After EDS yesterday denied it is in negotiations to acquire Dimension Data, Susie Sutherland, local marketing director of EDS, outlines the company`s future plans and comments on the acquisition rumour.
Sutherland says EDS is not sure where the rumour originated, but had received a call from the international parent to put an immediate stop to it.
What we enjoy is being in the position to offer potential clients cost-cutting solutions so that demand for our service goes up in bad times.
Susie Sutherland, marketing director, EDS SA
She explains that the South African division of the group is looking at local acquisitions to complement its offering in the country, but that the possibility of acquiring DiData is out of the question - despite DiData`s shrinking market cap after its profit warning earlier this month.
EDS, a global IT services and outsourcing giant, currently has a $31.2 billion market cap and a price to earnings ratio of 26.4.
While admitting that certain divisions within the DiData group would make a logical fit for EDS, Sutherland stresses that EDS is not in any form of acquisition talks with DiData. She says such an acquisition would be opportunistic, and no information is at hand as to which companies EDS might be in negotiations with.
Sutherland confirms that the non-exclusive partnership between EDS and Sun Microsystems announced to the international market yesterday will be honoured in the local market. While not facing the same kind of competition from Hewlett-Packard locally that the two companies do internationally, IBM Global Services as well as local IT services offerings will be challenged by the new partnership.
EDS SA plans to target the public sector in the future, and will maintain the current focus in the financial and manufacturing sectors.
Speaking about the local IT market, Sutherland says consulting and services companies such as EDS have not been as badly impacted by the IT slowdown as the product-oriented companies. However, she warns that consulting companies could face a slowdown in the future if the market did not begin a turnaround.
"If you look at our achievements for this year, half-year on half-year, we have been very strong. What we enjoy is being in the position to offer potential clients cost-cutting solutions so that demand for our service goes up in bad times," says Sutherland.
Related stories:
Share
