OREANDA-NEWS. May 17, 2011. Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), the leading operator of restaurants and pubs in the UK, has tasked Fujitsu with transforming its IT infrastructure to use a private cloud service and managed network. This will reduce the total cost of its IT infrastructure and deliver a more flexible solution that can meet the needs of the company as it realises its strategy of expanding and developing its core food brands, significantly increasing the number of its businesses across the country.

The multi-million pound outsource will create a hybrid private cloud to deliver a range of on-demand services to improve customer service, such as dynamic menus, queue management and interaction with customer devices such as smartphones, as well as delivering further efficiency savings. Fujitsu’s managed network service will connect the head office to retail outlets via the cloud, and provide a hosted voice platform to cut the cost of accessing telephony services.

The deal builds on an existing relationship with Fujitsu, which has maintained and supported Mitchells & Butlers’ tills and associated hardware for five years.

Fujitsu will standardise M&B’s server infrastructure within its own secure and resilient data centres, linked by a wholly owned, secure network. The IT applications will be virtualised for scalable hosting on Fujitsu’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Storage Managed Service offerings, housed in twinned Fujitsu Cloud Centres near London to keep customer information safe in the UK. Fujitsu will be fully accountable for the infrastructure and network.

Robin Young, commercial director at M&B stated: "Our approach needed to be radically different, to continue with the ambitious growth plans for the company, while reducing the central overhead. We needed technology that didn't require migrating our entire IT estate to the cloud overnight, but a move over time to reflect business needs. “Most importantly, we needed a genuine partner who could align across our entire estate and work with Mitchells & Butlers not only in the technology space but contribute to the wider business goals.”

Commenting on the new offering, Jon Wolfe, business unit director at Fujitsu UK & Ireland, said: “With consumers ever more choosy about where they spend their money, M&B is making sure it is delivering a quality service that differentiates itself in the marketplace, as well as driving down costs. Fujitsu’s offering will enable M&B to do just that, allowing it to focus on the core business of attracting consumers to its outlets and providing a great customer service.”

Mike Sackman, CIO at Mitchells & Butlers, added: “Over the past year, we’ve refocused our core business to generate greater revenues in food, and plan further expansion over the coming months. We require an agile IT infrastructure to underpin that growth, and Fujitsu has proved through its existing relationship with us, that it is the right partner for the job.”