The Otto Group distances itself from the move towards introducing a standard software package for the entire Group. Instead, all companies in the Otto Group will now plan and implement their own IT solutions.
Under the slogan 'Passion for Performance', the Otto Group had initiated an IT project focused on Germany which was intended to replace a significant part of the IT systems with a standardised, centralised software package. After intense, detailed planning of the implementation steps required, this move turned out to be very complex, however. In the face of the high degree of complexity and the very heterogeneous structures of some of the Group companies, the more flexible and therefore much better solution is to manage Otto Group IT locally in future.
All the same, modernisation of the IT environment remains firmly on the Otto Group agenda. Otto Group companies will now take responsibility for investing in their own IT systems and equipping these for the future locally – which is what several of the large companies within the Otto Group have already done to date. Central IT Governance will ensure that overarching objectives can be pursued within this.
In the view of the Otto Group, this decision in favour of decentralised IT management boosts the clout and competitiveness of Group companies for the long term.
Founded in 1949, the Otto Group is now a worldwide-operating retail and services group with 53,100 employees (as per February 2012). The Group has 123 companies of primary significance and operates in more than 20 countries in Europe, North and South America and Asia. It is organised into three business segments: Multichannel Retail, Financial Services and Services. In financial year 2011/2012 (29 February), the Otto Group generated revenue of 11.6 billion euros. It is the world's biggest online retailer for fashion and lifestyle products, and the world's second largest web retailer overall.
