Pizza Hut grabs a slice of Digica's outsourcing action
Pizza Hut has come a long way since 1958, when the first Hut opened in Wichita, Kansas. Today, it is the largest pizza restaurant company in the world, with over 30,000 outlets in 90 countries.
Britain's first Pizza Hut started taking orders 30 years ago in Islington, north London, and is now the leading pizza restaurant and delivery chain in the UK. The company has nearly 600 outlets, including over 370 dine-in restaurants and over 170 (where 70 are operated by franchisees) home delivery units, and it employs almost 20,000 people in the UK.
Expansion plans in UK
The Pizza Hut (UK) estate is growing rapidly and aims to reach around 1,000 outlets and create 15,000 new jobs by 2010. To achieve such rapid growth, the company needed the flexibility and room for expansion offered by outsourcing, as well as the cost savings outsourcing can provide compared to managing all IT functions in-house.
According to Keith Adams, Director of IT at Pizza Hut (UK), “We were looking for an outsourcing partner capable of delivering high service levels while keeping control of costs, and a partner that we could work with successfully in the long-term as our needs expand.”
Flexibility and responsiveness
Digica has been able to offer Pizza Hut (UK) a competitive outsourcing arrangement, which provides the expertise of a tier one partner with the flexibility and responsiveness that it needs.
“The key factor for us was that we didn't want to bring this function in-house” explained Stuart Nelmes, head of IT services, Pizza Hut (UK). “We're not a data centre and didn't have the substantial infrastructure required. Given our priorities and focus, we didn't want to set about building one at this stage in our strategy.”
Mr Adams agreed, “Previously we had worked with one of the global outsource companies and we have found Digica to be more responsive, flexible and suited to the needs of our business."
Digica performs from day one
According to Mr Nelmes, Pizza Hut UK selected Digica because it was capable of providing the right level of service. “The team has performed from day one. They are professional, get the job done and have a no-nonsense attitude. They are also honest: if they can't do something, they tell me, which is fantastic.”
“Digica is a very adaptive company. They are very good at what they do and know their market,” continued Mr Nelmes. “Digica is concentrating on working with companies like us, who do not want to go with a tier one supplier. I can definitely see them as a partner that can keep pace with Pizza Hut's rapid expansion, and is capable of accommodating any changes we make.”
Mr Adams also commented on Digica's focus on its key strengths: “We chose Digica for their obvious service orientation, strength across multiple midrange platforms and good cultural fit; we have not been disappointed.”
Business applications outsourced
Digica was awarded a five-year contract, worth approximately £500,000. It looks after Pizza Hut's midrange servers at its data centre, where they run applications including J.D. Edwards and Oracle.
With a High Availability (HA) suite and expert 24/7 cover, Digica has the facilities in place to get Pizza Hut up and running quickly in the event of a crisis. The disaster recovery solution has been planned to provide the right balance between cost and speed of recovery. According to Mr Nelmes, “We can still make pizzas without IT. If we miss a day's worth of data, we can catch up the next day as the in-store systems hold information for a whole week.”
Pizza Hut has also outsourced some of its specific servers to Digica. The services managed include operating the company's web-based email for its employees and hosting the UK corporate website (www.pizzahut.co.uk).
The company has an in-house IT team of 30 people, who cover tasks such as: IT strategy, project management, applications development, network management and user support. As with any outsourcing deal, it has been important that the in-house and external IT staff can co-operate and work together successfully. “We have been very impressed with Digica's ability to work as one with our internal team. They are able to accommodate the most demanding of timescales," commented Mr Nelmes.
Excellent support
The level of support that is offered is crucial to any company that outsources all or part of IT function. When issues inevitably arise, whether large or small, Digica is put to the test and has an opportunity to demonstrate it can match or exceed the support an in-house IT department can offer.
Pizza Hut has no complaints. “Digica's support is excellent - they are so pro-active that, if they can see something coming up, they let us know, which is excellent for us to plan ahead,” commented Mr Nelmes. “It's very refreshing to have a partner that works with Pizza Hut like this. It makes my job a lot easier, and I don't have to chase people.”
On the standard of service received, Mr Nelmes concluded, “Digica meet all aspects of our service level agreements (SLAs), they haven't missed one yet.”
“Previously we had worked with one of the global outsource companies and we have found Digica to be more responsive, flexible and suited to the needs of our business.”
Keith Adams, Director of IT at Pizza Hut (UK)