Mars IS transition to a single IT service provider

This publication is devoted to the implemented project for the transition of Mars IS from several providers of IT services to a single strategic partner - Tata Consultancy Service (TCS). In the future, cooperation with TCS will allow us to more effectively build work processes and relationships, manage the SLA and, in the long term, get the business effect of consolidating all services in the hands of one service provider.

And one soldier in the field, if okay tailored

TCS is an Indian multinational company headquartered in Mumbai. Provides services in the field of IT consulting and business solutions in 46 countries of the world. In 2015, TCS became the 64th in the Forbes Global Innovation Company ranking, ranking highest among all IT companies.

As part of the large transformation program Mars IS, we have translated support for our new strategic partner to over 200 applications from several service providers, such as TechMahindra, Accenture, Redcentric, and several others.
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The project implementation period was quite ambitious - six months. Proper planning, management and effective communication allowed us not only to keep within the allotted time, but also to preserve the level and quality of the service provided during the transition period.

Stages of the project

The first two months were spent on developing the project, determining the resources necessary for its implementation and building a support model. Another month was occupied by detailed planning of the transfer of service, preparation of accesses and equipment.



The remaining three months were spent on the actual transfer service, which consisted of three stages:

1. Transfer of knowledge and documentation for each application (Knowledge Transition). For highly critical business systems, control sessions were organized, the main purpose of which was to verify the mastery of the material by the new team;
2. Increased knowledge of applications under the guidance of experienced analysts from the current service support team (Secondary Support);
3. Independent work of the new application support team on incidents and queries under the supervision of specialists (Primary Support).

In parallel with the transfer of application support, we implemented the Functional Service Desk. This is the first line of support for regional and local applications in English, French, German, Russian and Polish. Its main task is the timely processing of incoming requests. Up to 70% of calls are allowed on the first line, the rest are transferred to specialists of the second and third support lines.

Key challenges and ways to solve them

• Remote transfer of knowledge and experience, verification of documentation by the owner of the service and the new support team through audio conferences;
• Remote transfer control: defining criteria for the successful completion of each of the transfer steps and confirming this by both parties;
• Motivation of employees of teams of previous vendors in high-quality transfer of knowledge: creating an atmosphere of cooperation with each team, support in difficult situations, encouraging quality work;
• Grouping applications by business criticality and the need to write documentation for each of them, involving key users in checking the correctness of documentation.

Results of the project

A year later, you can accurately describe the benefits of working with a single service provider:

• flexibility in the allocation and management of resources;
• building long-term working relationships that support the five principles of Mars - Quality, Responsibility, Mutual Benefit, Efficiency and Freedom;
• interest of a single vendor in improving the service provided;
• higher level of service transparency due to unified reporting and other standards and norms.

In our next publication we will talk about the implementation of CA Clarity PPM (Project & Portfolio management) corporate project management system in our company.