Bid TV retailer signs £10m outsourcing deal with Getronics

Broadcast retailer Bid Shopping has extended a services contract with Getronics to the tune of £10m for the next five years.

The company, which runs the Bid TV and Price Drop digital TV channels has used the contract extension to migrate core business systems off-premise and on to the supplier’s data centre.

It follows an ongoing agreement by the two parties for onsite IT systems management originally struck eight years ago.

Bid Shopping specialises in auction TV channels, where products are displayed on a show and consumers ring in to bid for them.

The IT systems under the deal include the company’s full ERP suite, plus a number of bespoke systems that handle transaction processing and supply chain to its viewer-customers.

Speaking to CIO UK, Bid Shopping head of IS Paul Janse van Vuuren said: “The new agreement provides an uplift in IT availability which ultimately leads to an uplift in sales.”

Due to the live nature of the company’s business, it is critical that it has durable access to the systems off-site.

Van Vuuren explained that the deal allows Bid Shopping to consider upgrades to core systems without having to invest in upgrading the infrastructure to support them.

His staff are also free to concentrate on exploring opportunities to support the business, instead of maintaining utility systems.