1. “Five Years Atos@Ahold” by Yvonne Kubbinga
Supported by
Niraj Singh, Kumudesh Chaudhari, Somnath Savant, Rogier Jaartsveld, Hans de Bruin
Being proud of enabling Ahold’s growth by making our business successful, through delivering IT value together, every day.
Paper “Paper “Paper “Paper “Five Years Atos@Five Years Atos@Five Years Atos@Five Years Atos@Ahold”Ahold”Ahold”Ahold” bybybyby
Yvonne KubbingaYvonne KubbingaYvonne KubbingaYvonne Kubbinga
IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction
Ahold and Atos started building an outsourcing
relationship in 2003, with the first outsourcing to
Atos. This outsourcing was extended and expanded
by a contract on Application Maintenance and
Support in 2005. The initial transition in 2006 was
successful, we transferred the work to Atos India
within 1,5 years. The Atos team hit trouble in 2007,
with low quality, high costs and a low customer
satisfaction. This paper describes how Atos
managed to regain the trust of Ahold and in the end
was requested to set up a second outsourcing in
2011, as single bidder.
Bump on the roadBump on the roadBump on the roadBump on the road
As Ahold is a retail company, the nature is to adapt
the planning to the business needs. Atos had
difficulties filling in the demand for high quality
resources. By the end of 2007 we finally had a big
team set up for the demanding project portfolio,
when the projects were cancelled and replanned by
Ahold. By then the Dutch resources had taken over
most of the work and the Indian team was loosing
the freshly gained knowledge fast. Therefor Atos
was delivering the service too late, at too high costs,
resulting in a low customer satisfaction.
How to get back on trackHow to get back on trackHow to get back on trackHow to get back on track
2008200820082008 Ahold requested Zero Defects, Short TimeAhold requested Zero Defects, Short TimeAhold requested Zero Defects, Short TimeAhold requested Zero Defects, Short Time totototo
Market atMarket atMarket atMarket at LowLowLowLow PricePricePricePricessss
The first step was to acknowledge our error and
mitigate the issues. The quality was the first focus
and getting the costs back in line, the second. The
solution was to get the Indian team up to speed, in
order to get high quality at an acceptable price.
Carefully the Dutch team members, mostly
subcontractors with retail knowledge, were replaced
by Indian Atos team members. The key Indian team
members roulated in an onsite assignment at Ahold,
to get a first-hand experience of Ahold and
thorough understanding of the retail business
processes. The continuity and the change activities
for Application Management were now handled by
one team in India, therefor the experience used in
projects were re-used in solving high impact
incidents. The rules of the game were clearly
defined: No software to be delivered without a
proper system test, focus on knowledge
management and deliver conform agreements.
2009200920092009 Ahold focus on iBox and opening Stores inAhold focus on iBox and opening Stores inAhold focus on iBox and opening Stores inAhold focus on iBox and opening Stores in
BelgiumBelgiumBelgiumBelgium
Atos was slowly regaining the trust of Ahold, by
being predictable and transparent. The quality was
slowly improving, but the deliveries were still too
late. In order to get operational excellence in place,
Atos run a lean management program, where we
cancelled all activities that were not adding value,
and made sure that all team members were taking
ownership. Atos had to work hard to please Ahold,
but it was also a lot of fun. Atos launched the Intake
Office as single point of contact for Ahold, by which
we could really implement the idea of One Team on
Multiple Locations. The high quality service was
delivered by the Atos Delivery Centre in India for an
acceptable price. Mid 2009 Atos was requested to
deliver the Project Management of Small Changes
and Datamodeling, in order for Ahold to focus on
the new world.
Niraj SinghNiraj SinghNiraj SinghNiraj Singh “The most important thing was to
understand Ahold’s value chain and translate this
into a high quality service. This requires both
technical capability as functional knowledge. Even
though we had the roadmap to rising through the
value chain, executing was not easy. The long-term
relationships was very important, simply one team,
one road map.”

2. “Five Years Atos@Ahold” by Yvonne Kubbinga
Supported by
Niraj Singh, Kumudesh Chaudhari, Somnath Savant, Rogier Jaartsveld, Hans de Bruin
Being proud of enabling Ahold’s growth by making our business successful, through delivering IT value together, every day.
2010201020102010 Ahold focus on iBoxAhold focus on iBoxAhold focus on iBoxAhold focus on iBox
The relationship between Ahold and Atos was
restored and the quality acceptable. As we
encountered very little rework, Ahold requested Atos
to take over the Test and Acceptance Management
from another supplier. Atos was on the road to End-
2-End responsible for Legacy Applications, and
therefor the focus on high quality and a short time
to market was even more important. The next step
was retaining the dedicated and loyal team and keep
up knowledge management. Atos was requested to
deliver one big project End-2-End, as a final pilot on
the road to become the ‘One’ Legacy Application
Partner.
