Adelaide to score in EDS Operation Best Shore

Best Shore aims to shift some contact centre operations and applications services work to "high-quality, low-cost solution centres" around the world during 2003.

According to EDS spokesperson Brian Finn, the company began its Adelaide recruitment drive back in July and has subsequently added 70 engineers and developers. EDS plans to add another 30 by the middle of 2003, bringing the total number of developers in Adelaide to 300.

Work flowing to Adelaide is mainly coming out of the US and Europe, he said. The Adelaide operation joins a New Zealand facility employing 700 as one of 16 Best Shore centres in 11 countries.

The Best Shore structure means the centres compete against each other for work, he said, with jobs being awarded on factors including specific expertise, cost and time zone considerations.

EDS employs around 3000 people in its Australian solution centres, mainly in application development. The company employs a total of 7000 in Australia.

Finn said recruiting has mostly been done around Adelaide, although a number of ex-pat South Australians have also been attracted. Skills being sought include experience with SAP, Oracle and Powerbuilt.

EDS has committed US$100 million to developing a worldwide network of centres over the next five years, but Finn declined to quantify the investment in the Adelaide centre, saying only that it is a "very significant growth opportunity for EDS in this part of the world".

He said the majority of new positions will be full time EDS employees.