National Australia Bank has entered into negotiations with Advantra, a wholly owned Telstra, subsidiary, to outsource its Australian desktop services and Local Area Network (LAN). The multi-million dollar deal also includes maintenance of the group's personal computers and helpdesk functions.
Under the agreement, 95 of the National's full time staff will be offered employment with Advantra.
The National's chief information officer, Glenn Mescher, says all employees will be offered positions with Advantra that are no less favourable than their current conditions.
"National is looking to transform the delivery of its internal desktop service," he says. "The real driver of this is around improving our service capability while also reducing costs both in IT and the business."
The three-year contract covers about 22,000 desktop computers at 1200 locations throughout Australia. It is anticipated that negotiations will be completed around August.
The National announced late last year that it would outsource its Desktop Services Group and PC Helpdesk, calling for proposals from seven pre-selected companies.
"Since then we have reviewed the proposals and Advantra represents the best way forward," says Mescher.
Advantra chief operating officer, Jim Harris, says the deal with the National will bring Advantra's total number of IT devices under management close to 100,000.