Prime Minister Opens Multi-Million Dollar IBM Delivery Centre at Unitec Institute of Technology

IBM to deliver application development and management services for Westpac
Auckland, New Zealand, 14 February 2013 – IBM (NYSE:IBM) today launched its first Delivery Centre in New Zealand at Unitec Institute of Technology, an Auckland based tertiary education provider. Opened formally by the Prime Minister, Rt Hon John Key, the Delivery Centre will prepare students to work in the digital economy and provide businesses with access to new skills in mobile and analytics, and advanced technology.

IBM anticipates that the Delivery Centre, based at Unitec’s Mount Albert campus, will employ up to 400 people within the next two years including full-time and part-time professionals, as well as Unitec graduates and current students. IBM's investment in the Unitec collaboration will also enable annual scholarship programmes and jointly developed guest lectures, mentoring, internship and graduate hire programmes.

The partnership will be based on IBM’s successful model at the Ballarat Delivery Centre in Australia. The Centre was established in 2005 and continues to create employment and economic benefits in Victoria.

The new Delivery Centre in New Zealand is part of IBM’s global network of more than 50 centres and will leverage IBM’s global expertise in delivering innovative business process outsourcing and services to clients locally and internationally.

These services include human resources, finance and administration and customer relationship management as well as supply chain management and remote technical support. These services will use advanced analytics to maximise operations, cut costs and provide continuous innovation for IBM’s clients, leading to enhanced customer service outcomes, improved recruitment and decision making processes, increased visibility and control of working capital, and more cost effective supply chain systems.

IBM is partnering with Westpac to deliver application development and management services including data management, JAVA development and business process modelling.

The team, comprised of post-graduate and under-graduate computer science students and supervised by experienced IBM developers and managers, will be located in a secure facility at Unitec. The five year contract represents additional IT capability for Westpac in New Zealand.

A central feature of the IBM - Unitec collaboration is extended industry based ‘Earn As You Learn’ placements which provide valuable experience for students studying IT, business management and communications degrees.

Rick Ede, Unitec’s Chief Executive, says "This initiative is an excellent example of collaboration between business and tertiary education and will make a positive contribution to the economic prosperity of our county.”

"Unitec students can now look forward to the opportunity of working with IBM, one of the world's leading business solutions companies, and other premier brands before they graduate. Companies like Westpac will benefit from access to a highly skilled and motivated workforce, and the broader NZ business community will ultimately benefit by being able to access job-ready graduates."

Jim Stabback, Chief Operating Officer, Westpac New Zealand, says "The new centre will create invaluable opportunities for talented students transitioning into their careers and we are pleased to be able to support it.

“The centre fits ideally with our Grow NZ programme, focused on encouraging investment for growth. This is a significant investment by Westpac that will help create jobs and grow the economy.”

Jennifer Moxon, Managing Director, IBM New Zealand, says “This investment adds to IBM’s long history of collaborating with the tertiary sector to develop graduates with the right skills to work in today’s services oriented economy. I am delighted that Westpac, a longstanding client, will be the first to experience the business benefits of the Delivery Centre at Unitec, while contributing to building new skills for New Zealand.”

For more information about IBM, please visit http://www.ibm.com/nz

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