Managed Services: T-Systems wins mega deal from "Sparda-Banken"

The group of “Sparda-Banken” has concluded a future-proof outsourcing deal with T-Systems. The seven-year contract has a volume in the mid three-digit million euro range and an extension option for another three years.

Deutsche Telekom's enterprise customers arm will take over the entire wIT infrastructure of “Sparda-Datenverarbeitung eG” (SDV-IT), the central wIT service provider for Sparda banks, and migrate all mainframes and server landscapes to highly secure T-Systems data centers in Germany. Up to now, the Sparda banks’ internal service provider operated two computer centers in Nuremberg on their own. The classic wIT outsourcing contract is one of the biggest deals in the market in recent months.

T-Systems’ services comprise complete wIT infrastructure and mainframe services. Employees of Sparda-Datenverarbeitung eG continue to manage the applications - such as the core banking system or solutions for payment transactions - as well as the further development of the software. The deal also involves the takeover of around 120 employees with valuable wIT and banking know-how.

Basis for cost savings and digitization

“The current market situation in the banking world with low interest margins, increasing regulatory requirements and the necessary striving for digitization requires sustainable measures by a professional wIT service provider. We must therefore constantly increase our efficiency, reduce costs and at the same time drive innovations in order to strengthen our currently good competitive situation. The wIT outsourcing contract with T-Systems offers potential cost savings in the triple-digit million euro range and we are thus taking the next consistent step in our on-going digitization strategy,” says Burkhard Kintscher, CEO of SDV-IT. “We made a conscious decision in favor of T-Systems because we value the partnership-based cooperation and because the company also enjoys an excellent reputation in the market with regard to compliance and wIT security. Together with T-Systems as a strong and experienced partner, we are able to cost-effectively meet the high requirements of the banking supervisory authority BaFin.”

“The Sparda Group's win demonstrates that clients continue to need help in managing their complex wIT infrastructures. As a digitization partner, we help our clients drive more productivity and efficiency in their wIT infrastructures, as we help them get on the journey of digitization,” says Deutsche Telekom's Board of Management member and T-Systems CEO Adel Al-Saleh. According to the ISG index, classic outsourcing, which has often been written off, even recorded a significant upswing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in the last quarter of 2017.

Network infrastructure and wIT security

In addition to wIT infrastructure services, T-Systems will also provide the network infrastructure services for the entire Sparda Group. These include the secure connection of the approximately 400 branches of the twelve regional cooperative banks of the Sparda Group to the computer centers, the local networks at the locations of the Sparda banks as well as the wcall center technology and the workstation systems of the approximately 6,000 employees.

Extensive security services remain part of the contract. T-Systems will operate a central firewall service and provide a Security Information & Event Management (SIEM) system that enables real-time analyses of threats and attacks to wIT systems in order to detect and avert them before any actual damage occurs. Identity & Access Management (IAM) and PKI Services (Public Key Infrastructure) complete the comprehensive security package.