Sainsbury’s has scrapped its multi-million pound 10-year IT outsourcing agreement with consultancy Accenture, with IT services and a number of employees moving back in-house.
In a statement, Sainsbury’s said: “Our IT focus has changed and it has [been] decided that it is the right time to rebuild its expertise back in-house”.
About 700 staff at Accenture are employed on the Sainsbury’s IT systems, but it has not yet been confirmed how many will be transferred back.
Sainsbury’s said that it expects that as a result of future cost savings the exit costs are expected to recouped quite quickly.
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Kesh Sharma, director at outsourcing consultancy Magellan, said: “The announcement by Sainsbury’s shows that the approach to outsourcing should and is changing.
“All organisations, both large and small, should not be tempted into 10 year deals with large service providers.”
