Merck KGaA has signed a 5-year end-user IT services deal with Unisys ($UIS). The agreement gives Unisys responsibility for handling IT service requests and incidents involving Merck KGaA’s 48,000 employees.
Unisys plans to carry out these responsibilities in a number of ways. The backbone of the operation is a remote IT support desk, which is intended to help Merck KGaA employees in 90 countries. Unisys is staffing the desk with people proficient in 11 languages to handle the global nature of the work. The expectation is that this team will solve many requests and incidents remotely. In instances when the matter requires on-site attention, Unisys is contracted to deploy a field service team to each of the 90 countries.
The field service team will also support Merck KGaA with the rollout of new technologies and provide personalized support to the German life science company’s senior executives. Employees lower down the corporate ladder will be able to interact with Unisys through walk-in kiosks that the IT company is planning to install. The kiosks are intended to enable Merck KGaA employees to swap hardware, get help with software, test new devices and request training without first making an appointment. Unisys claims the kiosks, when paired to the other services, will lead to cost savings.
Merck KGaA sees other benefits, too. “Unisys' approach will allow us to significantly reduce the number of service providers and gain a much better overview of our end-user IT infrastructure, services and performance,” David Revish, global head of vendor management, end-user services and service integration at Merck KGaA, said in a statement. “With its strong knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry, its wealth of experience in delivering global transformation projects and its service delivery capabilities, Unisys is an obvious partner for us.”
- read the release