Post Office fast-tracks modernisation and growth with Computacenter partnership

The contract for the End User Computing Tower, comprising 11,500 branches and 4,000 head office users, will enable the Post Office to enrich the customer experience by improving the delivery of existing services and accelerating the introduction of new products.

Lesley Sewell, CIO at the Post Office, commented: “The end user computing contract with Computacenter will help us modernise our IT systems and make our business more responsive and customer-focused.”

Computacenter will be deploying new workplace desktops, laptops, tablets and peripherals to the Post Office branch and head office users. It will also be delivering a range of support services, based on a utility cost model, which will be key to transforming the Post Office’s business.

John Beard, Director of Computacenter’s Financial Services and Retail Sector, commented: “We will be drawing on the industrialised processes developed in our Shared Services Factory to maximise value and help the Post Office build a commercially strong and sustainable future.”

Computacenter will be responsible for procuring, building, configuring, and installing more than circa 30,000 devices and disposing of legacy equipment through its subsidiary RDC as part of the 18-month refresh. The new technologies will be supported by Computacenter’s Global Service Centre and extensive UK engineering resource and coverage.

“Our aim is to build an IT ecosystem of best-of-breed partners. Computacenter will bring greater efficiency and agility to end user computing at the Post Office, which will empower our staff and help digitise our business,” said Sewell.

The transformation also involves deploying a new workplace platform, including Microsoft Office 365, which will improve collaboration for the Customer Support Centre head office users, and introducing managed print services to help reduce costs and complexity.

The core workplace platform, which will support the Post Office’s separation from the Royal Mail Group, will be hosted in Computacenter’s Tier IV certified Romford datacentre on a resilient private cloud infrastructure and monitored 24/7 by its Operational Command Centre.

Russell Brown, Computacenter’s Client Director for the Post Office, commented: “The new end user systems and services will give the Post Office the flexibility and scalability it needs to continue to evolve its business and the services available in its branches. Computacenter is proud to be part of the Post Office’s modernisation journey.”

The four-year contract was signed in October 2014 with the full service due to go live in early 2015 following the implementation of the new Customer Support Centre infrastructure and devices.