Providing the Flexibility for Change
D U P O N T
“We’re a $30 billion company,
but the transformation resulted
in $60 billion worth of portfolio
shifts. We knew in 1997 the
task would be big, but we
didn’t expect $60 billion.”
Bob Ridout, Vice President
and CIO, DuPont
“CSC is proactive.They
understand our goals and
objectives and fit in well with
our culture.They’re dedicated to
our success. Most importantly,
I trust them.”
Bob Ridout, Vice President
and CIO, DuPont
C A S E
S T U D Y
DuPont is one of the world’s leading and most
innovative science corporations. Operating in 70
countries and with a workforce of over 60,000, it
offers a wide range of products and services in a
number of diverse markets including: agriculture;
electronics; transportation; and apparel. Its product
portfolio includes a number of internationallyrecognised brands such as Corian®, Tyvek®
and Kevlar®.
The Challenge
In 1997 DuPont’s business model was changing,
DuPont was a chemical and energy company that
wanted to transform themselves into a science
company. Fierce global competition in many of its
markets was driving the strategy to change through
joint ventures, IPOs, acquisitions and divestures.
DuPont needed an IT partner that could provide
the IT flexibility required for these changes whilst
managing the impact this would have throughout
the organisation.
As well as broadening the range and flexibility of the
services and solutions supporting the ever-changing
business, DuPont expected its IT provider to deliver
cost reductions for both operations and applications
maintenance, as well as improving productivity, the
speed of delivery and the value of its IT
investments. In short, a partner was needed to
support all new and existing critical IT functions
thereby enabling DuPont to focus more clearly on
both its core business activities as well as its strategy
for significant change.
The Solution
In 1996, the DuPont IT Alliance was announced –
a collaborative partnership between DuPont, CSC
and Accenture, each organisation having clear,
delineated roles and responsibilities.
CSC signed a $4bn, 10-year IT outsourcing contract
in 1997 which remains one of the largest and most
innovative technology agreements in history. The
agreement involved the transition of 2,600 IT
employees from 12 countries and included the
support of services in over 40 countries spanning
the entire IT lifecycle: networks; messaging and
groupware; midrange; mainframe; help desk;
distributed systems; and engineering.
As well as managing over 55,000 desktops,
workstations and servers worldwide, CSC operates
and supports DuPont’s extensive
telecommunications network. CSC also handles
DuPont’s global applications such as payroll, finance
and human resources, as well as key applications
including SAP R/2 and SAP R/3 which are specific
to DuPont’s 23 strategic business units.
The Results
Since 1997 DuPont has relentlessly pursued its
development strategy and has engaged in $25bn
worth of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.
CSC provided the flexibility and variability required
by DuPont during this mission and has facilitated
multiple transitions of people, business systems and
technology whilst managing the inevitable changes
that this has brought to DuPont’s core businesses.
Throughout this time the relationship has remained
strong and CSC has become a highly trusted
business partner. This was emphasised in
December 2005 when the current contract was
extended for a further seven years and seven
months, with an estimated value of $2 billion.
DuPont’s key outsourcing objective to deliver
reduced costs for its IT operations and applications
maintenance has also been achieved at a rate of
between six and eight percent lower than the
projected baseline. In addition to cost savings, and
an enabling IT strategy, many other key results have
been delivered to DuPont
• Management and execution of 23 major SAP
business change programs;
• SEI Level 3 maturity rating for the life-cycle
portfolio of management services achieved ahead
of schedule - resulting in major process and
quality improvement sooner than expected;
• Migration from multiple e-mail systems to one
common platform for 55,000 users improving
efficiency of the workforce and reducing costs by
consolidating multiple systems and licenses;
“Information technology plays
an increasingly important role
in fulfilling DuPont’s vision to
be the world’s most dynamic
science company and in
streamlining our global
business operations.”
“We recognize CSC’s
commitment and flexibility
to meet our business and
IT productivity goals.
This demonstrates DuPont’s
expectations of continued value
from our relationship.”
Bob Ridout, Vice President
and CIO, DuPont
DuPont wants to work
"with good, solid companies"
and CSC is a "winner" with an
outstanding track record" and
"competitive pricing.”
Maryann Holloway, Director
• The range and flexibility of services and solutions
to support varying business situations broadened;
• Independently benchmarked improvements in
overall performance and customer satisfaction to
ensure the quality of services delivered and focus
on continual improvement;
• Infusion of skills and best practices, including
adoption of CSC’s World Sourcing components
providing a flexible, 24x7x365 workforce at
variable cost;
• Improved quality and time-to-market through
the integration of offshore outsourcing into the
standard operating model.
Why CSC
The flexibility CSC has provided in meeting
DuPont’s ambitious goals for growth, and
diversification has been the key to a long and
successful relationship. Being able to accommodate
such goals whilst at the same time significantly
reducing IT costs and improving the value of IT
investments has led to an excellent working
relationship with considerable trust being built
between the two companies.
The success and longevity of the relationship can
also be attributed to a number of other key reasons:
• CSC’s governance model combines the business
expertise of DuPont and its own technical
expertise, aligning managers throughout the
organisations who are responsible for joint
planning and execution;
• CSC utilises a three-level approach for measuring
and documenting client satisfaction which
ensures the constant delivery of improvements to
major services;
• CSC balances the use of front-line and
offshore/near-shore resources to provide an
economic, efficient and effective work model for
DuPont;
• CSC provides a secure IT environment in
compliance with DuPont’s stringent security
guidelines, this includes 24x7 monitoring of all
DuPont networks;
• CSC’s services are constantly benchmarked
against external industry measurements, this
ensures that services are kept in line with best
practices;
• CSC uses its extensive knowledge management to
ensure that the delivery of DuPont’s service
remains innovative and delivers maximum
benefit.
• CSC is a people-oriented company; its 93%
retention rate for DuPont-transitioned staff is
above the benchmark for best practice.
CSC’s relationship with DuPont is a fine illustration
of CSC’s approach to Dynamic Sourcing:
accommodating and exploiting change; weaving
innovation and continuous transformation into the
fabric of a long-term relationship; and collaborating
successfully with other IT partners.
of Global Alliance Management
and IT Operations. CIO News,
April 20, 2006.
Computer Sciences Corporation
For dynamic, innovative, results-driven sourcing solutions, talk to CSC.
Visit: www.csc.com Phone: +44 (0)1252 536421 Email: eur_busdev@csc.com
Worldwide CSC Headquarters
The Americas
2100 East Grand Avenue
El Segundo, California 90245
United States
+1.310.615.0311
Europe, Middle East, Africa
Royal Pavilion
Wellesley Road, Aldershot
Hampshire, GU11 1PZ
United Kingdom
+44(0)1252.534000
Australia/New Zealand
26 Talavera Road
Macquarie Park
NSW 2113
Australia
+61(0)2.9034.3000
Designed and produced by CSC’s EBD Marketing and Production Departments.
© 2006 Computer Sciences Corporation. Printed in U.K. All rights reserved.
Asia
139 Cecil Street
#08-00 Cecil House
Singapore 069539
Republic of Singapore
+65.6221.9095