RAC software development motors to India

RAC software development motors to India

February 22 2005

by Andy McCue

Outsourcing deal will hit UK staff in its business systems group...

The RAC is to offshore some of its software development to India as part of a restructuring of its IT operations.

The jobs affected are in the business systems division, which supports application design and development for the whole of the RAC motoring group.

A consultation period is now underway for 35 staff in the division who have been told their roles will become redundant as part of the move, although an RAC spokeswoman said some will be offered the option of redeployment to 17 existing vacancies within the company.

The restructure will also see the centralisation of the business systems operation, which currently employs around 125 staff, consultants and contractors across sites at Bescott in Walsall and in Bristol.

As part of a new outsourcing agreement with IT consultancy Arrk these operations will now be consolidated at the Bristol site, with remaining staff being offered the option of relocating.

A spokeswoman for the RAC told silicon.com: "We looked at how to structure it the business systems team to be more flexible to meet the needs of the business."

She said that the restructuring does not affect any of the other internal IT operations, including desktop support.

A note in a recent trading update put the costs of the restructure at £2.5m but the spokeswoman said a final figure will not be known until the consultation period has finished.