Information and communication technology group IBM South Africa has clinched a six-year, multimillion-rand contract for IT services from South African Breweries (SAB), it said on Friday. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
IBM will establish a customer-services centre and manage services including hosting servers, storage and support for the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning environment. In addition, IBM will provide IT security support for these services. As part of this contract, IBM will ensure that SAB has a stable, reliable and responsive service, critical to the beer-distribution business.
Commenting on the deal, Mteto Nyati, IBM’s director for global technology services, said: “This deal cements our long relationship with SAB and pushes us closer to becoming a market leader in IT-outsourcing services in South Africa.”
SAB is a unit of London-listed brewing giant SABMiller. Its MD, Tony van Kralingen, said: “In IBM, SAB has a long-time IT partner that ensures continuity of service at all times.”
“The significance of this contract is underpinned by the fact that SAB Limited, as a client, has been a crucial part of the foundation of IBM’s strategic outsourcing business in South Africa for many years,” said Mark Harris, IBM South Africa’s MD.
Harris added that IBM will be looking to share its intellectual property resources on global initiatives, which address key issues in the beer industry, particularly the efficient use of water and energy.
“We want to be a market leader in the IT-outsourcing sector in this country by the end of the year,” said Nyati.
The deal adds to IBM’s high-value clients that include Absa, Safmarine and Gold Fields.
“We are looking for new clients as well, but over the past two years we have been looking at protecting our existing clients,” concluded Nyati. — I-Net Bridge