Through the new agreement, the three ESCAN partners will bring in Boston, Massachusetts-based IT outsourcing and consulting firm Keane Inc, which will see the alliance bring together a total of 18,000 consultants across the French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Canadian, Austrian, German, UK and Swiss markets. The alliance partners claim that all projects spanning Europe and the US will be run jointly between Unilog, Met and Ibermatica in Europe and Keane in the US.
ESCAN, which stands for European IT&C Services Companies Allied Network, was formed in January 2000 by Spain’s Ibermatica, Italy’s Gruppo Engineering, and France’s Unilog SA. Milan-based Gruppo Met came in as the replacement for Gruppo Engineering which left the alliance last June to form Enginsanita, a joint venture for the healthcare sector with Unilog’s French services rival GFI Informatique.
The known contracts the alliance has won to date include a project with tobacco manufacturer Altadis and AXA Insurance, which brought together joint services projects between Unilog and Ibermatica in the Spanish and French markets. The latest development in the ESCAN alliance will enable the four companies to compete on a more level playing field with major global organizations such as IBM Global Services, CSC and EDS. However with roots in the local European and US markets and the increasing push to bring in IT services consortiums into larger projects, ESCAN hopes to have a strategic advantage.
Source: Computerwire
