BP outsources global comms to T-Systems

BP hopes the deal will help towards its cost-cutting efforts

In a push to cut costs and drive efficiency, oil giant BP has announced that T-Systems and Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN Group) will provide its global telecoms, voice and data requirements.

The rollout of the next-generation voice and data services to BP's global network will take around five years.

Reinhard Clemens, chief executive at T-Systems, said that the company will use its combination of IT and communications capabilities to "deliver strong business results for BP".

As part of the deal, SEN Group will deliver and manage the global end-to-end telephony service, based on the Information Technology Infrastructure Library standard.

Stefan Herrlich SEN group senior vice president sales for Europe, said that both SEN Group and T-Systems have the operational capabilities to match BP’s requirements and allow maximum economies of scale to be achieved.

"This will enable BP to remove duplication of service lines and offer a more streamlined global operating model and help BP transform its global telecoms services for next generation voice and data services," he said.

T-Systems added that it has extensive experience of working with SEN Group, and that the two companies have a strong track record of successful collaboration.

BP announced in July that it was planning on cutting £1bn in costs after a 57 per cent fall in profits for the first half-year against the same period in 2008.

BP chief information officer Dana Deasy explained that the decision to choose T-Systems will give the company "a significant opportunity to reduce complexity and lower our overall cost base".

Farhan Mirza, principal at consultancy AT Kearney argued that the deal underlines the growing benefits businesses are seeing from outsourcing their communication systems.

"While cost saving is an important factor many companies are now more sophisticated in their understanding of the strategic benefits of having a unified communication system," he added.

"Increasingly companies are using multiple vendors to provide them with their communication systems to remove complexities and drive innovation," he concluded.