Collaborative IT infrastructure offered as pay as you go

System consolidation to the extent of developing a shared global IP platform at zero up-front cost is being offered by independent British IT consulting and application services firm Centrix. What’s more, the company, is now extending its service offering to groups of organisations. Dubbed SAFE (Secure Access for Everybody), its new campaign is about enabling supply chains, for example, to gain secure access to the systems they already have. Centrix has consolidated systems for organisations particularly in finance and insurance, typically offering consultancy and implementation free, on the basis of a pay as you go contract on completion. “We fix their problems and then they pay us a per-user fee,” explains Lisa Hammond, Centrix CEO. “Our service completely de-risks these typically big and complex projects.” With SAFE, that’s extended through a series of six modules that combine best practice methodologies and IT. These cover the infrastructure, applications exposure (including legacy systems), portal-based secure publishing, ITIL framework-based service delivery, business engagement and role- and location-based access management. “Manufacturing companies need an easy and quick way to roll out internally integrated systems and collaborative systems across groups of companies. That takes time, effort and investment at the front end. So instead, we’re effectively offering a centralised subscription service. “But also, where organisations haven’t yet been able to implement ERP fully, we can publish the existing applications so people can get access to what they need while waiting for strategic access. So it’s fast track access.”