Stories about: IBM GSA

The big bang outsourcing contracts made famous by the big banks over the past decade may have been a one-off occurrence, according to the architect of Westpac's famed multi-billion deal with IBM.

Foodstuff producer and distributor Burns Philp has signed a three-year managed service contract with Brennan IT replacing incumbent IBM GSA.

The Department of Health and Ageing is calling for tenders for the development of an online network to store documents and enable better workflow management for the listing of approved drugs via the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

Westpac Bank has admitted that IT security has been the one casualty of its 10-year, $4.3 billion IT outsourcing deal with IBM GSA which was inked in the year 2000.

Although reluctant to deploy open source software within its corporate network, Australia Post, has developed a time-keeping system for some 35,000 employees using a collection of open source tools.

Whatever your opinion about the full sale of Telstra, the fact is that right now, we the people still own 51 percent. Unfortunately we own it in name only and we have to rely on the federal government to be our responsible proxy on the board.

Organisations considering insourcing must be fully prepared for the substantial cultural and structural changes it can bring, according to the CIO of one of Australia's largest insurers.

Legislative amendments to extend the go-live date of the Australian Customs Service's trouble-plagued Cargo Management Re-engineering (CMR) system by a year has been passed by the Senate, but not before the federal opposition made hay in the Upper House over the delay.

If it were not for the last five years of bad value equalled by bad service, it would be almost possible to feel sorry for large outsourcers. I say almost possible, because at the end of the day (or in this case five- to 10-year contracts) it is gradually emerging that those who, following the business ideology of the time, sent almost every piece of IT kit and staff packing to the nearest friendly multinational willing to lighten them of seven to eight digits worth of budget.

In a trend that will bring little joy to large outsourcers, the federal government is gradually in-sourcing many of its helpdesk services after enduring years of slow response times, a frustratingly limited understanding of its business needs and questionable value for money.

The Health Insurance Commission (HIC) has begun a technology review covering its outsourcing agreement with IBM GSA and an investigation into Linux as a way to reduce operating costs.