Threshers outsources core IT in £8m Xansa deal

High-street off-licence group Threshers is to outsource its core IT systems to Xansa in an £8m five-year deal that will see some services moved to India.

The deal with Xansa runs from the end of May this year and replaces an existing outsourcing contract Threshers had with EDS since 2003. That relationship with EDS went back to when Threshers was owned by Whitbread and Allied Domecq before being bought by private equity group Terra Firma.

The new contract covers applications management, IT operations and hosting for Threshers' SAP financials, WebSphere, Business Objects and JDA merchandising applications.

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A significant portion of the work will be handled by Xansa's Indian facility in Noida just outside New Delhi, including first line support for 300 staff at Threshers' Welwyn Garden City head office.

Simon Thomas, IT director at Thresher, told silicon.com the new outsourcing deal will save the company £1m a year and provide a more flexible cost base.

"In the retail sector things always change. We are owned by a VC and we can grow but also shrink, and if any piece of the business is sold off IT can become a millstone," he said.

As part of the contract Xansa will work with hosting company BSG and IT support services provider Phoenix.

David Leigh, strategy director at Xansa, said retailers are increasingly seeing benefits from moving parts of their IT infrastructure offshore as technology continues to automate many business processes.