VAR500: Micros Takes On Take-Out At Friendly's; PC Mall Sales Dip

VAR500 Solution Providers In The News

North America's largest revenue-generating solution providers are in the news, one making a deal to expand restaurant sales, one releasing earnings, one implementing budget solutions for a cash-strapped state and more. Here's what's happening at VAR500 companies Accenture, Ciber, Computer Sciences Corp., Micros and PC Mall.

Order A Fribble From Your iPhone

VAR500 IT solution provider Micros is extending its relationship with Friendly's, helping the 76-year-old restaurant chain hike sales by providing new ways to increase orders. The implementation of the Micros webOrdering solution will let customers place orders through a Web browser. Via the Internet, the orders are sent to the Micros point-of-sale system and processed as a typical carry-out request. Currently, Micros webOrdering is being piloted in four Friendly's locations; a complete rollout to corporate-owned locations and many franchise locations is scheduled to occur by June 2012.

CSC Hammers Out Solution Over Contract Dispute

Computer Sciences Corp., has come up with a plan to settle a contract dispute with the United Kingdom's National Health Service, according to published reports. CSC, a powerhouse in the automated health-care solutions arena, was to provide an electronic health records solution for the department. However, the contract has come under scrutiny by the British government; ultimately the dispute caused CSC to write off $1.5 billion. The parties expect the proposal to be reflected in a binding agreement, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Accenture Streamlines Massachusetts Budget Process

Accenture partnered with the state of Massachusetts to revamp its budget management process. The VAR500 IT solution provider worked with the state's Executive Office for Administration and Finance to complete its annual budget process using the new Massachusetts Budget Application. Massachusetts' annual budget is $45 billion. The solution allows users to do detailed workforce planning and position-based budgeting, get visibility into the budget development, review and approval process, and provides increased accuracy for projecting cash flow, which will help to better identify spending patterns.

Ciber Sheds Federal Government Division

Ciber sold its Federal Division to CRGT, a provider of life-cycle IT services to the federal government. Ciber's division has more than 25 years of experience as a partner to the U.S. federal government and has customers from every major federal government agency as well as numerous civilian customers. The division offers IT services, solutions and support, including enterprise architecture, application development, systems implementation and integration, operations support and security.

The purchase will provide CRGT with expanded market potential; Ciber Federal has more than 1,000 employees in 45 states and six countries.

PC Mall Revenue Drops

Although full-year revenue at PC Mall was up 6 percent in 2011 to $1.5 billion, fourth-quarter sales were down 8 percent to $389.8 million. The VAR500 solution provider announced its financial results earlier this month. PC Mall noted that sales in its small- and midsize-business segment were particularly hard hit, at $119.6 million compared to $162.1 million in fourth-quarter 2010, a decrease of 26 percent. The company said the decrease primarily was due to a $37.9 million drop in sales as a result of a program change in the fourth quarter by "a large vendor," and a constraint in hardware supply affecting notebooks and desktops. The impact of that program change will be felt by PC Mall for the remainder of the year, according to the company.