Toyota signs with Fujitsu for Windows 7 upgrade

Four-year IT services deal will manage mid-range and mainframe services agreements as well as desktops

Toyota Australia information systems divisional manager, James Scott.

Toyota Australia information systems divisional manager, James Scott.

Toyota's Australian division will upgrade its desktop fleet to Windows 7 as part of a new four-year IT services deal with its incumbent supplier, Fujitsu.

Fujitsu will manage the consolidation and standardisation of existing mid-range and mainframe services agreements and the provision of managed desktop services, including a service desk, as part of a new joint agreement.

"The desktop solution being implemented and managed by Fujitsu is a transformed user environment delivered through a new Windows 7 Desktop build that complements Toyota Australia’s IT Technology Direction for a transformed Directory Services environment," the company said in a statement.

Read more about Toyota's IT strategy.

Toyota's divisional manager of its information systems division, James Scott, said in the statement that the new Fujitsu deal would allow Toyota to lower operational costs, implement greater flexibility and reduce management time in terms of the company's IT support.

“In winning the contract, Fujitsu was competitive and provided innovative options to consolidate the new business into a single agreement, using existing toolsets and management systems to drive greater efficiencies and cost savings across all of Toyota Australia’s IT infrastructure,” he said.

Toyota didn't say how many desktops it had or what the value of the Fujitsu deal was. The company is one of the largest automotive giants in Australia, however, with sales revenue of almost $8 billion in 2009. It has 211 Toyota dealers, and a further 19 Lexus dealers, and its dealer network has almost 11,000 staff.

Its corporate headquarters are in Port Melbourne, while it also operates a manufacturing plan in Altona in Victoria, as well as sales and marketing operations in Woolooware Bay, NSW.

The new deal will allow Toyota’s IT team to continue to refine its systems and processes. In March, Scott spoke to Computerworld about how the company was building a custom dealer management system to help dealers introduce the principles of the Toyota Way into their own workplaces. The company is increasingly adopting agile project management to move into smaller development cycles with greater customer input.

Additional reporting by Computerworld staff.

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Tags Managed ServicesFujitsuToyotadesktop managed serviceJames Scott

More about etworkFujitsuLexusToyota Motor Corp Aust

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