Offshore OutSourcing: Part of a Winning IT Strategy

1
OffshoreOut-Sourcing Part of a Winning IT
Strategy

• Timothy J. Brennan Director of IT
• United States Cold Storage, Inc.

2
Mission Statement

• United States Cold Storage is dedicated to being
  the leader in providing highly reliable and
  cost-effective logistic solutions to the frozen
  and refrigerated food industry, giving our
  Customers the Competitive Edge they need to
  succeed in the ever-changing business environment.

3
United States Cold Storage

• Public Refrigerated Warehousing and Third Party
  Logistics
• National provider of refrigerated storage
• Subsidiary of Swire Group
  (United Kingdom Hong Kong)
• Swire is a major provider of warehousing in
  Australia and Vietnam

4
About United States Cold Storage (USCS)

• 29 Warehouse locations
• 8 States 4 Time Zones
• 110 Million Cubic Ft. of Storage
• 4 in USA/PRW industry
• Major Accounts include Pillsbury, ConAgra,
  Kelloggs, Sara Lee, Walt Disney World

5
USCS Information Technology - 1997

• 30 Separate S/36s
• Non-standardized Warehouse Management System
  (WMS)
• Dialup SNA
• Fax
• No email
• IT Request Backlog

6
Priorities and Challenges

• Major competitors IT was more advanced
• Connect the company as one resource
• Finding and retaining IT expertise
• Reduce IT Service Request backlog

7
USCS Information Technology

• Full time IT Staff Consists of 11 Managers and
  Engineers
• Additional staffing outsourced for networking and
  programming
• Outsource for EDI to VAN Kleinschmidt, Inc.

8
I/T Staffing vs. Outsourcing

• Staff lacked e-commerce and network proficiencies
  
• Train and retain
• How does USCS attract talent

9
Cognizant Technology Solutions

• Contacted after reading in Forbes Magazine Fall
  1999
• Initially needed for IT Project Backlog
• E-Commerce Initiative Needed
• USCS Staff was only trained on AS/400

10
CTS Projects

• USCS Request Backlog
• E-USCOLD
• Customer Profitability Application
• Ongoing Web Management while USCS staff trains

11
E-USCOLD

• State of the Art B-to-B Website
• WAN connects 9 AS/400s across USA
• Started, November 1999
• First release live, May 2000!
• Current Release 2.3
• Java, JRun, IIS, ILE RPG IV, OS/400

12
CTS On-site/Offshore Model

• 2 on-site technical managers
• 10 offshore team members
• Account manager travels between India and USA
• Email and teleconferences
• Challenging to keep track of current projects
• Cost differential

13
Trip To India

• January 2001
• Visited CTS facilities in Bangalore and Chennai
• State-of-the-art offices data centers
• 7th Anniversary Event
• Evidence of Pride and Longevity

14
CTS Staff

• Team oriented
• Attentive and responsive
• Trust
• Responsive
• Multiple proficiencies
• Bench strength

15
USCS IT - 2001

• B2B Website
• Nationwide IP WAN
• RF for all major warehouses
• 22 LANs
• MiMiX High Availability
• Office Automation
• Backlog reduced
• VoIP
• Lotus Domino Email

16
Future Projects with CTS

• Nationwide Transportation Management
• E-USCOLD Updates
• Internal Web-Hosting
• Voice Technology
• Service Request Backlog

17
Questions and Comments - Thanks