THE firm that runs Bolton Council’s IT services — including 6,000 desktop computers with the capacity for handling one million emails a day — is backing the Bolton & Bury Business Awards.

Fujitsu manages the council’s outsourced computer systems and is keen to celebrate the role of business across the borough through becoming a sponsor.

Fujitsu’s task is to provide quality, value-formoney IT services for the council, which serves 8,800 businesses across the borough and more than 250,000 residents.

Under the outsourcing contract, Fujitsu provides IT support, maintenance and management services across the council’s infrastructure.

The deal also involved transferring 60 council IT staff to Fujitsu.

The IT infrastructure includes 200 servers, 6,000 desktop computers and storage devices connected with 1,500 miles of cabling across 850 locations. The network links 150 buildings including 10 key sites and home-working is increasingly common.

Services include desktop, help desk and service desk support, server and network management, and systems development and implementation.

Ian Lumley, account manager for Fujitsu, is based at Well Springs, Howell Croft South, near the Town Hall.

He said: “We are delighted to be backing the Bolton & Bury Business Awards this year. In the current climate, it is more important than ever to highlight the good work done by many businesses across the area.”

He said Fujitsu had worked with the council for several years and its contract had been renewed for a further three years.

“The business benefits of outsourcing IT services have generated 10 to 15 per saving in costs and increased productivity through the customer contact centre handling more calls with fewer staff, Mr Lumley said.

“Furthermore, Fujitsu provides expert IT knowledge and innovation through more efficient working practices.”

This includes homeworking, which is 33 per cent more productive, and automating back-office processes, which has reduced staff numbers by 30 per cent, further boosting efficiency.

Mr Lumley said: “Our work also safeguards service delivery and business continuity and a better procurement with more cost-effective goods and services.”

Like all public-sector organisations, within the current economic climate, Bolton Council will have to make some huge savings over the coming years.

Fujitsu is now handling on average 3,500 calls per month and fixes 84 per cent of user problems first time on the service desk.