Sumikin Bussan, a large Japanese trading company, was one of the first in its industry to utilize NEC’s outsourcing services. As Sumikin Bussan grew, it continuously evaluated its internal operations, seeking ways to maintain its competitiveness and maximize enterprise value. As part of the ongoing program to achieve these goals, the company decided to update its IT infrastructure. Sumikin Bussan partnered with NEC for its outsourcing services to gain IT capacity and improve operations efficiencies. Leveraging its state-of-the-art data center and in-depth consulting expertise, NEC provided Sumikin Bussan with services in the areas of systems integration, application hosting, maintenance and support, and managed and outsourcing services. The fundamental value proposition of NEC’s outsourcing services is the simultaneous service level enhancement, operations efficiency improvement and cost reduction obtained by sharing the cost of the required technical depth, focus and experience.

“As our business grew, it had become urgent that we upgrade our IT infrastructure. We studied two options: replace the current in-house equipment via leasing new equipment; or outsource it, including the operations, to a trusted partner. After our comprehensive research, we decided to work with NEC for its outsourcing services. One of the decision factors was cost, although the benefits of outsourcing go beyond cost savings. For instance, our sales staff can utilize the 24x7 support services around the clock. Furthermore, our internal IT System Department is able to focus more on high-level IT system planning and development as well as end-user support, instead of troubleshooting.”

Improved efficiencies, reduced costs, and ability to focus IT resources on core and mission-critical functions:

“We are extremely pleased with how well this outsourcing program is working. In fact, we expect to achieve a 30% improvement in operations efficiency. This improvement is due to three factors. First, one of the most significant benefits of outsourcing is cost predictability. We like a consistent monthly bill very much. Second, manpower and space savings are resulting in a sizable cost reduction. Finally, our server availability and capacity have increased, enabling us to expand their usage without additional cost. In addition to these measurable cost savings, our IT System Department can now focus more on core, mission-critical functions, and move away from tedious, daily operations. More importantly, with NEC’s outsourcing services, we benefit from specialized security services including well-managed equipment and environment, a highly organized crime prevention system, and quick disaster recovery. NEC did everything in its power to guarantee service continuity and meet the Service Level Agreement.”