Global manufacturer Siemens AG, which plies its trade across a diverse array of industries, from manufacturing technology, to healthcare IT, to energy products, today announced that by 2012 it would invest €500 million in its IT Solutions and Services (SIS) business, which will be realigned to deliver IT expertise to complement Siemens’ business divisions.
As part of the restructuring, Siemens will cut 4,200 jobs at the SIS unit, out of a workforce of 35,000. The revamped organization, which will become a wholly owned, independent entity, will comprise two units rather than the current seven, with IT Solutions and IT Outsourcing surviving the realignment.
The solutions division will offer customers systems integration expertise as well as tailored IT solutions that complement Siemens’ three main business units of Energy, Healthcare, and Industry. Currently, SIS earns 40% of its revenue from this type of work, with the balance of sales coming from its work managing customers’ IT infrastructures in an outsourcing capacity.
“The IT division is closely cooperating with our sectors, which means it’s a very attractive growth area,” said Siemens CFO Joe Kaeser in a press conference Thursday. Kaeser called SIS an “important backbone of Siemens’ IT,” and offered examples of the synergies he sees between the restructured SIS and the larger company.