Kellwood Renews Information Technology Outsourcing Agreement With EDS
May 27 2008 - 10:15AM
PR Newswire (US)
PLANO, Texas and ST. LOUIS, May 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- EDS
and Kellwood Company today announced the two companies have renewed
their long-term information technology (IT) services relationship.
With the seven-year agreement, EDS will continue to provide a full
package of leveraged IT services to support the marketer of apparel
and consumer soft goods' future strategy. The financial terms of
the agreement are not being disclosed. New to the agreement is a
process for innovation in which EDS and Kellwood technical and
business team members will collaborate to share, review and
prioritize innovative ideas. The ultimate objective is to help
Kellwood reduce costs and improve overall business operations.
"Over the years, our joint teams have demonstrated that IT can have
a positive and strategic impact on our business," said W. Lee Capps
III, COO for Kellwood. "Moving to this more innovation-friendly
delivery model will help us remain agile and a leader in our very
competitive and fast-moving industry." Michael M. Saunders,
Kellwood vice president and CIO added, "Our goal with EDS is to
leverage our partnership to drive innovation while reducing our
cost of operations, which allows us to partner on more valued-added
initiatives." The agreement marks the beginning of the companies'
second decade as strategic business allies. Since the relationship
began in 1996, EDS has helped Kellwood use IT to improve its
ability to manage inventory levels, ordering processes and supply
chain. EDS will continue to manage Kellwood's IT infrastructure,
which includes its midrange computing systems that are located in
Kellwood's St. Louis data center, data and information storage
environments and the company's communications network.
Additionally, EDS will continue using its Best Shore(R) model to
manage Kellwood's software applications. These applications play a
significant role in Kellwood's day-to-day business, including
supply chain, corporate and financial functions. The IT
infrastructure also includes Kellwood's computing environment for
its approximately 3,200 employees in 25 locations, including
service desk and support for desktops, printers and mobile
computing devices. "Through strategic thought leadership and sound
IT practices, the EDS team will help Kellwood reach their goal of
becoming a more agile and efficient company," said Mike Klaus, vice
president, EDS Global Consumer and Retail Industries. "We will
continue to be the company's business ally by applying our combined
consumer manufacturing and retail industry expertise with EDS'
wide-depth of IT capabilities and experience to boost Kellwood's
competitive advantage." EDS will continue to work closely with its
EDS Agility Alliance partners EMC, Microsoft and Oracle to deliver
products and services to Kellwood. EDS serves more than 200
consumer and retail industry clients. As a leading provider in the
consumer and retail industries, EDS focuses on a variety of market
segments including food/beverage, apparel/footwear, consumer
products and retail outlets including restaurants, mass/department,
grocery, drug, convenience, online/catalog and specialty. About
Kellwood Company Kellwood is a $1.5 billion leading marketer of
apparel and consumer soft goods. Specializing in branded products,
the Company markets to all channels of distribution with products
and brands tailored to each specific channel. Kellwood is an
affiliated portfolio company of Sun Capital Partners, Inc. ("Sun
Capital"), a leading private investment firm specializing in
leveraged buyouts and investments in market-leading companies. For
more information, visit http://www.kellwood.com/. About EDS EDS is
a leading global technology services company delivering business
solutions to its clients. EDS founded the information technology
outsourcing industry more than 45 years ago. Today, EDS delivers a
broad portfolio of information technology and business process
outsourcing services to clients in the manufacturing, financial
services, healthcare, communications, energy, transportation, and
consumer and retail industries and to governments around the world.
Learn more at eds.com. The statements in this news release that are
not historical statements, including statements regarding the
amount of new contract values, are forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements
are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are
beyond EDS' control, which could cause actual results to differ
materially from such statements. For information concerning these
risks and uncertainties, see EDS' most recent Form 10-K. EDS
disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. CONTACTS: Julie Basa - EDS Jennifer
Schumacher - Kellwood 972 605 1862 314.576.3393 DATASOURCE:
Electronic Data Systems Corporation CONTACT: Julie Basa of
Electronic Data Systems Corporation, +1-972-605-1862, ; or Jennifer
Schumacher of Kellwood Company, +1-314-576-3393, Web site:
http://www.eds.com/
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