Wednesday, October 8, 2008

E-mail Story     Print     Feedback

Accenture Manages Self-Designed Telstra Plan Down Under

Accenture inked a five-year, multi-million-dollar application outsourcing contract with Aussie giant Telstra, and it’s now tasked with maintaining Telstra’s customer-care and billing platform, which Accenture helped design and deploy.

Under terms of the contract, Accenture will be responsible for the ongoing management of the platform and ensuring that it operates effectively through further migrations and software releases.

“Telstra is now offering Australians a world-class customer-care experience as a direct result of the implementation of our new customer-care and billing platform,” says Tom Lamming, Telstra’s transformation & technology advisor. “Accenture has worked with us on the transformation journey since the beginning, so this is a logical extension of the work they have already performed.”

Accenture led the development and implementation of the customer-care and billing platform as part of Telstra’s business transformation program and, so far, Telstra has migrated more than 5 million consumer customers and 8.5 million services to a new platform, processing hundreds of thousands of orders and millions of bills, reportedly with no increase in complaint volumes.

“The IT transformation we are undertaking with Accenture’s significant contribution is all about enabling Telstra to achieve excellence in customer service, now and into the future,” Lamming adds. “It is making the business more effective and transforming the customer experience. The Accenture team has played a major role in helping Telstra change the game, so we are pleased to engage them to provide ongoing support for our customer care and billing solution.”

According to FY08 financials released Sept. 25, Accenture reported new bookings of a “record” $26.7 billion, representing an increase of 22 percent in U.S. dollars. Consulting new bookings were $14.7 billion, an increase of 17 percent in U.S. dollars compared with a year ago, and consulting represented 55 percent of total new bookings in FY08.

In addition, Accenture’s reported new outsourcing bookings totaled $12 billion, an increase of 29 percent in U.S. dollars. As such, outsourcing represented 45 percent of total new bookings in FY08. Most of Accenture’s outsourcing income came from Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), bringing in $11.5 million compared with $9.5 million for FY07, an increase of 21 percent in U.S. dollars. Americas outsourcing brought in $9.7 million for FY08, and AsiaPac accounted for $2.1 million in FY08 outsourcing income.