Boots to in-source 100 IT jobs back from IBM

£710m outsourcing deal renegotiated...

Boots is set to bring 100 IT jobs back in-house after renegotiating its £710m outsourcing contract with IBM.

The high street chemist initially signed the 10-year deal back in 2002, with the aim of saving £130m by overhauling its IT infrastructure.

But Boots announced its intention to scale back and renegotiate the outsourcing deal with IBM earlier this year, less than halfway through the decade-long contract, because much of the IT infrastructure renewal programme - including chip and PIN, new pharmacy systems and an SAP rollout - is now complete.

A spokesman for Boots confirmed to silicon.com the company is in talks with IBM to transfer 100 of the 500 IT jobs back in-house.

He said: "That's where the discussions have got to and we are now doing the fine details."

Boots is expected to provide an update on the in-sourcing and a supply chain overhaul later this week in its preliminary results for the financial year ended 31 March 2006.