14 December 2004 Supermarket giant Sainbury’s is set to replace its CIO who presided over its disastrous £1.7 billion outsourcing project with Accenture.

Sainsbury’s confirmed that Maggie Miller will be succeeded by Angela Morrison, director of European strategy at rivals Asda, in March 2005, who will be charged with reducing the costs of Sainsbury’s IT services.

Miller joined Sainbury’s in 2000, shortly after it signed a £1.7 billion business process outsourcing deal with consultancy firm Accenture, due to run for seven years.

But in October 2004, Sainsbury’s was forced to write off £260 million in redundant IT assets, and CEO Justin King admitted: “”The IT costs are a greater proportion of sales than they were three years ago.”

Sainbury’s greatest problems arose in its project to re-invigorate its supply chains through new automated centres. Ultimately, Sainsbury’s has had to resort to recruitment and manual effort to restock its empty store shelves. The deal with Accenture is being renegotiated.