AusPost board approves Fujitsu outsourcing

The board of Australia Post has approved management's decision to outsource around 108 end user computing positions to Fujitsu.

The organisation's plans to offload the functions of the end user computing and enterprise technology services teams to an external provider were first revealed in September last year.

Fujitsu was named preferred supplier to take over the work, which had performed by 108 staff out of the organisation's 1200-strong IT workforce.

AusPost took the proposal to its board for approval last week.

It is hoping the new approach will provide it confirmed pricing for specific service options, the ability to add and remove resources quickly as needed, access to new technologies, and faster speed to market for new products.

The Communications Workers Union has said AusPost expects to save between $5 million and $8 million through the transformation.

The organisation is pushing ahead with the move despite criticism from the CWU, which is arguing AusPost should reduce its contractor base before taking the axe to internal staff.

"The CWU and its members are very disappointed with the Post board decision to outsource EUC services and jobs," a CWU spokesperson told iTnews.

"At the moment Post have people who are specialised in postal matters. How could you get people better than this?

"Outsourcing, like many other management initiatives, doesn’t work. It costs more. It leads to poor service delivery. As well there are no guarantees that the work won’t be offshored."

Following the board's granting of approval, Australia Post is now working on nutting out the contract details with Fujitsu ahead of an expected contract signing next month.

An Australia Post spokesperson said a final decision was yet to be made.

The organisation is currently attempting to stem the loss from its struggling mail business and turn around an outdated revenue model, late last week announcing it will spend up to $190 million on 1900 voluntary staff redundancies over the next three years.

The mail business has lost $1.5 billion in the past five years, and Australia Post has forecast a full-year loss of $500 million in its upcoming results, attributable to its mail operations.

The organisation's CEO Ahmed Fahour has identified technology as a key driver in AusPost's future success, investing in several technology programs - such as digital mailboxes and a developer centre for e-commerce sites - in recent years.