- Zero Outage program for ongoing quality improvement
- TÜV Rheinland certifies the Zero Outage strategy
- TRI*M customer satisfaction index shows a Top 10 ranking
More and more vitally important systems and processes are now being controlled by connected IT systems that absolutely need to be error-free. Intensive-care wards and operating rooms, high-speed trains and aircraft come to mind. And Industry 4.0 will also stand or fall with the quality of the IT systems behind it. That is why T-Systems has launched its Zero Outage program for greater reliability and security in ICT operations. So far, so good: With its new Zero Outage program, T-Systems, Telekom's unit for business accounts, is taking a pioneering role in the digitalization industry. The program, which has already brought lasting improvements to the quality of the company's own ICT services, has now been certified by the TÜV Rheinland testing and certification organization.
"Fully connected value chains such as those found in Industry 4.0 require absolutely stable ICT operations. The risks involved are not limited to economic risks in the form of ultra-costly downtime; they can also include risks to life and limb. Our strategy is thus 'Zero Outage'," explained Dr. Ferri Abolhassan, Director of T-Systems' IT Division. Since the introduction of the Zero Outage program four years ago, the numbers of major incidents in operation of customer systems have dropped by 95 percent, to a total of 18 throughout all of 2014. In fact, 20 of the company's 25 largest customers experienced no IT downtime whatsoever. And this relationship holds for both customers who received their IT services from the T-Systems Private Cloud and customers with dedicated services. "As a result, we're convincing companies that they don't have to worry about moving business-critical IT systems into the cloud," Abolhassan added.
At the beginning of 2015, TÜV Rheinland also gave the Zero Outage program positive marks. "Along with security, the company's quality-assurance procedures offer T-Systems' customers true added value, since they're aimed directly at eliminating downtime in customers' systems," explained Michael Weppler, Executive Vice President Systems at TÜV Rheinland AG. In preparation for the certification, five independent auditors thoroughly checked the quality campaign and its many different measures. The latest customer satisfaction index confirms TÜV Rheinland's assessment: With a Tri*M-Index of 84, T-Systems is now being placed by customers in the top 10 percent of IT services providers in Europe.
The EMC Data Protection Index from the 4th quarter of 2014 shows how large the demand for high-quality ICT services now is. The Index has revealed that 56 percent of all companies in Germany have experienced either data losses or downtime in the past twelve months. Unscheduled downtime periods have been found to last for an average of 24 hours. They result in production delays and stoppages, and they can cause major financial losses, including serious decreases in revenue. According to Gartner, one minute of IT-system downtime costs companies an average of 5,600 dollars. This year (2015), IDC's European Enterprise Services Survey has found that quality has supplanted price as the factor being considered first in selection of service providers.
"Since the start of our Zero Outage program in 2011, we have invested several million euros in quality. TÜV Rheinland has now reviewed all aspects of the program for effectiveness. And those aspects include our Quality Academy, which a total of 21,000 of our employees have successfully attended to date," Abolhassan emphasized. "We are well aware that zero errors is an impossible goal in the final analysis. But as the pace of business digitalization keeps picking up, we need to get as close to 100% error-free services for our customers as we possibly can." T-Systems' ultra-reliable twin-core data centers already provide operational reliability of 99.999 percent. Significantly, T-Systems' suppliers also have to meet – and prove that they meet – high quality standards.
Schedule information for media representatives and photographers: The TÜV Rheinland certificate will be presented at CeBIT. The presentation will take place on March 17, at 4:00 p.m., at Deutsche Telekom's stand in hall 4, C26.
For more information on these topics, see our CeBIT 2015 media kit at http://www.telekom.com/media/cebit and http://www.t-systems.com
Experience our products and services live at CeBIT from March 16-20 at Deutsche Telekom's stand C26 in hall 4. Deutsche Telekom's entire presence at the trade fair is carbon-neutral: All CO2 emissions generated in setting up and operating the stand are offset fully by carbon-reduction projects abroad.
About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world's leading integrated telecommunications companies with around 151 million mobile customers, 30 million fixed-network lines and more than 17 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2014). The Group provides fixed-network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers, and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in more than 50 countries and has approximately 228,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenues of EUR 62.7 billion in the 2014 financial year – more than 60 percent of it outside Germany.