Vaibhavi Khatavkar (Test aVaibhavi Khatavkar (Test aVaibhavi Khatavkar (Test aVaibhavi Khatavkar (Test analyst India):nalyst India):nalyst India):nalyst India):
“The focus is to achieve high quality solutions based
on the changes and improvements suggested by the
business users. It’s a great opportunity to work on
the Ahold project as this multi-technology and
multi-cluster. Ahold surely provides wide knowledge
of a ‘Retail’ domain.”
By the end of 2010, Atos and Ahold had shown
interest in continuing and extending their fruitful
cooperation to accomplish the following main
benefits for Ahold:
– Full knowledge retentionknowledge retentionknowledge retentionknowledge retention for the legacy
environment
– Secure business continuitycontinuitycontinuitycontinuity for its legacy
application operations for 5 to 7 years
– Possibility for the Ahold IM organization to
focus on creating a and implementing the iBoxfocus on creating a and implementing the iBoxfocus on creating a and implementing the iBoxfocus on creating a and implementing the iBox
– Release Ahold IM of the need for management
attention
– KPI-based “on time deliveryon time deliveryon time deliveryon time delivery” and therefore
reduced time to market
– TCO reduction in the total legacy domain with
at least 10% cost reduction10% cost reduction10% cost reduction10% cost reduction
2011201120112011 Ahold focus on iBox,Ahold focus on iBox,Ahold focus on iBox,Ahold focus on iBox, implementing theimplementing theimplementing theimplementing the
retainedretainedretainedretained organizationorganizationorganizationorganization and Outsourcing to Atosand Outsourcing to Atosand Outsourcing to Atosand Outsourcing to Atos
Atos was requested to deliver a proposal as single
bidder for the End-2-End Legacy Application
Management, for the complete software lifecycle,
including Functional Application Support and Service
Integration. In the summer of 2011 Ahold and Atos
agreed on another 5-year contract. As the team was
extended with 50 Ahold (internal and external team
members), the focus was on collaboration by team
spirit, respect and open mind. Atos also became the
Service Integrator for all 50 legacy Application
partners, where it manages on behalf of Ahold the
3rd parties to run the day to day operations. As Atos
is now End-2-End responsible, the focus is even
more on Quality Assurance and Knowledge
Management.
Jaap Dorresteijn (Ahold IM Europe MT member)Jaap Dorresteijn (Ahold IM Europe MT member)Jaap Dorresteijn (Ahold IM Europe MT member)Jaap Dorresteijn (Ahold IM Europe MT member)
”Ahold has been working with Atos for some 10
years now. We have seen our relationship mature
over the last years based on mutual understanding,
business-benefits and cooperation. Last year we
started the current transition of Application
Maintenance and Support to Atos. This transition
has been a smooth and painfree exercise because of
the above. Based on a solid foundation, a very good
preparation and a professional team on both sides,
we have been able to pull this off. Last but not least
we have been successful because both parties
wanted to be successful and were willing to
cooperate!!”

3. “Five Years Atos@Ahold” by Yvonne Kubbinga
Supported by
Niraj Singh, Kumudesh Chaudhari, Somnath Savant, Rogier Jaartsveld, Hans de Bruin
Being proud of enabling Ahold’s growth by making our business successful, through delivering IT value together, every day.
KeyKeyKeyKey successsuccesssuccesssuccess factorsfactorsfactorsfactors of Atosof Atosof Atosof Atos
Realistic andRealistic andRealistic andRealistic and TransparentTransparentTransparentTransparent approachapproachapproachapproach
Leon de Ruijter (AholdLeon de Ruijter (AholdLeon de Ruijter (AholdLeon de Ruijter (Ahold IM EuropeIM EuropeIM EuropeIM Europe Senior ServiceSenior ServiceSenior ServiceSenior Service
Delivery Manager)Delivery Manager)Delivery Manager)Delivery Manager) ” The success of the transition
was founded at the realism of the agreement.”
A realistic planning and transparent approach is key
in every delivery. “Walk your talk” is our motto, and
by doing so Atos is predictable and reliable. Atos
delivers on agreements, or timely escalates risks and
issues, but also mitigates the risks immediately.
Roelof Jan Zilver (ARoelof Jan Zilver (ARoelof Jan Zilver (ARoelof Jan Zilver (Aholdholdholdhold IM EuropeIM EuropeIM EuropeIM Europe Senior ProjectSenior ProjectSenior ProjectSenior Project
Manager)Manager)Manager)Manager) ” The focus on the preparation and the
phased approach, made this transition a success!”
