Nationwide Building Society has signed a new agreement with BT to manage its networked IT services in an outsourcing deal worth £160 million.

Under the terms of the agreement, lasting an initial seven years, Nationwide will transfer all voice and data networking infrastructure, third party network contracts and in-scope staff to BT.

As part of the contract, BT will deliver a service transformation programme under which they will consolidate Nationwide’s multiple networks onto its industry-leading 21CN Global network which will support both voice and data services on a single converged platform. BT will also deliver enhanced remote access facilities to Nationwide’s non-office based employees. 

The new model will introduce a flexible commercial model providing Nationwide with cost predictability whilst based on industry best practice and a framework of service level agreements (SLAs) at a reduced overall total cost of ownership. 

Traditionally, Nationwide has developed and managed its IT operations in-house and procured point solutions from external suppliers where necessary. This agreement marks a shift towards a preference for a multi-sourcing model for IT services that can provide Nationwide with a reduced overall service cost and with improved service flexibility.

Peter Stafford, Head of IT Infrastructure at Nationwide, said: “Nationwide’s growth in recent years has meant that our IT infrastructure has also had to evolve at an exponential rate to keep up with demand and we must now seek the most efficient and scalable infrastructure service possible to support this. Having worked with BT for a number of years, we are very confident in the team’s ability to fulfil our requirements.”