IBM and Vodafone’s $550m joint venture secures first deal

By:

Add as a preferred source on Google
Transport operator National Express said that cost reductions had helped it return to the black in the first half of 2021 despite continuing Covid-19 restrictions.

IBM and Vodafone’s $550m partnership has signed its first contract, an eight-year partnership with National Express.

The deal is intended to ensure that the UK-based leading transport provider can “adapt to today’s digitally savvy customers”.

IBM and Vodafone joined forces in January of this year, bringing together their respective strengths in connectivity and hybrid cloud with the intent to help companies across Europe “deliver innovation faster and succeed in a digital world”. 

The deal with National Express will aid the transport provider in its “digital-first” approach by modernising National Express’ technology estate, moving it to IBM cloud servers and implementing hybrid cloud technology.

Read More: IBM links up with Vodafone for $550m cloud computing contract

The venture will also give the transport provider access to other cloud services and new technology such as 5G, IoT, edge computing and analytics.

IBM’s general manager for the Vodafone partnership, Michael Valocchi, said: “ National Express can now tap the combined strengths of IBM and Vodafone to introduce new, innovative services faster.”

Read More: National Express posts record profit of £113m in first half of 2019

This will enable the company to promote coach travel as an attractive option in the face of increased competition from planes, trains, vehicle pooling and other coach travel providers.

The partnership intended not only to increase efficiency and reliability of the business but to speed up the development of new customer-focused innovations such as personalised passenger experiences, flexible payments and always-connected vehicles. 

Debbie O’Shea, group chief information officer at National Express said the deal “forms part of our continued investment in technology to better support our strategic ambitions”.

“This partnership enables us to move to a cloud environment giving us a future proofed platform with increased flexibility that will better support our business.”

Main image credit: Getty