Karin, Unit Manager, The Netherlands 

When I first learned that my previous employer, the Dutch retail organization Dirk van den Broek, was to outsource its ICT functions, I was very surprised. It felt as if I was no longer important to them. After all, I had been working for the company for more than 8 years.
At that time I was an HR officer for the ICT unit and, before that, I had been a service desk manager. It was a difficult time as I was one of the employees to be transferred and it was also part of my job to help my IT colleagues make the transition to Atos Origin. I am however an optimistic person and I was able to keep my inner struggles to myself.

I soon learned that Atos Origin was very positive and talked to me about what I was looking for. I was offered either an HR role or a role back in IT. I wanted to be in a role where I could make things happen and help build solutions. I was then offered a management position in a really interesting team that takes on client projects in addition to the contracted services of the service level agreement. It was a great way to combine both my HR and IT experience.

Now we have a team of around 110 people which I help to deploy on client projects. We make a real contribution to the business. For me, the move came at the right moment and meant a much larger company with plenty of opportunities to develop myself and my career.

Ranjit, Operations Support Analyst, UK

Outsourcing was not new to me as I had previously worked in an insurance company, where I was part of the IT team that was outsourced to an IT services company in 1997. The contract was then won by Atos Origin in April 2005 and the work load transferred over in January 2006. So, this time, I knew a little more about what to expect.

Everyone was a little apprehensive at first as we did not know if and how our jobs would change. My role had been Production Services Manager and I had responsibility for the Service Delivery team. Now I am involved in multi-client support which is really different. I need
to be familiar with a range of software packages, instead of focused on just those that related only to my previous employer.

I no longer have team leader responsibility and am using the opportunity to broaden my skills, rather than relying just on the knowledge I have. It’s down to me to request the training I need and I believe Atos Origin will work with me on my development. I have only been with the company for a short time. Morale is good and there’s a strong sense of team spirit. I am looking forward to a bright future with Atos Origin.

Christian, Global Account Manager, France 

In my previous company, my last position was Director of European Infrastructure Operations. I had spent six months building my new team of 150 people working across Europe when my boss informed me that he intended to launch a study aiming at a global outsourcing of IT services, which was finalized 18 months later. I was not too concerned as my career to date had involved working in many different roles and I saw this as a new opportunity to change. I was happy to move with my team to the service provider and, if I could, work in the commercial side of the business, different from my previous technical and management roles.

The immediate challenge was to integrate into a large IT group. From the beginning I was encouraged to meet with senior managers to better understand the organization and people. During the first two months, I met around 50 managers who helped me to gain a real insight into Atos Origin.

People really welcomed me and I found them to be very customer focused and professional in their attitude. After two months, I had the opportunity to take on  new role as a global account manager, and after one more year, I’m pleased to say that I’m very satisfied with both my new position and my new company.

Alessandro, Site Operations Manager, Italy 

What is most different for me is to be working for a global IT specialist, rather than as part of an IT department which I was doing in my last company. In my current role, I am responsible for ensuring that Atos Origin’s IT support runs smoothly to the customer. But this wasn’t my first role after outsourcing. My new manager at Atos Origin proposed that I visit as many different customers as possible over six months, in a desktop technician role, so that I could better understand and assimilate the service. Then I took up my current position.

The transition took around six months and was not a problem for me. At the beginning, it was a little confusing, as many of us had never worked within such a large company totally focused on IT. In fact, some of my colleagues still perform a similar technical role. For me, there was the opportunity to move from being purely technical to managing the systems and processes which deliver the service to our customer and that is a real career development. What I particularly like is that in my last company, if you came up with an IT proposal it was always viewed first for its cost implications; in Atos Origin, customers want to know first how it will improve their business!

Juan, Applications Specialist, USA 

I had worked for a global provider of fragrances and flavours, for about six years before the IT support function was recently outsourced to Atos Origin. Working for my previous employer, my position was an Executive Workstation Support Analyst.

I first heard about the outsourcing from our managers which was good because it limited rumours, and presented the facts. Our Department was told that three companies had been pitching for the contract and that Atos Origin had been chosen. Although I was concerned with being outsourced, their "keeping it in-house" decision was reassuring.

When Atos Origin won the contract Atos Origin management presented themselves and communicated who they were and how the transition process would be handled. They did a great job, made us all feel really comfortable – that we were needed and wanted! For myself, I saw this as a golden opportunity to grow. I used to have to support so many different technologies that it was difficult to develop my knowledge and skills in depth. Now, I have more options open to me and I want to develop my SAP Basis expertise as an applications Specialist. In the future, if I want to move on to something else or transfer in the organization, I can do that as well.