Andersen wins outsourcing deal with Texas Instruments

Andersen Consulting has secured a five-year $200m outsourcing contract with Texas Instruments Semiconductor Group. The contract, which was not open to tender, was offered direct to Andersen, after the firm spent two years working on a strategy for converting TI’s mainframe systems to client/server platforms.

TI’s new systems include SAP’s R/3 software, an Oracle data warehouse, Lotus Notes and Saros’ Mezzanine document procession technology.

In the first deal of its kind, the IT consultancy will design, build and maintain the group’s open business information systems. As part of the contract 250 TI employees transferred to Andersen at the beginning of January.

David B Rich, client partner for Texas Instruments and managing partner responsible for the electronics/high technology practices for the southern part of Andersen Consulting, commented:

“Cost wasn’t really a factor for them; there was a push by business to reduce cycle time and implement information systems. The major reason for the deal was to ensure quick product delivery, reduce risk and increase success, and partnering with Andersen will get them ahead of the competiton.”

He added: “What is different about the TI deal is that they are asking us to design, build and also maintain their systems.”