Microsoft Opts To Outsource Tech Support To Infosys

Microsoft has signed a deal whereby its helpdesk and technical support services have been outsourced to India-based Infosys, as the software giant continues its cost cutting drive.

“Infosys demonstrated that it understood our transformational goals by introducing a flexible and innovative end-to-end approach to manage our support infrastructure,” Jim BuBois, general manager of Service Management for Microsoft, wrote in an 13 April email for eWEEK.

“The fully integrated solution developed by Infosys, combined with process compliance, a robust tool platform and the creation of a Service Excellence Office will help us enhance how we deliver end-user computing services to our internal employees and partners while utilising the innovation and investments we make in developing new technologies.”

In addition, Infosys will also establish a dedicated Service Excellence Office to assist Microsoft in implementing ISO 20000 and ITSM Processes, on top of managing IT services for Microsoft’s applications, devices and databases in 450 locations across 104 countries. Infosys’s partnership with Unisys will provide global support via the latter’s multi-language service desk and desk-side support. A Times of India article on 14 April stated that the agreement could be worth more than $100 million (£65 million) to Infosys.

In an 13 April statement, Infosys suggested that the knowledge of Microsoft technologies learned in the course of the agreement would allow it to service other customers using those same technologies.

“Our landmark agreement with Microsoft based on a unified IT Service Management roadmap will result in moving towards a service oriented organisation along with improvement in quality of existing and new services,” Anand Nataraj, vice president and unit head of Infosys’s Infrastructure Management Services, was quoted as saying in that statement.

Microsoft has engaged in an aggressive cost-cutting regimen over the past year, with a 5,000-employee-layoff cycle in 2009 paired with eliminations of legacy products and research projects.

While the company has enjoyed something of a sales uptick in recent months, with its Windows 7 operating system selling some 90 million licenses since its October 2009 release, the company is still waiting to see an uptick in business-oriented spending.