Bidco in 6-year, Kshs 45 million IT infrastructure management deal with IBM

This was announced during the signing the deal between IBM and Bidco Africa at the IBM Headquarters in Nairobi.

The deal worth Kshs 45 million (US $ 0.5 million) payable in a period of six years, will also see IBM help BIDCO in its expansion strategy across Africa which is part Bidco Africa’s 2015 growth plan. This will also allow Bidco to benefit from continual productivity improvements by 40 percent. The IT infrastructure and managed services deal with IBM will also allow Bidco improve its business application performance by 40 percent, lower capital expenditure and improve return on investment by 20 percent.

IBM will transition Bidco’s current systems and applications to four Power Systems servers, one V7000 Storage system, one Power Systems Hardware Management Console, two IBM System Storage SAN Switches, and two IBM Storage tape drives. The systems will be located in Bidco’s data centre, but owned and operated by IBM, which will provide the technology as a service to the client.

The first phase will involve the migration from existing infrastructure and project management during transition. IBM will then oversee remote monitoring, maintenance and overall delivery of hardware provided as a service, all managed remotely via IBM Global Delivery Centres.

The end-to-end managed services will offer proactive 24-hour monitoring of the infrastructure to improve services, help eliminate unexpected IT-related expenses by providing a predictable billing stream, improve customer experience through enhanced computing capacity and drive seamless performance to all of Bidco’s business users.

“For the last five years, IBM has been a critical technology partner, providing seamless IT services supporting our business operations, including sales and operations,” said Vimal Shah, CEO, Bidco Africa. “Based on that experience and faced with the need to upgrade our infrastructure, we chose an IBM infrastructure-as-a-service solution to support our rapid business growth in Africa.”

Bidco first tapped IBM’s infrastructure in 2010 when it purchased IBM Power Systems servers and IBM DS3400 storage. IBM’s commitment to Kenya through its investment in the first IBM Research Lab in Africa, the Kenya office and Africa regional hub based in Nairobi, were also critical factors in Bidco’s decision to continue and expand its services relationship with IBM.

“Kenya’s economy is at an inflection point, and we are seeing many local companies choosing innovative technology services to drive local and cross-border expansion for their products and services,” said Nicholas Nesbitt, GM for East Africa, IBM. “Our engagement with Bidco is a perfect example of the innovative technology services IBM can deliver and the value we can provide in helping clients benefit from the many growth opportunities emerging in Africa.”

A growing number of enterprises across Africa have partnered with IBM to help drive their expansion and overall business plans. IBM has announced over 20 banking deals throughout Africa over the last five years. Within the health sector, Metropolitan Health in South Africa and the Zambia Ministry of Health have tapped IBM solutions to drive their business models.

Last year IBM also signed such partnership with Fidelity Bank Ghana, one of the largest banks in the country to help the bank in managing its technology infrastructure and services. The five year deal will help the bank deliver advanced customer services and secure its reputation as a dynamic financial services institution in West Africa. Other such partnerships include SafeLine Zambia and South African Metropolitan Hospital. Currently, IBM is also working with the Nairobi County Government to help address the issue of traffic though its Smart City initiative

Mr Nesbitt, also said that each year IBM invesys US $ 6 billion to help in research and development globally thus helping address issues affecting people through the use of technology. It is through this that IBM, In 2013, IBM opened its first African Research Laboratory, the twelfth IBM Research facility in the world, and within the last week announced plans to expand its research network with a new lab in Johannesburg, South Africa. In the past five years, the company has set up offices in Angola, Mauritius, Tanzania, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya and now has more than 20 subsidiaries on the continent.