Know-how

IT outsourcing and Télébec/CGI synergy connected to profitable growth

"We joined forces to develop a 10-year outsourcing contract that clearly outlines all standards and parameters. With our CGI partners, we know that we are always able to discuss issues in order to adapt to the new environment. In addition to this openness, CGI's people demonstrate proactive creativity to find innovative solutions that often make all the difference."

Pierre Brochu, President and CEO of Télébec when agreement was signed in 1998

The Client
A member of the BCE family, Télébec is the third largest telecommunications company in Quebec. With its subsidiaries and some 800 employees, it offers a complete range of innovative and integrated services. Télébec's 160,000 customers live in 300 municipalities spread across approximately 750,000 square kilometers.

The Challenge
At the end of the 1990s, with the pressures that followed the deregulation of the local telecommunications services market and during the burgeoning development of the Internet economy, Télébec's clients were seeking increasingly advanced, rapid, simple, integrated solutions and more! The telecommunications company quickly saw the need to update its IT infrastructures.

One major challenge was the generally high turnover rate among qualified resources in the IT field and the difficulty of winning employee loyalty. "It should be noted that at the time, the IT sector was experiencing extraordinary growth, and I realized that Télébec, given its size and regional service territory, could have problems offering systems experts the same development opportunities as those offered by CGI," explained Pierre Brochu, then President of Télébec.

"However, our ambitious vision absolutely required that Télébec be able to depend on the same high caliber of personnel over the long term as those working in leading corporations in large urban centers," he continued.

Although a natural partner, CGI nevertheless faced enormous expectations. Télébec had a challenge ahead, but needed to approach it with the same rigorous attention to financial efficiency as any company doing business in a highly competitive environment. The challenge was further increased by the fact that, no longer holding a monopoly, Canadian telecommunications companies had an even stronger obligation to provide high-quality, dependable services recognized throughout the world. How would CGI achieve the stringent cost-cutting demands without compromising customer satisfaction?

The Strategy
Mr. Brochu recalls that when the discussions began that ultimately led to outsourcing, his IT managers had already scrutinized their activities from A to Z to find ways to reduce costs. Therefore, right from the beginning, CGI became involved in offering in-depth, precise financial proposals.

CGI drew on one of its preferred strategies: continuous improvement. To provide its client with complete satisfaction over an entire decade, it had to ensure its processes remained beyond reproach throughout the mandate. In fact, it would have to transform its working methods regularly without impacting the day-to-day activities of Télébec or compromising the rel ationship between the two partners.

The Technology

• More than 80 business applications are associated with the distribution networks, customer service, billing, marketing, finance and the telecommunications network
• Support to more than 32 000 800 users includes the processing of more than 5,000 support and operations requests and more than 300 change requests per year
• Management and operation of more than 150 servers on Windows, Unix, Novell and OS/390 platforms
• Management and operation of more than 155 components associated with the internal network infrastructure
• Administration and management of databases (DATACOM, DB2, SYBASE, Oracle, SQL Server, etc.)
• Administration and management of various IT services (Exchange, file servers, faxes, software and hardware inventories, etc.)

The Results
At the end of 1998, Télébec and CGI signed a 10-year outsourcing contract that would see some 80 Télébec IT employees join CGI. Effective since April 1999, the agreement includes infrastructure management, application maintenance, and consulting, development and systems integration services. Since then, a number of projects have been added to contribute to Télébec's growth and positioning. "CGI's Chief Operating Officer took the time to come and visit our IT team prior to the outsourcing agreement to meet the employees, explain the situation and answer their questions," added Mr. Brochu. "We were all impressed by this personal gesture made by one of CGI's leaders. It demonstrated CGI's commitment to the smooth integration of its new members, and, indeed, the integration itself proceeded without a hitch."

The implementation in 2000 of the Peritus management approach (developed by Peritus Software Systems) within the applications management group is just one of the many initiatives that have been introduced to add further value to CGI's services. Peritus's proven advantages include: a single point of contact; knowledge transfer therefore more flexibility among co-workers; increased accountability; standardization of work processes; the ability to establish precise service levels; centralized, easily accessed documentation; and a series of innovative performance measurement mechanisms complete with supporting documentation. Not only has all of this led to major improvements in the distribution and prioritizing of activities, it has also resulted in enhanced performance of personnel and an overall reduction in costs.

"Right from the beginning, CGI demonstrated its strategic and operational strength, which have benefited the entire IT group," stated Mr. Brochu. "It has immersed itself in our vision and in doing so has come to understand our needs perfectly."

By the end of 2002, the evaluation measures established had confirmed the positive results of the CGI-Télébec collaboration. For example, thanks to the productivity gains, costs barely increased over a four-year period despite the significant IT updates carried out. Moreover, the objectives set for the high service level standards were met and in fact exceeded.

"The real strength of this engagement," concluded Mr. Brochu, "has been the flexibility of the Télébec-CGI relationship. We joined forces to develop a 10-year outsourcing contract that clearly outlines all standards and parameters.  With our CGI partners, we know that we are always able to discuss issues in order to adapt to the new environment. In addition to this openness, CGI's people also demonstrate proactive creativity to find innovative solutions that often make all the difference in an environment as changeable as that of telecommunications."