With over 2,200 travel agencies, 146 aircraft and 30 million customers, TUI Travel is one of the world’s largest tour operators. Now, the company has tasked T-Systems with the provision of telecommunications services to more than 25,000 colleagues throughout Europe – for the next five years. The deal comprises the integration of speech, data and mobile traffic on an Internet protocol platform (VOIP) and the roll-out of world-leading Unified Communications Tools (Microsoft Office Communicator) to seven European countries.
“This step towards Unified Communications, that will help us reduce our costs, is part of our strategic synergy program,” explains Jim Mann, CIO at the group’s Crawley, UK, headquarters. In 2009, TUI Travel generated revenues of almost 16 billion euros. “We selected T-Systems to integrate and enhance our telecommunications services as they have the proven technological and global expertise to manage a project of this scope and size. T-Systems is taking over end-to-end responsibility for the whole package: it’s an all-inclusive deal,” jokes the CIO. “TUI and its customers will benefit immensely. For example, ad-hoc video conferences will make communications faster and more efficient, and when it comes to booking travel packages, TUI Travel will be able to respond more quickly to customer inquiries and requests.
Contact: jon.davies@t-systems.com

Not only Austria’s largest bank, Bank Austria has a proud tradition dating back to the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today, the bank is part of the leading European banking group UniCredit, acting as a central hub for its banking network in central and eastern Europe. This international set-up makes compliance with corporate governance rules and regulations a complex task. That’s why Bank Austria sought an IT solution from T-Systems. “Corporate governance is a key strategic issue. It determines our credibility and therefore the success of our business,” says Herbert Hangel, Head of Global Banking Services at Bank Austria. Simply emailing increasingly comprehensive guidelines to employees no longer sufficed. The new IT platform allows all relevant rules, procedures and data to be consistently documented and administered in one place. From headquarters in Vienna to branches in Styria to Sofia and Zagreb, some 8,000 employees can now access the same, up-to-date data and can view policies at a glance. Granular, role-based authorizations protect governance, including for loans, financing, risk management, and securities trading.
Contact: peter.lang@t-systems.at

Daimler needs a raft of applications for development, production, distribution and more. T-Systems will be managing over 60 of these production-critical apps for the automobile maker. Whereas companies used to require multiple service providers and a host of contacts, now they only need one – freeing up in-house IT professionals to concentrate on strategic tasks. To provide services for and evolve the applications, T-Systems draws on a balanced combination of its own and offshore resources from its partner Cognizant in India, saving Daimler both time and money.
Contact: luz.mauch@t-systems.com

No matter what an Italian farmer produces, be it cattle or cherries, sardines or soy, quails or Valpolicella wine - like everywhere else in Europe, the 2.3 million agricultural businesses between Piedmont and Calabria receive subsidies from the EU. In the Veneto region, famous for its Prosecco grapes and its many varieties of radicchio, the AVEPA agency ensures that direct payments – and other measures to promote development in rural areas – are distributed properly. That entitlements change regularly is not the only challenge. The authorities in Brussels and Rome also demand transparent administration from AVEPA, with tangible benefits in effectiveness and efficiency for employees and customers. To be better placed to deal with around one billion euros worth of payments annually, AVEPA has tasked T-Systems with its entire ICT operations and software development.

“This partnership will substantially improve the efficiency of all our grant allocation processes, and help us support our farmers,” says AVEPA Director Fausto Luciani. He also views the agreement with T-Systems as an opportunity to expand his agency’s offering. According to Luciani, outsourcing to T-Systems enables “the integrated development and online provisioning of AVEPA’s innovative services. In future, we can provide these not just to agriculture but to other sectors”. As a result, AVEPA can meet its customers’ increasing demand for online services. What’s more, the ongoing optimization of AVEPA’s IT processes significantly reduces costs.
Contact: guglielmo.barranco@t-systems.it

Can job seekers receive information on vacancies direct to their cell phone? Is there a new online training program for graduates applying for jobs? Does someone have an inquiry about welfare payments or health insurance contributions? For Germany’s Federal Agency for Employment, providing reliable services in line with its customers’ real-world needs is key.

With over 170,000 integrated desktops, the agency operates one of the largest IT landscapes in Germany. To provide high-quality service, the agency’s IT department and T-Systems now deliver IT resources in line with the ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) standard. “As a result, our business processes are simpler, our extensive IT environment is more manageable and quality improvements are measurable,” explains the agency’s CIO Klaus Vitt. And Germany’s IT service management forum (itSMF) shares his opinion: the German Federal Agency for Employment was the first organization to be awarded itSMF’s prize for the most ambitious and successful IT service management project of the year.
Contact: renate.schueler@t-systems.com

Best Practice talked to Dr. Ferri Abolhassan, Head of Systems Integrations and member of the T-Systems Board of Management, about the significance of this certification for the company and its customers.

What does being named SAP Global Service Provider mean for T-Systems?
Ferri Abolhassan: Thanks to our plan-build-run approach to SAP applications, we have become one of the leading service providers in the SAP space. We operate SAP applications for major players such as Shell, MAN and Linde. Now, by naming us a Global Service Partner, SAP has officially recognized our ability to provide high-quality services around the world. This means that we have become part of a small, exclusive club of global enterprises capable of providing services across all countries and industries. Many multinational companies’ IT tenders stipulate that the provider must be an SAP Global Service Partner. So this distinction makes us even more competitive on the international market.

