Best Buy Expands Relationship with Accenture.MINNEAPOLIS -- Best Buy Chooses Accenture to Help Build Out Capabilities That Support Transformation to a More Efficient, Customer-Centric Business Model; Multi-Year Agreement Effective in Mid-July Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :BBY BBY Best Buy (stock symbol) BBY Before Battle of Yavin (Star Wars) BBY BeBeyond (Chinese online community) ) has entered into an agreement for a seven-year strategic relationship with Accenture for consulting and outsourcing services. The agreement, designed to support Best Buy's transformation to a more efficient, customer-centric business model, takes effect on July 16, 2004. Through the relationship with Accenture, Best Buy seeks to optimize its supply chain management capabilities, to enhance the vendor management of its customer call centers, to expand the functionality of its Web sites, and to improve the analytics and reporting that further enable its customer centricity Customer centricity refers to the orientation of a company to the needs and behaviours of its customers, rather than internal drivers (such as the quest for short term profit). initiative. Accenture also is to manage and further develop the full scope of Best Buy's information technology operations Information technology operations, or IT operations, are the superset of all processes and services that are both provisioned by an IT staff to their internal or external and used by themselves, to run themselves as a business. . The relationship is expected to provide a new and simplified operating platform that will reduce Best Buy's cost structure, including the company's total cost of ownership for information technology systems, over the course of the relationship. Approximately 600 information technology employees are expected to transition from Best Buy to Accenture as part of the agreement, effective on July 16, 2004. These professionals are to continue working at the Best Buy corporate campus in Richfield, Minn. "Best Buy is in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of a company transformation to put the customer at the center of all that we do," said Al Lenzmeier, Best Buy's president and COO. "In order to accelerate this transformation and more accurately focus our resources on our customers, we must deliver new capabilities with greater speed and innovation at reduced risk and cost. We have a long-standing relationship with Accenture, and over the years they have demonstrated an understanding of our business, culture and values. For these reasons, we believe we have selected the right firm to help us achieve our goals." The agreement is in addition to a previously announced agreement for Accenture HR Services to provide Best Buy with human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. support. As part of that agreement, approximately 115 Best Buy human resources employees transferred to Accenture in March 2004. "It is rare for a business at the top of its game to undertake a transformation program to reshape its business model, but Best Buy is boldly doing so," said Joe Forehand Joe Forehand is Chairman of the board and former CEO of Accenture. He became CEO in November 1999, and chairman in February 2001. Forehand was born in Alexander City, Alabama and graduated in 1971 from Auburn University and is a brother of the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity. , Accenture's chairman and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . "To support the next step in Best Buy's vision, we're bringing deep industry and technology skills as well as the successful momentum of our decade-long working relationship." Accenture's previous work with Best Buy has included merchandising strategy, pricing, promotion effectiveness, inventory management, store operations, and space and assortment optimization. Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views and estimates regarding future market conditions, company performance and financial results, business prospects, new strategies, the competitive environment and other events. You can identify these statements by the fact that they use words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," and other words and terms of similar meaning. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties and are made pursuant to the safe harbor Safe Harbor 1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated. 2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive. provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and of 1995. Among the factors that could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements are the following: general economic conditions, acquisitions and development of new businesses, product availability, sales volumes, profit margins, weather, foreign currency fluctuation, availability of suitable real estate locations, our ability to react to a disaster recovery situation, and the impact of labor markets and new product introductions on our overall profitability. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other matters can be found in the company's Current Report on Form 8-K Form 8-K The form required by the SEC when a publicly held company incurs any event that might affect its financial situation or the share value of its stock. Form 8-K See 8-K. filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 18, 2004, and in our other periodic reports filed from time to time with the Commission. Best Buy cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not complete and assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements that it may make. About Best Buy Minneapolis-based Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) is North America's leading specialty retailer of consumer electronics, home-office products, entertainment software, appliances and related services. The company's subsidiaries operate retail stores and/or Web sites under the names: Best Buy (BestBuy.com), Future Shop (FutureShop.ca), Geek Squad The Geek Squad is a subsidiary of the Best Buy Company and is based in Richfield, Minnesota [1]. Originally founded in 1994 by Robert Stephens, it offers various computer-related services and accessories for residential and commercial clients. (GeekSquad.com) and Magnolia Audio Video Magnolia Audio Video is a specialty consumer electronics retailer in the United States. It currently operates 13 standalone stores throughout Washington, Oregon, and California. (Magnoliaav.com). The company's subsidiaries reach consumers through more than 750 retail stores in the United States and Canada. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion