IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a four year collaboration agreement with Sol Meliá, one of the world’s largest hotel chains, in which IBM will manage and transform the company’s technology infrastructure, in support of Sol Meliá’s initiatives to reduce operational cost and foster innovation.
Madrid, Spain – IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a four year collaboration agreement with Sol Meliá, one of the world’s largest hotel chains, in which IBM will manage and transform the company’s technology infrastructure, in support of Sol Meliá’s initiatives to reduce operational cost and foster innovation.
In Spain and across Europe, IBM will manage Sol Meliá’s central IT platform and the equipment used daily by 4.500 users. IBM will also manage the technology infrastructure that runs the company’s business applications -Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, e-mail and reservation system-, as well as host and manage Sol Meliá’s web site where guests go to book hotel rooms. The agreement, signed in February 2010, also includes providing help desk services to Sol Meliá’s users in Spain, Europe and 19 hotels in Latin America.
Through a Joint Innovation Committee, IBM and Sol Meliá will collaborate on technology innovations that will support business priorities. The first step is to deploy desktop cloud services, leveraging virtualization technology that will enable Sol Melia’s employees to access standardized computing utilising more efficient information technology management.
According to Sol Meliá’s IT Management: „Our goal with this agreement is to maximize flexibility and to align our technology model to business demands”.
Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, Sol Meliá’s CEO considers that, „through this new agreement with IBM, Sol Meliá emphasises its determination to maximize internal efficiencies, as a way to provide greater service excellence and sustainable growth“.
“Our collaboration relationship with Sol Meliá spans for years now. As one of its key partners, IBM is showing how technology can strengthen Sol Meliá business strategies and can help the Company to build a smarter network of hotels worldwide, said Juan A. Zufiria, General Manager IBM Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel.
Picture: Carstino Delmonte/ Touristikpresse.net
