AON Signs $600 Million Outsourcing Deal With CSC

Executives at Aon Corp. said Thursday they have finalized a deal for the insurance and risk-management firm to turn over the operation of its basic IT operations in the United States to Computer Sciences Corp.

Under a seven-year, $600 million outsourcing contract, CSC assumes responsibility for managing and operating Aon's U.S. data centers, telecom networks, desktop support, and help-desk services. Six hundred Aon IT workers will transfer to CSC. Aon already outsources its IT infrastructure management in the United Kingdom to EDS under a deal that runs through 2010.

In an interview in May, when Aon disclosed its talks with CSC, executive VP and CIO June Drewry said outsourcing is part of an effort by Aon to centralize U.S. IT operations and pull together shared services that had been handled by different business units. Drewry expected Aon to save about 30% annually on IT infrastructure costs once the contract is fully implemented. She added that Aon will save about $300 million in total over the life of the contract.