http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/dec/31/royaldutchshell.bp

Royal Dutch Shell plans to outsource thousands of IT jobs in a drive to slash costs and simplify its structure, following in the footsteps of its arch-rival BP.

Shell’s information technology division will bear the brunt of the changes with 3,200 staff thought likely to be affected by a decision to turn operations over to three outside companies.

Shell’s chief financial officer, Peter Voser, has reportedly told staff that he wants “a leaner and meaner” finance division. The company said yesterday that it was seeking to move selected finance operations to shared (Shell-owned) service centres.

Shell has decided to outsource a “substantial” part of its IT infrastructure services, according to an email written by Goh Swee Chen, vice-president of IT infrastructure. The companies chosen from a list of six suppliers are named as EDS, T-Systems and AT&T.

This article is talking about Royal Dutch Shell considering a move towards outsourcing the IT. Outsourcing components of your business can be very successful, and a great way of reducing/changing your costs base.

The decisions will need to be made about what is IT service and what is IT infrastructure or investment? Who owns the server build? Who determines what services are offered and how they are charged back? Does this mean more companies are seeking to avoid the capex (the capital cost) and now the opex (the operational costs)?