Computerworld UK — Beer brewer Carlsberg has signed a three year IT and consultancy services deal with Accenture.

The Danish company will use management consultancy from Accenture, as well as system integration, application development and maintenance, and project management services. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

Carlsberg is currently attempting to standardise its IT systems under a project that could stretch to five years - indicating the potential for the Accenture deal to be extended. As part of the new contract, Accenture will implement an architecture based around SAP enterprise resource planning and Microsoft .Net for Carlsberg's 10,000 IT users, replacing a raft of legacy systems.

By establishing a standard IT architecture, the brewer hopes to cut costs and improve the pace of application development. It also anticipates needing a more standard skills base to maintain the systems.

Kenneth Egelund Schmidt, VP at Carlsberg IT, said standardising IT and working with the services provider would provide the company "with access to additional IT resources and know-how when and wherever needed, giving us the needed scalability."

In January, Carlsberg completed the implementation of a business continuity system at its Leeds brewery, designed to ensure the continued availability of key IT systems that control brewing operations.