GROUPE STERIA

Steria today announces a contract with Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council (HBBC) that will see it provide shared ICT services to the authority and neighbouring Oadby and Wigston Borough Council (OWBC). The arrangement will create an ICT shared service centre that will standardise and bring together the delivery of core services into one central location, starting in early 2009.

Steria, which has provided ICT services for HBBC for more than two years, will design, implement and manage the shared service. Through rationalisation and economies of scale, the shared service will allow for service improvements and a more reliable and robust infrastructure across the two councils.

The new shared service provided by Steria is expected to save HBBC at least £33,000 in the first year alone and will guarantee further savings of at least 10% the original contract value over the following four years. OWBC will also benefit from a greatly enhanced service which will see Steria provide additional improvements to the ICT environment including added resilience, significant disaster recovery benefits and increased access to cutting edge IT expertise and technology.

“Once we determined we wanted to enter into a shared service agreement with Hinckley and Bosworth, it was clear the partnership could not work without the involvement of Steria. At Hinckley, Steria was able to make strategic improvements, such as introducing wireless access to ICT systems, which has better suited the needs of council staff. We are looking forward to benefiting from the same high quality services Steria currently delivers to Hinckley and Bosworth,” said Councillor Sharon Morris, Chair of Oadby and Wigston Borough Council's Policy Committee.

Sanjiv Kohli, finance director, HBBC, added, “Our existing contract with Steria has provided us with high service quality, flexibility and great value for money. By entering into this partnership arrangement we are looking to further increase resilience and add to the expertise that Steria is currently providing.”

Paul Sellick, head of public services sector, Steria, said “This is the first time Steria has implemented fully shared management ICT services. It is testament to the excellent job that the team is doing at Hinckley and Bosworth that we will be able to build upon solutions already implemented to provide highly effective ICT services to Oadby and Wigston.”

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About Steria: www.steria.comThe leading end-to-end IT services provider in Europe for companies which consider new technologies a vital part of their business strategy, Steria focuses on setting up strategic partnerships with its customers in each of its key markets: the public sector, finance, telecommunications, utilities and transport. Steria offers customers integrated services including consulting in core business processes as well as the development and operation of their information systems. In October 2007, Steria acquired the British firm Xansa.The new group employs over 19,000 staff in 16 countries, including 5,000 in India. On December 31, 2007, Steria revenue amounted to €1.4 billion (€1.9 billion pro forma). The Group, headquartered in Paris, is listed on the Euronext Paris market.

Firefly CommunicationsAndy NankervisTel. : +44 (0)20 7386 1431e-mail. Andy.nankervis@fireflycomms.com

Gary FollowsTel. : +44 (0)7966 824764e-mail. gary.follows@steria.co.uk