CollaborationCollaborationCollaborationCollaboration
Atul BhargavaAtul BhargavaAtul BhargavaAtul Bhargava (Atos developer(Atos developer(Atos developer(Atos developer India)India)India)India)
“Ahold is a dream project as it has everything, new
challenges, great opportunities, very good growth
prospects, great Team and last but not least great
Management.”
Atos consists of multiple team members, on
multiple locations, from multiple origins (Atos,
Ahold, subcontractors).
• Support & Development Team India
• Test Factory India
• On-site Indian team members
• Requirements Engineers Netherlands
• Project managers Netherlands
• Consultants Netherlands
• Functional Application Support Netherlands
• Account Team Netherlands
The collaboration is based on transparency, respect
and room to breathe for all participants.
Knowledge ManagementKnowledge ManagementKnowledge ManagementKnowledge Management
The key to fast and correct deliveries is having
knowledge of the Legacy applications. This is
retained in the Knowledge management system, and
the Ahold University is setup for new team
members. Of course the team members are the
critical assets here, they need to deliver on the
promises Atos makes.
Fayaz DarFayaz DarFayaz DarFayaz Dar (Atos develop(Atos develop(Atos develop(Atos developerererer India)India)India)India)
“More than a project, Ahold is a educational institute
in itself for those who are eager to learn. There is so
much to learn here … functionally as well as
technically. If you need to understand the retail
domain, it is here. If you need to gain technical
knowledge, it is here. I feel that if I stay 5 more
years here, I will learn something new every day.”
PeoplePeoplePeoplePeople
Somnath SavantSomnath SavantSomnath SavantSomnath Savant (Atos Service Delivery Manager Test(Atos Service Delivery Manager Test(Atos Service Delivery Manager Test(Atos Service Delivery Manager Test
India)India)India)India) ”As a test professional you are on a
continuous learning process with the need to adapt
your test strategies when required. Working for
Ahold since 2009 has not only harnessed my testing
skills, but also made me a better manager. This
contract has created on-site opportunities for the
team. Every team member has become a confident
tester with the potential to grow further and took a
great learning experience back to the team in India."
The dedication of the individual team member
makes the difference. As service is delivered every
day, Ahold will only remember the last delivery. It’s
hard work, every detail should be perfect, every day.
The Atos team is dedicated, smart, with the focus on
solutions instead of excuses. And fun to work with.
Amrita Kumari (Test analyst India):Amrita Kumari (Test analyst India):Amrita Kumari (Test analyst India):Amrita Kumari (Test analyst India):
“The retail customer is most interesting as it gives
exposure to all aspects of the retail domain. The
dynamic interaction with the business is a great
experience. Working interactively with a number of
stakeholders has greatly increased our confidence.
Quality work is delivered and learning approach
from previous deliveries is unique.”

4. “Five Years Atos@Ahold” by Yvonne Kubbinga
Supported by
Niraj Singh, Kumudesh Chaudhari, Somnath Savant, Rogier Jaartsveld, Hans de Bruin
Being proud of enabling Ahold’s growth by making our business successful, through delivering IT value together, every day.
Ramchandra JetwaniRamchandra JetwaniRamchandra JetwaniRamchandra Jetwani (Atos develop(Atos develop(Atos develop(Atos developerererer India)India)India)India)
“After 5 years of working for Ahold, I have seen the
transition at different levels. Ahold is dream project
to work on where one gets exposure to the retail
domain to the fullest. Growth for people is immense
where one gets in client communication on daily
basis either team member is onsite or offshore. I am
thankful to Yvonne Kubbinga and Rogier Jaartsveld
for having confidence in the team and giving
everyone deserving chance to work at their
potential.”
WhWhWhWhat makes the differenceat makes the differenceat makes the differenceat makes the difference????
• Continuation of an excellent relationship and
good performance
• Adding services thru the years, no big bang
approach
• Focus on team building and collaboration
• One team - Multiple Locations
• Realistic planning, focus on mitigating issues
• Use the preparation phase to get a head start
• One mandated person responsible per
deliverable, each taking responsibility
• Fun and Respect
Prasad HegdePrasad HegdePrasad HegdePrasad Hegde (Atos developer India)(Atos developer India)(Atos developer India)(Atos developer India) “Ahold is easily
one of the best managed projects in Atos. The
individuals are positive, competent & organized;
know how to do things efficiently. The management
is proactive, coordinated & cooperative. And the
team takes ownership of their work and assumes
responsibility of making every step successful. Every
day is a new learning here.”
Future cFuture cFuture cFuture challengehallengehallengehallenge
Now the real challenge is ahead of us, as Atos will
have to prove itself thru the 5-year contract. High
quality service, based on mutual trust and
understanding, will be delivered, every day.