Getronics, the global ICT services group, today announced it has won a five-year deal with AGS Airports Limited, the owner of Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports, to undertake IT support services as AGS separated from Heathrow Holdings.
With more than 13 million customers passing through its airports each year, AGS required a partner that could complete the project within tight separation timeframes and within budget, with minimal disruption to the critical airport operations that the IT infrastructure supports.
AGS selected Getronics primarily due to its reputation as a company with proven experience in helping businesses transition complex IT systems amid M&A activity. For instance, Getronics supported the IT separation activities associated with RAC’s separation from Aviva; Subsea7’s merger with Acergy; and Alpha Flight Group’s merger with LSG Sky Chefs, to name a few. This experience allowed Getronics to drive parts of the process and guide AGS to follow tried and tested methods for seamless IT transitions, despite the often challenging circumstances surrounding M&A activities.
AGS Airports is a partnership between Ferrovial and Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) established in 2014 to acquire Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports from Heathrow Holdings. This required AGS to create a standalone IT infrastructure and, for the first time, one that unified all three airports under the same, improved managed IT infrastructure.
The agreement has seen Getronics take on the IT support services associated with this separation, including telephony and support desk operations, and provision of on-site engineers at Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports.
Since separation, the support services have remained stable, and are starting to show an improvement in end user satisfaction. A further key benefit of the new infrastructure and support services has been AGS’ ability to be more responsive to their customers.
During the first phase of the project, Getronics has successfully moved AGS on to Getronics’ robust support model, seamlessly transitioning managed IT support services and maintenance. The second phase, to be delivered in early 2016, will see AGS move its networking systems to Getronics. Once the separation activities are concluded, focus will turn to Getronics’ set up and delivery of a Project Office that facilitates additional IT projects in support of AGS IT’s strategy, supporting the needs of their business.
Chris Tames, Group Head of IT at AGS Airports Limited commented:
“Airport IT systems rely on multiple complex applications and services running seamlessly. Getronics has a wealth of experience in helping organisations transition their IT, many in separation situations similar to our own. Rather than a traditional supplier, the Getronics team acted as an extension of our business; were flexible and easy to work with and have been instrumental in helping us meet business deadlines quickly to improve our airports’ operations and consequently the service we deliver to customers and staff. I am looking forward to the next phase of the challenge with Getronics as our IT separation partner.”
Mark Cook, Group CEO at Getronics added:
“Getronics has a proven track record of working with businesses either merging or divesting their IT systems to meet the demands of their customer base, many within the aviation industry. Our experience in this sector help us to demonstrate our understanding of the pressures and priorities customers like AGS Airports face in order to keep operations running smoothly.
“We are proud to partner with AGS Airports to deliver this five-year IT divestment project and look forward to helping them transform their operations to benefit customers in years to come.”