Swedish consumer goods & paper company chooses METRI to benchmark its UK-based IT operations
LONDON, 07 January, 2008

Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and is a leading international supplier of personal care and household paper and packaging products. With production facilities in 50 countries, SCA recently added to its market share by acquiring Procter & Gamble's European tissue business. To ensure the capability of SCA's technology facilities to support this expansion, the company recently appointed Metri Measurement Consultants to measure the IT operations at its UK-based subsidiary, SCA Hygiene. The report, commissioned in September 2007, has just been completed.

Says Bill Dawson, IT Manager UK & Ireland for SCA Hygiene: "While most IT application support is handled from Sweden, we look after local help desk, infrastructure and other site support across the UK's three locations. We have been very successful in cutting costs, but need to ensure this hasn't been at the expense of support quality. We were also interested in seeing how our running costs compared to our peers and wanted to identify where there was room for efficiency improvements. Overall, we were looking for best practice advice in how to optimise the combination of IT cost, process and performance."

When asked why the company chose Metri for the project, he explained: "Metri was flexible. We didn't want a full-blown detailed study, we just wanted an overview and Metri immediately understood our requirements. In just four weeks they delivered a clear set of recommendations we plan to use to create an action plan. When it comes to submitting it to senior management for buy-in, it helps that it is backed up by an expert, independent source. Ultimately, the benchmarking project may be rolled out to SCA's other European operations, so it was another positive factor that Metri has a strong continental presence."

The study confirmed that SCA Hygiene's IT costs were almost 8% below those of peer organisations, based on like-to-like comparisons of transaction volumes, types of services delivered, infrastructure complexity, geographic region and industry focus. It highlighted where additional efficiencies could be won: Firstly by rationalising help desk support (currently based in Dunstable and Newcastle) into a single location, and secondly by reducing help desk traffic (currently higher than peers) through an education campaign aimed at internal users. The report also confirmed that service quality - especially in areas like response times and reporting capabilities - was at risk with continued cost cutting. In terms of best practice guidelines, Metri recommended a review of KPI's (Key Performance Indicators), service level agreements and deliverables and suggested further implementation of the IT infrastructure Library (ITIL) to provide a baseline for all standard IT processes across the enterprise.

Says Paul Michaels, Director Consulting at Metri Measurement Consulting in the UK, "Increasingly we are finding that companies are no longer solely focused on reducing their IT costs but are also looking at how their technology infrastructures can support best practice goals from enhanced operational efficiencies to better service quality. Towards this end, benchmarking is emerging as a key business enabler. We are proud to be at the forefront of this trend and to have the opportunity to contribute to the now and future success of clients like SCA."

About SCA (www.sca.com)
Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, is a global consumer goods and paper company which develops, produces and markets personal care products tissue, packaging solutions, publication papers and solid-wood products in more than 90 countries. Personal care products include toilet paper, kitchen rolls, feminine care and baby diapers. Packaging includes containerboard and transport, protective and consumer/point-of-sales and forest products include pulp and paper, as well as timber and other solid-wood products. With over 51,000 staff in 50 countries, SCA had annual sales were EUR 11bn in 2006.