Effective March 1, IBM will provide American Express with utility-like access to its computing resources — improving efficiency of American Express technology systems. The agreement is expected to save American Express hundreds of millions of dollars in information technology (IT) costs. In addition, having IBM’s resources on demand will provide American Express with the flexibility to adjust rapidly to changing business needs.
American Express will continue to retain its core technology competencies — including information technology strategy, strategic technology relationships, the development and maintenance of applications and databases and the management of its businesses’ technology portfolios.
Our goal in this partnership is to ensure that American Express is the world’s best user of information technology, said Glen Salow, executive vice president and chief information officer, American Express. In technology operations, that means computing resources are available on demand at a predictable, best-in-class cost and are delivered with the highest levels of quality.
Today American Express is placing itself at the forefront of a new computer services paradigm, said Doug Elix, IBM senior vice president and group executive, IBM Global Services. The utility computing service delivery model American Express is adopting will give it the flexibility to draw on all the computing resources, skills and technologies required to support future growth.
