In personal relationships, seven-year itches can be destructive; in the world of information technology, eight-year agreements between a leading software vendor and a global retailer indicates a serious commitment to serious competitive advantage spanning multiple continents.

Tesco signs eight year agreement with Microsoft

Tesco has committed to the Microsoft platform in an eight year, world-wide agreement.
This global deal is aimed to enable Tesco to improve productivity, decision-making, knowledge sharing and operational excellence across the 14 countries in which it currently operates.
The agreement will underpin Tesco’s strategic objectives of growing its international presence; expanding its non-food business; and offering a broad selection of retail services such as banking, online and mobile. Putting innovative technology in the hands of its customers, staff and suppliers will allow Tesco to get closer to its goals of multi-channel retailing and meeting people’s needs as they change.
During the course of this agreement, Tesco and its affiliates will have access to the latest versions of Microsoft products and services in their head offices, stores, distribution and data centres, including Windows, Office, SharePoint, Exchange, Lync, System Center, BizTalk and SQL Server.
Tesco is expecting to see value immediately through the deployment of SharePoint, Exchange and Lync to create a new global collaboration platform. This will allow all employees to find specialist skills and share and access knowledge whenever and wherever they need. Collaboration is seen as enabling the distribution of retail skills and other best practices to its international subsidiaries; facilitating product innovation with internal experts and suppliers; and building communities of expertise.
“We have lots of colleagues in Tesco, doing lots of jobs all over the world,” says Mike McNamara, Group CIO at Tesco. “These technologies can help bring us together to share learning and expertise, views and opinions, thoughts and ideas.”
The deal also includes Microsoft Services’ Enterprise Strategy programme. The Consulting expertise this Programme provides is helping Tesco set strategy and prioritise and deliver projects so risks are minimised and time-to-value is accelerated.
“We are very excited about what this means for both Tesco’s employees and customers as it will change the way Tesco connects internally and with its customers,” says Bill Gonzalez, General Manager, Worldwide Distribution and Services Sector, Microsoft. “Tesco is one of the most innovative global retailers and this commitment confirms their position in the industry as a company that is focused on its customers, as well as driven by forward-thinking leaders.”