Anglian Water has formed an industry-leading IT alliance worth £100 million over the eight year term.

The innovative approach to IT services contracting will see the international leaders in digital services Atos, Capgemini and Cognizant work collaboratively in an alliance model starting this year. It is the first time any of the three suppliers have worked in this way on this scale in the UK.

Iain Fry, Head of Information Services for Anglian Water, said:

“By forming an alliance and not simply outsourcing all our IT needs to a third party we’ll be able to build up a reservoir of knowledge and skills between the suppliers. This know-how will remain within the alliance and enable us to extract the maximum long term benefits.”

“Our alliances make our business as efficient as it can be, which ultimately is what enables us to support the business in the best way possible while keeping customer bills low. We have been at the frontier of establishing alliances in the construction and engineering sector, but in the IT world this is still quite new. Very few technology companies currently do business in this truly collaborative way making this contract an industry-leading approach to delivering IT services.”

“We’ve selected providers who share our vision and are committed to the same business outcomes as we are. Atos, Capgemini and Cognizant demonstrated stand-out collaborative behaviours and share the leadership principles that we see as vital in driving continuous change and improvements over the coming years. This will enable the alliance to run smoothly and effectively, and was the essential component we were looking for and testing for throughout this tender process.”

The new IS Alliance will enable Anglian Water to develop the right technology solutions for its business and deliver them quickly and efficiently. The alliance is based on a mutual gain principle, where each organisation involved has strong incentives to collaborate in order to get the job done to the benefit of all.

 Anglian Water has been pioneering the innovative alliance model with its construction partners for more than a decade and recently formed 15 year alliances for all its engineering activities.

Adrian Gregory, CEO Atos UK and Ireland commented:

“As the water industry faces some of the biggest challenges in its history, Anglian Water have ambitious goals to outperform the market and serve their customers in even better ways. We are delighted to bring Atos’ expertise to the alliance and are looking forward to working collaboratively with our partners to deliver innovative solutions and transform the way the Anglian Water business operates.”

James Forrest, Head of Energy & Utilities at Capgemini UK, added:

“We’re delighted to be selected by Anglian Water to be part of this exciting alliance. It’s evidence of a long-standing and mutually successful relationship that is now about to take a step-change into the future, with a highly innovative way of working together.”

Rohit Gupta, Cognizant’s Head of Utilities, Manufacturing, Energy and Transportation, UK&I said the company was pleased to have been selected by Anglian Water to strengthen its IT strategy and enhance its customer engagement, end-user computing and work management, as well as improve financial responsibility and controls.

“By leveraging our deep capabilities in consulting, applications and infrastructure services, we look forward to helping Anglian Water optimise its technology investments and drive higher levels of efficiency, while simultaneously driving growth through innovation and business transformation.” he added.

The contracts begin in 2016 and are expected to run until 2024, with a review in year four.