Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

---

BSP improves technical service and support levels

In this time of technological advancements, enterprises are deluged with the number of technology products available from their IT suppliers. But with the rapid pace of technology, most IT vendors offer very similar products, perhaps with minor variations in features and pricing. Thus, the notion of differentiating products based on technology and features is impossible to achieve. Instead, the key differentiator in the IT industry would be the reliability and quality of the after-sales service given to product users.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas seeks to simplify the support processes, reduce costs, and provide improved service levels with respect to the nationwide computing infrastructure of BSP, covering the Head Office and its 31 regional offices.

Internal Help Desk Requirements

Until recently, BSP had its own internal help desks to respond to these needs. BSP sought to contract a service provider who could respond efficiently and cost-effectively to these requirements, while meeting the committed service levels. Fujitsu Philippines, Inc. (FPI) met the requirements --- a financially competitive proposal, a nationwide service support network, and a contingent of engineers who are technically experienced in all areas mentioned above. The required services for BSP covered PC's, notebooks, printers, modems, UPS, Local & Wide Area Network, and equipment installed in the BSP Head Office and 30 Regional Offices. FPI provides three main tasks summarized into three phases:

• Evaluation and recommendation for the improvement of existing IT infrastructure;
• Implementation of upgrades, changes, and other solutions for the improvement of the infrastructure; and,
• Maintenance of the IT infrastructure.

In particular, the project, which started last March 2000, covers the following services:

• Cabling: FPI evaluates existing cables and connection to determine proper operation and additional cable requirements.
• Asset Management Services: FPI works alongside BSP to help identify its unique asset control requirements.
• PC/LAN hardware & software installation (moves, adds, changes and upgrade services): FPI installs new machines to new recruits, based on business requirement or business expansion and implements any change to any installed hardware or software including upgrades as well as configuration changes.
• Help desk services: FPI provides a dedicated eight-man team at the BSP head office tasked to provide on-call response to the IT issues of BSP personnel.
• Hardware maintenance & support: FPI provides on-site based engineers and parts, immediate replacement of equipment for ensured continuity in critical operations, on-call engineers and much more. Spare parts will be maintained on-site at the BSP premises.
• Network maintenance & support: Fujitsu provides network planning & design, network component configuration, troubleshooting network-related problems, and provision of skilled personnel.
• PC software support: FPI offers system support services for problems related to the installation and operation of the server and client-side operating systems, including Windows NT, Windows 95 and 98, and other systems as required by BSP.
• Anti-virus services: FPI recommends the applicable and relevant virus protection tool and provides assistance in virus detection, eradication and signature update.
• Back-up & Recovery Services: FPI recommends the applicable system and procedures for data replication, data archiving, data space management, and data backup and recovery for shared data bases.

The Integrated Support Services Division (ISSD), which has a field service organization of over 80 engineers and 50 technicians, handles the Fujitsu support services of FPI.

BSP requires Fujitsu to deliver prompt, quality response within BSP's service level time. The government agency looks to professionalize this service by having experts implement a proven methodology and using the best technology available to run the help desk. In the next three years, the BSP is looking at having the Fujitsu Help Desk reduce the costs of service assistance while service quality increases.

With FPI's support services, BSP aims to further increase productivity through faster resolution of reported technical issues experienced by BSP personnel on their PCs and network, as well as improved fiscal and budget performance through managed expenditures in help desk assistance.

BSP is also looking at streamlined operations by focusing BSP personnel to their core central banking competencies and assigning or outsourcing IT and other related technical issues to IT vendors like FPI. It expects to have better asset management resulting from more frequent maintenance of assets and the focused monitoring of vendor service commitments.

---