How do customers stand to benefit?
Ferri Abolhassan: T-Systems and SAP will collaborate even more closely – around the world. So our customers can rest assured that we can provide top-quality services for SAP applications anywhere where their business processes require them. We can visit our customers on any continent, and in any country, to provide advice and implement projects while working with our SAP colleagues as one team.
Soon, our customers will benefit from completely new solutions. For example, T-Systems is working on putting SAP applications on smart phones. This means that soon, field sales staff and other employees will be able to use SAP’s CRM tools while on the move, gaining new flexibility. We are also very active in the “SAP from the cloud” space – meaning the provision of SAP applications via a network on a flexible, scalable, SaaS (software as a service) basis, complete with pay-as-you-go pricing models.

What do you expect from this partnership?

Ferri Abolhassan: I believe that this will give us boost with all things SAP. In addition to SAP for smart phones, there will be further solutions for sourcing enterprise software via a network on a demand-driven basis. Having SAP as a partner also allows us to effectively support customers with transforming and updating their transnational SAP landscapes. Many companies’ SAP environments have become highly complex due to takeovers, or have simply grown and become unmanageable over time. Such landscapes are expensive to operate and maintain. So many businesses are under pressure to do something in this area. As an SAP partner for hosting, application management, and now services, we are in a good position to tackle such global-scale projects.

spectrum|K delivers a comprehensive range of services to more than 130 of Germany’s statutory health insurance companies – enabling them to focus on their core activities. Now, more than ever before, health insurers need to ensure their service quality stands out from the competition. And that brings significant cost pressure, despite the changes that were made in 2009 to the way statutory providers are financed. To alleviate this pressure, health insurers can now charge an extra fee. Calculating and levying these additional insurance contributions is complex. But spectrum|K has developed a system, which clearly defines and fully automates the entire process. spectrum|K has now outsourced selected services from its modular offering to T-Systems. “We benefit from a one-stop service so administrative effort is significantly reduced, and process costs are cut by as much as 50 percent”, says Yves Rawiel, Head of Customer Management at spectrum|K. T-Systems has assumed responsibility for payment collection – printing and sending customer correspondence and bills, and handling incoming mail electronically. What’s more, customers benefit from a range of payment options, including online service T-Pay Micro Money. And T-Systems’ call center agents are available to answer questions about the statutory providers’ financing system.
Contact: mathias.gold@t-systems.com

Is information regarding a vehicle’s age and mileage accurate? Who carried out repairs and tests on a car if it was damaged in an accident or something went wrong? Were there any problems with payment between buyer and seller? Has an attachment order been issued for the vehicle? The ITV inspectorate at the Spanish road traffic authority DGT (Dirección General de Tráfico) now has Web-based access to detailed records for over 30 million vehicles. Thanks to a database managed by an application developed by T-Systems, authorities can call up all relevant data on a car as soon as its owner registers the vehicle online. And the information is automatically updated after every inspection. As a result, the DGT’s vehicle register is always accurate – and authorities, dealers and private sellers can avoid nasty surprises.
Contact: pablo-saenzdetejada@t-systems.es

Saving time, money and fuel on the road: MAN and T-Systems have extended their existing telematics with new services. As a result, freight forwarders can cut operating costs by up to 20 percent. Thanks to GPRS technology (General Packet Radio Service), trucks can send and receive status updates and messages. This provides head offices with insight into the location of their vehicles so they can assign new jobs and avoid costly empty runs. In addition, a vehicle-usage analysis tool delivers key data, such as fuel consumption, average speed and revolutions per minute. Drivers can use this information to optimize their driving style and reduce fuel consumption. Furthermore, the tool reports on the current condition of parts that are subject to wear and tear, such as brake pads, and saves the data in a maintenance portal – specially designed by T-Systems. Using these facts and figures, staff at MAN workshops can determine and schedule a suitable date for the next inspection. This minimizes vehicle off-road time and helps extend truck lifespan.

Increasingly, T-Systems is investing in research and development in the field of vehicle-to-vehicle communications. In cooperation with technology partner Continental, the ICT provider is designing in-car apps and modules that will enable in-vehicle connectivity (see Best Practice issue 1/2010).
Contact: tilman.schwemin@t-systems.com

“If we are satisfied with the price and quality of our suppliers, we are keen to continue the partnership,” says Peter Kummer, Head of IT at SBB (Swiss Federal Railways), Switzerland’s largest transportation and travel company. SBB’s railways carry 320 million passengers and 54 million metric tons of freight per year. Five years ago, the company tasked T-Systems with the operation and support of its central IT services. To continue the strategic partnership, SBB has now renewed the contracts to 2015 – and in some cases even as far as 2018. As part of this new “timetable” the companies have agreed on a service-credit model. According to René Mulder, Corporate Customers Director at T-Systems Switzerland, “This will gear our services and applications even more closely to the business needs of the Swiss Federal Railways”.
Contact: astrid.blechschmidt@t-systems.com

Rewe is the supermarket of choice for many Europeans, especially as most of their stores are accessible on foot and often stay open until after 8pm. The Rewe Group ranks third among European food retailers, employing close to 320,000 people in 15,000 outlets spread over 16 countries. The goal of Rewe supermarkets is to provide high-quality service. Their company slogan proclaims that they aim to get “a little better every day”. In keeping with this philosophy, large LCD displays will appear in around 480 Rewe stores from this autumn, keeping customers up to speed on news and the latest offers. T-Systems and Deutsche Telekom are implementing a digital signage solution – combining digital advertising with the latest news and multimedia content on integrated screens. Rewe will leverage this system to broadcast news, image and product advertising, and weather forecasts. Around 2,600 of the digital displays are to go live by October 2010. The supermarket chain will be the first in Germany to have a national, integrated in-store television network of this size. T-Systems will initially roll out the system to stores in the Frankfurt area. Rewe is then to extend the project across Hesse, parts of Bavaria and Rheinland-Palatinate.
Contact: christoph.guenther@t-systems.com