Matalan has bucked the increasing trend of bringing previously outsourced IT services back in-house by extending an existing agreement with Capgemini by another six years and adding an offshore element to the mix.
Previously, Capgemini's services were provided from the UK to the UK, but the new deal will have an international flavour designed to further reduce costs and increase efficiencies.
The cut-price fashion retailer has signed a new deal with the outsourcer to hand over the reigns of its core IT systems - encompassing everything from point-of-sale to merchandising, HR and office applications - from July until 2013, making use of offshore operations in Poland and Mumbai.
"We were impressed by the quality and professionalism of Capgemini's Mumbai operations and reassured by their combination of a UK team on our doorstep with highly cost-effective support from India," said Pete Trainer, Matalan's IT director.
"Costs have already been reduced and quality boosted through working with Capgemini and we look forward to both these trends continuing and accelerating under the new arrangements."
Business critical applications will be managed and supported from Mumbai, while a desktop support services will be provided from a helpdesk in Krakow, Poland.
Capgemini has vowed that UK-based staff currently involved in the deal with Matalan but surplus to the new contract will be redeployed or reskilled to fit into other roles to help meet the requirements of other customers based here.
"We have worked alongside Matalan successfully for a number of years, delivering IT to meet their business needs," said Capgemini's Paula O'Brien.
