Balfour Beatty turns to Fujitsu for IT efficiency drive

Infrastructure management and design firm Balfour Beatty has embarked on a multi-million pound technology overhaul to help standardise the way it delivers IT to its global workforce.

Balfour Beatty, which has offices in more than 80 countries, has enlisted the help of IT services giant Fujitsu to oversee the project, which is being undertaken to improve the overall efficiency of the business.

The company bills itself as an infrastructure lifecycle management firm, which means it is responsible for designing, building and managing core pieces of the UK's infrastructure.

The firm's UK arm has undergone a major reorganisation in recent years, and claims to have experienced significant business growth, which has resulted in its IT systems becoming disparate and fragmented.

Fujitsu has been set the task of rectifying this by agreeing to host and mange the company's data in a shared storage environment, and reduce its reliance on the 1,500 servers the company currently uses.

As well as server consolidation, the company hopes to significantly reduce the number of applications its staff use, which should cut the amount it spends on software licensing.

The project will also see Fujitsu provide desktop services, support and hardware to 14,000 users spanning 900 sites across the UK, and through TUPE transfers result in 67 Balfour Beatty staff joining the IT firm.

Richard Bull, executive director of end user Services at Fujitsu UK and Ireland, said the five-year project should help reduce Balfour Beatty's overall IT costs.

"It is also giving Balfour Beatty the opportunity to truly innovate its business and to future proof for trends such as bring your own device," he added.

"We are confident that we'll achieve that and are looking forward to a long and successful partnership with Balfour Beatty."