HELSINKI, FINLAND, June 23, 2004 – Wärtsilä, a leading global ship power and power plant provider, Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) announced today, that they have signed 10-year agreements concerning global operational and application management and support for Wärtsilä’s IT functions in approximately 50 countries worldwide. The initiative is a part of Wärtsilä’s strategy to focus on its core businesses.
Under the agreement between Wärtsilä and Accenture, Accenture will provide Wärtsilä application support for Wärtsilä’s global SAP program, in which Accenture has been a key player also in the design and build phases. The support will be delivered through Accenture´s global delivery center network, which includes leveraging Accenture’s development center in India.
Under the agreement between Wärtsilä and HP, HP will provide Wärtsilä IT-infrastructure services for 8,200 users in 101 locations worldwide. The agreement covers the management and support of Wärtsilä’s IT infrastructure and on-site support for end users. Under the terms of the agreement, approximately 70 people from Wärtsilä´s IT organization will transfer to HP.
“These arrangements represent an important instrument to support Wärtsilä’s goal of improving operational efficiency and delivering better service to customers,” said Bodil Forss, CIO of Wärtsilä. “To this end, Wärtsilä has chosen to work with Accenture and HP based on their breadth of IT capabilities, industry expertise and track records of success.”
“This outsourcing deal will give Wärtsilä one common, professional, global support process based on agreed service levels”, said Frank Korsström, partner at Accenture Finland. “Accenture will support Wärtsilä’s ambition to bring down the costs while at the same time improving both service reliability and service levels. Even more importantly, the contract aims at developing IT to provide increased business value through new offerings and further enhanced customer service”.
“This agreement draws on HP’s core capabilities in the IT infrastructure management and provides Wärtsilä an IT environment that is more responsive to the changing business needs”, said Dan Högström, Country Director of Technology Solutions Group, HP Finland. ”Increasingly, customers are finding value in HP’s Adaptive Enterprise strategy, where business and IT are synchronized to capitalize on change.”
Wärtsilä’s IT infrastructure and SAP services will be transferred to HP and Accenture during the next four to six months.
More information:
Ms Bodil Forss, CIO of Wärtsilä Corporation, tel +358 10 7095 662
Ms Eeva Kainulainen, VP, Corporate Communications, Wärtsilä Corporation, tel. +358 10 7095235.
Mr Frank Korsström, Partner at Accenture Finland, tel.+358 205 725 600
Ms Minna Ranta., Media relations Accenture Finland, tel. +358 205 725 627
Mr Dan Högström, Country Director of Technology Solutions Group, HP Finland, tel. +358 205 350
Ms Maritta Viljanen, PR Manager, HP Finland, tel. +358 40 740 5207
About Wärtsilä
Wärtsilä is The Ship Power Supplier for builders, owners and operators of vessels and offshore installations. We are the only company with a global service network to take complete care of customers’ ship machinery at every lifecycle stage. Wärtsilä is a leading provider of power plants, operation and lifetime care services in decentralized power generation. In 2003 the net sales were EUR 2.4 billion and the number of employees 12,000. www.wartsila.com
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With approximately 95,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$11.8 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2003. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company’s offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2004, HP revenue totaled $76.8 billion and the number of employees is 140,000. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com
