GE, Qantas to wait before terminating contracts with Satyam

Bangalore: Top Satyam customers such as GE, Qantas and DuPont will wait for few months before exploring any possibility of terminating their outsourcing contracts with Satyam, as these customer organisations seek more clarity about the new leadership, and a potential change in management if the company is acquired by a rival tech firm.
A person familiar with decision making at Satyam s top customers said that some of the clients including GE and Qantas have told Satyam that they would wait for things to stabilise over the next three to six months, and will move to other vendors only after that, he said requesting anonymity. GE, which accounts for around 4.5% of Satyam s revenues also works with Satyam s domestic rivals TCS and Patni.
When contacted by ET on Monday, a GE India spokeswoman said GE continues to work with Satyam. GE continues to use Satyam Computer Services for services and we have not moved any work, she said in an email reply. Meanwhile, other Satyam customers such as Australian airline Qantas are making sure that that they have an internal IT support ready to prevent any disruption of services if needed.
Qantas IT Services has a team monitoring the situation and will continue to do so on a daily basis until the situation is resolved, said Simon Rushton, a spokesperson for Qantas Airways. In the event that Satyam is unable to continue services, Qantas has the ability to activate alternative internal and external arrangements to enable the continuation of seamless services, he added.
Qantas has five years remaining on a seven year contract under which Satyam provides IT application maintenance and support. Experts such as Professor Jayanth R Varma of IIM, Ahmedabad say the coming few weeks are going to be critical for Satyam in terms of holding on to its customers.
19/01/09 Pankaj Mishra/Economic Times

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Categories: Foreign Jan 2009