CGI to partner with British Telecommunications
CGI Group Inc GIB
Shares issued 254,609,035 Oct 16 close $9.95
Wed 17 Oct 2001 News Release
Mr. Julie Creed reports
British Telecommunications PLC and CGI Group Inc. have signed a partnership
agreement whereby BT has selected CGI to be its development partner as it
offers single-window e-government service delivery solutions to local
authorities in Scotland, England and Wales. All local authorities in the
United Kingdom have been challenged by the U.K. central government to
provide all of their services to citizens on-line by the year 2005,
offering anywhere, any time access to government services. The U.K. local
authority government on-line market is a multibillion-pound market.
BT will prime in the partnership through BT Retail, with CGI providing
project management, functional and technical architecture, systems
integration, solutions and applications development as well as consulting.
By partnering with CGI, BT brings to the local authorities the most
advanced architectures in the world, providing multichannelled,
one-stop-shop government service delivery known as "single-window." The
Province of New Brunswick has been an acknowledged leader in changing the
way governments interact with citizens through the innovative use of
technology, as pioneered over the past 10 years by its delivery agency
Service New Brunswick. CGI is Service New Brunswick's primary contractor
and architect. CGI is also providing its services to the Canadian federal
government's Secure Channel project and the Province of Ontario's on-line
service delivery project. As well, CGI's IT outsourcing experience will
help BT to deliver innovative implementation models that establish enhanced
public services leading to a more integrated approach to service delivery
and public administration.
The right fit
According to a recent study, Canada was selected as the world leader in
electronic government initiatives in creating a citizen-centric focus as
opposed to a government department approach. In Canada, CGI has
distinguished itself as a leader in helping governments meet their
objectives of providing better service by creating a secure single-window
for citizen to government services. Pierre Danon, chief executive officer,
BT Retail, said: "BT Retail is committed to working with world-class
partners to deliver effective tailored solutions for our customers. We are
delighted to link up with such an exciting and highly respected partner as
CGI and this bodes well for our partnerships with local authorities."
"The combined experience and expertise of BT Retail and CGI will provide
significant benefit to local authorities and assist them in reaching
e-government targets. We understand the benefits of learning from
initiatives outside the U.K. and we believe CGI is an ideal partner to
strengthen our existing knowledge and success in the local government
sector."
Michael Roach, president, Canada and Europe, CGI, said: "Our Canadian
expertise will be adopted in the U.K. to be part of what we believe to be
the most comprehensive e-government initiative in the world. BT is an
outstanding partner with the knowledge and breadth to help their customers
meet the challenges set by the central government of the U.K. Around the
world, all governments have the same mandate and we feel confident that we
have the vehicles, government know-how, professionals and IT acumen to help
them meet their needs."
A worldwide initiative
Governments everywhere are challenging their organizations to adopt on-line
channels as a catalyst for change. The goal of these initiatives is to
provide better service with operating savings, and change the way
governments do business.
BT's search for best-of-breed models from around the world to bring to the
U.K., led it to the Service New Brunswick (SNB) approach, in the province
of New Brunswick, and to its functional and technical architects CGI.
Service New Brunswick not only provides one-stop shopping for 120 different
services on behalf of 11 government departments, but also provides access
to transactions for some municipal governments as well as linkages to the
Canadian federal government in a joined up government model.
A Gartner Group case study released in August, 2001, entitled "Architecture
of the Future: Service New Brunswick," showcased the SNB-CGI model. To
learn more, please visit www.cgi.ca.
The model
The experiences of both companies has been in integrating not only
traditional over-the-counter government service delivery and new electronic
service delivery channels, but also front-office and back-office processes
and functionality across multiple departments thus providing single-window
access for the citizen regardless of channel or service request. CGI's
approach has resulted in the deployment of proven, scalable solutions
providing a functional and technical architecture that enables
single-window, multichannelled access.
About British Telecommunications PLC
Following the introduction of challenging government targets a few years
ago a number of groundbreaking partnerships have been developed with
innovative local authorities taking radical steps. BT is at the centre of
many of these partnerships, a fact supported by recent Kable research
findings placing BT as the emerging number one partner in local government.
Not only has BT experienced the culture and organizational change facing
local authorities but it can also provide the expertise and solutions
needed to make the transition required of the modernizing government
agenda. BT has excelled in many of the areas local government is now
looking to change -- customer service, flexible working, internal
communications, procurement, knowledge sharing, human resources and
property management -- making it an ideal partner for local government.
WARNING: The company relies upon litigation protection for
"forward-looking" statements.
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