Computer Sciences Corporation SA (CSC SA) is hiring up to 20 SAP specialists to help with its share of an application managed services project awarded by mineral resources group BHP Billiton.
This is according Martin Vergunst, MD of CSC SA, who says the South African operation`s share of the BHP Billiton contract is its first offshore application outsourcing deal for a global client. Current outsourcing services for SAP, Oracle and Siebel applications are for CSC clients based only in Europe and SA.
"The South African resources on the BHP Billiton deal will carry a significant proportion of the globally delivered application support," Vergunst says. "The promised benefits of this deal rely heavily on South Africans being able to deliver skilled application support."
CSC SA has been on an expansion drive since the beginning of the year after it received an outsourcing contract for a US firm worth R500 million. At the time, the South African arm of the global CSC group said it expected to ultimately employ around 1 000 people over the next few years.
In terms of the global deal between the two companies, CSC will provide BHP Billiton with global SAP support for a major enterprise system until 2007. CSC already delivers a range of outsourcing services to BHP Billiton.
BHP Billiton global lead of IT operations Ernest Rojas says: "CSC has worked closely with BHP Billiton over the last 12 months to develop a global support model that presents benefits for both organisations."
CSC vice-president Trevor Lewis says the agreement is highlighted by a low-risk and cost-effective model of gradual resource deployment to a South African off-shore competency centre.
Share
