Shell confirms global IT outsourcing plans
The multi-national oil giant Shell has announced its plans to outsource the majority of its global IT operations, with hundreds of workers in the UK set to be affected by the move.
According to an email sent by the vice president of IT infrastructure at Shell, Goh Swee Chen, to workers, but subsequently leaked to an internet site, the final contracts are set to be signed in March, with staff consultations set to begin this month.
It is believed that the planned outsourcing initiative will affect around 3,200 Shell employees and contractors, with around ten per cent of these currently based in the UK.
"We have been working on simplifying the organisation and generating efficiencies since at least 2005," a spokeswoman for Shell told the website Silicon.com.
"Our IT Infrastructure Sourcing Programme was launched to review the feasibility of outsourcing a substantial part of Shell's global IT Infrastructure services to a limited number of key suppliers."
It has also been reported that AT&T, EDS and T-Systems are being lined up by the oil company to run the vast majority of its IT operations from later this year.
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