Bangkok--10 Jan--Minor Group Minor Group of companies including Minor International Thailand's premier hospitality, leisure and restaurant operator, and Minor Corporation -- Thailand's exclusive distributor of lifestyle products and contract manufacturing business, announces a multi-year deal for information technology (IT) outsourcing and application management services with leadingglobal IT service provider, IBM. This deal will result in improved productivity and enhanced efficiency of its core IT applications and infrastructure and help deliver competitive advantage through technology. By providing on-demand IT capability to meet changing needs and volumes with usage-based pricing frameworks, IBM will assume responsibility for Minor's IT operations as well as related support and maintenance tasks for ten years. "This long-term outsourcing relationship with a reliable partner is essential as we are planning for double digit growth over next five years," said William Ellwood Heinecke, Minor Group's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "As a result, we need to prepare our IT infrastructure and management to enable greater availability, flexibility and optimum efficiency that meet the needs of our business expansion inside and outside Thailand." "Developing a partnership with IBM for its IT Operations and Application Management Services will allow us to enhance our IT systems and infrastructure much quicker and in a more cost effective manner than working on our own." "Today's signing ceremony marks an important milestone in our corporate history, combining the strength of Minor's leadership in the service industry and IBM's best practice in IT outsourcing service delivery," added Mr. Heinecke. "Minor has always looked for reliable partners who can enhance our IT capabilities especially in the area of operational efficiency, collaboration and business controls whilst maintaining critical service levels. Adopting IBM's IT Infrastructure and Application Management Services will allow us to focus on our core business opportunities," said Neil Hampshire, Chief Information Officer of Minor International Plc. He continued, "We have performed extensive analysis to identify what our organization needs from IT systems and we have developed a clear strategy and set of plans. Outsourcing the support of our core applications and infrastructure to IBM will help us deliver against this strategy more quickly and more cost effectively." IBM's IT Outsourcing and Application Management Services provided for Minor Group, covers all its operational and support requirements including data center and disaster recovery service, network services, end user support, application enhancement and maintenance service. Key attributes include driving business value while maintaining high systems and application availability as well as making the system more flexible and secure for future applications. Doing this, whilst reducing risk, accelerating the pace of change, decreasing costs and expanding capabilities and services is where IBM can bring significant skill and experience. "The services assure us of technical support at an agreed Service Level which is measured against a comprehensive Service Level Agreement (SLA). With IBM's global network, our goal of expanding our business internationally can be effectively driven," said Mr. Neil Hampshire. Minor will also move its key IT systems to IBM's world class data center to enhance the management and availability of IT support. IBM will help identify opportunities to reduce costs and better leverage the systems and infrastructure. Additionally, dedicated specialists from IBM will work closely with Minor's IT professionals to see how the company can leverage IT to drive competitive advantage as well as to support its 18,000 employees in delivering excellent products and services to customers. Mr. Thanwa Laohasiriwong, Country General Manger, IBM Thailand Company Limited, said, "IBM has been committed to deliver world class service to Minor and we have been successfully working together for some time. With this agreement in place, we are very honoured that Minor has selected us as strategic partner to deliver our world class technologies, global and local expertise to help enhance Minor operational efficiency and service capabilities. Sincerely, we hope that our partnership will continue to grow as Minor expands its business in the foreseeable future" Media Contact Minor Corporation Public Company Limited IBM Thailand Co., Ltd Rapiphon Vongtongkum Serirat Werakit Lothongpetch Tel: 02 712 2345 ext 5700 Tel: 02 273 4117 email: [email protected] email: [email protected]