Associated British Foods (ABF), the global retail group, has signed a contract with IT Service Management (ITSM) provider, Axios Systems to implement its assyst software.  

Associated British Foods (ABF), the global retail group, has signed a contract with IT Service Management (ITSM) provider, Axios Systems to implement its assyst software.

The contract will enable delivery of IT shared services across its business units, which include household-name grocery brands like Kingsmill and Twinings, as well its High Street fashion business, Primark.

The ABF implementation will use many of the advanced functionalities of the assyst solution including dashboards, showing real-time management views and the Process Designer, which gives management powerful control over the design and execution of processes. The ABF Shared Service Centre has to demonstrate to its fourteen business units that the IT service provided is agile and aligned to the changing dynamics in each business within the group.

By selecting Axios as their strategic vendor to deliver service value, ABF is confident that it has engaged with a partner that has the required experience, flexibility and functional leadership. Working with vendor, the ABF Shared Service Centre expects to deliver efficient IT services to the ABF business units and enable competitive advantage in each of the marketplaces they operate in.

Neil Rudolfo, service support Manager at ABF Shared Services explained: "While Axios' solution has been used for some years in two of ABF's business units, when it came to selecting a standardised ITSM platform in Shared Services we engaged Getronics, an ICT service provider, to review the market and ensure we found the best solution to meet our needs.

"We were very impressed with the advances made in version 8 of assyst and also with the way Axios engaged with us. They understood our business needs and have been flexible in how they work with us to make sure we get value for our investments."

The solution will go live for the Shared Service Centre in summer 2009, and then in a phased approach each of the group's fourteen business units will take advantage of the solution over the following 12-18 months.

Axios said the ABF deal adds to its expanding retail customer base, which includes Arcadia, Kingfisher and Shop Direct Group.

www.axiossystems.com