers service
management, call control, workshop contract
administration and purchase order processing -
a complete, integrated solution for the management
of internal servicing and repair.
"Interchange are the natural choice for a
solution because of the work they had been undertaking
for us successfully over a long period" says
Greefhorst.
The
solution is a continuing partnership between Getronics
and Interchange. Under a new five-year contract,
Interchange continues to support the existing
installed software, helping Getronics exploit
the new functionality of that software;
and providing service management consultancy for
Getronics' internal repair and maintenance programmes,
along with the necessary programming skills.
"Because we had an established relationship
with Interchange over many years, they know
our business, and are aware of our strategic goals.
Combined with the technical and management expertise
to help us achieve them, they have exhibited
a high degree of responsiveness and flexibility
to meet our changing needs," said Greefhorst.
Getronics field engineers are being provided with
laptop computers so that they can receive and
send electronically service transaction traffic
to speed satisfaction of assignment requirements,
reduce paperwork and provide a better service.
This will make a significant impact in day-to-day
working practices, where Getronics' 1200 field
service engineers in Holland typically receive
and process up to 1,500 service calls a
day. Another area where Interchange has made a
significant contribution is in the integration
of its service management solution into the helpdesk.
The
evolution of Interchange's long term relationship
with Getronics has reflected Interchange's
own evolution from a product supplier offering
service and consultancy, to a consultancy specialising
in improving customer service which also offers
and integrates a wide range of best of breed software.
This enables Interchange to use its experience
in customer service and technical expertise to
choose and implement the right product for
a customer's needs and budget - customers like
Getronics.
The success of Interchange's involvement with
Getronics - spanning over a decade - underlines
the importance of a close partnership approach
to identifying business problems and developing
and implementing solutions. This has played
a vital role in helping Getronics achieve its
business goals through improving technical and
business processes and customer relationships.
Benefits
to Getronics have included identifiable and significant
improvements in stock handling, improvements in speed
of procurement, the establishment of just-in-time
stockholding, more comprehensive and effective service
agreements, better support for customer satisfaction reviews
and improved call handling. All have contributed
to an overall improvement in Getronics' operations,
both internally (through
service to the company's internal repair and maintenance
operations) and in its external services to customers.
Strategic benefits have included full corporate Euro introduction
readiness and Year 2000 compliance preparedness.
"Interchange helped us prepare for Year 2000,"
said Greefhorst "not just at the hardware level,
but at the more complex and challenging levels of
systems and application software and data interchange.
Copyright
2001 - 2008 Interchange Group Limited - All Rights Reserved
Copyright
2001 - 2008 Interchange Group Limited - All Rights Reserved
