Taking Over DuPont
By Robert Lenzner
A YEAR AGO DuPont's computer systems were an incoherent mess and needed an overhaul,
but the chemicals giant needed to focus on its core business.
DuPont wanted a single, tied-together system to track orders, inventory, billing and collection
and to accommodate exhaustive rules for safety, health and the environment. But "we didn't have
the experience, people or money to build from scratch," says Cinda Hallman, a senior vice
president at DuPont.
In came Andersen Consulting and Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), taking control of the
system for ten years at a cost of $4 billion. Andersen's take: at least $550 million.
Andersen hired 400 DuPont employees, trained them and moved them into a colorful, open
space to encourage teamwork. When DuPont needs to adjust billing for the euro, boost
reporting for environmental regulations or adopt a tax code change, Andersen and CSC
programmers go to work.
The firm meticulously measures response times and displays the results. Andersen has cut the
cost of maintaining DuPont's old system by more than 20%. It responds to and solves more than
95% of DuPont's systemwide problems in less than four hours.
The outsourcers keep DuPont's "plumbing" humming 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
DuPont, meanwhile, takes care of its real business.
forbes.com |
