Unisys Corp’s Global Customer Services Division has unveiled what it calls a further step in its European services strategy, and claims it can plug the skills gap in distributed computing. The company, which aims to be the leading provider of distributed computing support services by the year 2000, has launched its consultancy practice into Europe, which should enable it to diversify out of its core business areas of telecommunications, transport and finance, and provide a horizontal service offering. Unisys says its customer services division has seen growth of 40% to 60% in the last couple of years, and it is now looking to the consultancy business to pick up where its declining maintenance business has left off and sustain that growth. The consultancy has already been running in the US for nine months, employing 250 consultants. The company says the launch of its One Call one-stop-shop service earlier this year (CI No 3,095) met with considerable industry cynicism, but it has blown all figures and exceeded all expectations. The consultancy will provide technical advice on setting up and installing large networks, typically for more than 500 users, on a worldwide basis. The division will also provide network integration and support services, and offers full network facilities management. To coincide with the launch of the consultancy, the Global Customer Services division has created three new operating regions in Europe: UK & Ireland, Northern region including Germany, Switzerland, Austria & Netherlands, and the Southern region of France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Portugal.
