Fujitsu Services Pushes for European Leadership

9 April 2002—The launch of Fujitsu Services in Europe on 1 April means the end of the well-known IT services brand ICL—perhaps the end of an era, given that ICL's origins as the United Kingdom's national IT leader go back to the emergence of the computing industry in the late 1940s. But it may also mark the beginning of something potentially much bigger.

On the surface, Fujitsu Services simply represents a renamed ICL. The "new" firm is still based in London, still focused on IT management and integration for large enterprises, and still much stronger in the United Kingdom than in the rest of Europe. Dig a little deeper, however, and the story becomes more interesting.

Publicly, the launch includes many of the typical elements of a major branding or re-branding campaign: new positioning, print and online advertising, revised Web sites and email addresses, new marketing collateral and office signage, customer and partner education events, and so on. The launch, in fact, represents one of the largest IT services branding campaigns in Europe this year.

Quite appropriately, the firm has complemented the external campaign with a substantial internal education effort to ensure company-wide support of the new brand. The internal mix includes new brand guidelines, educational events, briefing materials, internal focus groups, branded clothing, and a special "Brand Zone" on the corporate intranet. Together, the internal and external launch activities should provide Fujitsu Services with a healthy bump in awareness and a relatively smooth transition from the ICL brand.

In the longer run, though, several behind-the-scenes initiatives that have paralleled the branding campaign could provide the firm with a more significant boost. Re-branding, in fact, is only one of four major initiatives undertaken by ICL over the last year to re-energize the business. The other three are:

• Re-streaming. Sharpening Fujitsu Service's business focus (compared with ICL's) to the infrastructure space and collaborating with partners and the new Fujitsu Consulting organization (the former DMR Consulting; see article: Fujitsu Puts Global Services Front and Center) to create more compelling customer solution bundles.

• Re-organising. Reforming key business units and core delivery services to focus more effectively on customer benefits, satisfaction, and productivity.

• Rationalisation. Cutting close to 10% of the workforce through voluntary and compulsory redundancy initiatives while enacting tight cost controls to help return to profitability.

The big payoff will come if Fujitsu Services is able to fully leverage the global strengths of its Fujitsu parent and its new Fujitsu Consulting partner. In theory, the deep pockets, worldwide presence, and extensive technical capabilities of a more integrated firm should enable Fujitsu Services to target the largest European and other multinational firms with more comprehensive and effective offers. Indeed, corporate leaders in both London and Tokyo are aiming for nothing less than clear top-tier status in IT services across Europe. In practice, of course, working through myriad organisational and cultural challenges to build the necessary collaboration is easier said than done.

The re-branding, refined strategy, and organizational initiatives beneath the public launch represent an ambitious and well-designed first step toward more effective competition with the top IT services firms in Europe. Ultimately, customers across Europe will determine the success of Fujitsu Services as they consider the new firm's ability to deliver successful solutions. In the meantime, though, European services managers and marketers should brace themselves for some aggressive new competition.

—Rob Leavitt

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