Leading specialist financial services provider, PPS Insurance, has contracted Datacentrix to handle the outsourcing of its IT service desk, end-user computing, network, security and telephony services.
Datacentrix won the selective national outsourcing contract on an open tender in which 10 outsourcing service providers were invited to compete for the business. The outsourcing is on a national basis and caters for 600 PPS end-users, both at the PPS head office in Parktown, and 19 regional offices countrywide.
PPS head of IT, Mandy McKernan, says the decision to look for a new outsourcing partner arose from the company's ongoing need to ensure the highest levels of good corporate governance.
“Due diligence is important to us as an organisation and the delivery of our outsourcing partner at that time did not match our requirements in this area.”
A matrix was applied to the tenders received, bringing the list down to three contenders. A second selection process included presentations and site visits followed by a further evaluation, after which the final decision was made by PPS.
“A service level contract clearly defines all of our requirements,” adds McKernan. “We encountered far fewer problems than we had anticipated and the feedback in our business forum was very positive. We were comfortable that Datacentrix had met all the criteria and that we would be able to move onto the levels required by the service agreement.”
The biggest change was in the first-line support to the desktop. “Now desktop management is a non-event as there are absolutely no issues. Not only this, but feedback from staff is very positive and there have been minimal escalations.”
McKernan says the IT service desk was a significant change for PPS, particularly as Datacentrix took it off-site, which resulted in many advantages and the resolution of problems through proactive preventative measures.
A Datacentrix transition team was tasked to manage the transfer, and with a well-defined communications and education campaign, successfully introduced and trained all users.
Both the switchboards and the voice login systems at the PPS head office and regional offices are managed and maintained by Datacentrix, which has back-to-back agreements with Siemens.
“Innovations have been implemented within the services desk to ensure that the specific requirements of PPS are adhered to,” explains Shawn Winterburn, outsource sales specialist at Datacentrix. “This has improved the service offering and products that can be offered to PPS' prospective clients.”
PPS has more than 200 000 members who have exclusive access to a comprehensive suite of financial and healthcare products specifically tailored to meet their professional lifestyles. PPS embraces an ethos of mutuality, which means it exists for the sole benefit of its members. PPS members, who are PPS Provider policyholders with Units of Benefit, share in the profits of PPS.
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Datacentrix is a leading, black empowered IT company that provides computing power, business value and solutions to corporate South Africa. Datacentrix celebrated 12 years of successful performance since its listing on the JSE Limited in September 1998. For more information, please visit www.datacentrix.co.za.
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