The taste of success: Deutsche Telekom and Coca-Cola

€43 million, 28 countries, 589 million consumers – these are just some of the facts and figures about our Greek subsidiary OTE’s latest deal win. The OTE Group signed a contract with Coca-Cola HBC, one of the largest bottlers of The Coca-Cola Company’s products worldwide, aiming to provide data center services.

But let’s start at the beginning. In 2014 Coca-Cola HBC AG (CCH) was named the industry leader among beverage companies by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices with a sales volume of more than 2 billion unit cases and serving around 589 million consumers in 28 countries.

The company was looking for a new provider for its data center (DC) and disaster recovery services, seeking both high quality and flexibility. OTE Group was able to provide a complete solution and won a global tender, and is now responsible for providing data center and disaster recovery services at OTE’s and T-Systems Hungary data centers respectively. DC in Greece services business transactions for more than 36,000 employees in the 28 countries where Coca-Cola HBC is present.

The deal also covers implementation of critical business transactions for CCH including ordering, customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), Human Resources (HR), and call center services. Apart from the primary data center in Greece, the role of the Budapest-based data center is considered highly important as it provides uninterruptible services in the event of an earthquake or other external influences.

OTE’s aim to support and consult its customers locally and on-site, combined with an aspiration to offer the most innovative technical solutions, results in a remarkable customer experience. By bringing the IT management back to where it all began, OTE also remains true to the Deutsche Telekom business value proposition “Think globally, act locally.”

“We are pleased that our cross-border capabilities enabled us to provide a solution tailored to our customers business needs. This success shows our strong position in Europe in delivering ICT solutions for enterprise customers,” says Dr. Elias Drakopoulos, Senior Vice President, Europe Business Excellence, Deutsche Telekom.

“We are pleased to have found a reliable partner combining a strong presence in Greece with effective cross-border risk mitigation capabilities and professional expertise,” says Nigel Davis, Business Solutions and Systems Director at Coca-Cola HBC.

This contract is the largest outsourcing deal ever awarded in the Greek market, positioning Greece as a hub in the ICT business area with a primary data center that will be the third-largest in the EMEA region. The agreement is also one of the largest private-sector ICT deals ever concluded by the Deutsche Telekom Europe segment.