Stokes expects substantial savings versus operating IT internally but stressed cost was not the sole deciding factor. The decision was also based on the desire to have the right team of specialists providing the level of technical support that the IT systems would require. "To hire a whole team to oversee and manage internal IT systems just didn't make sense for DTTN's business," said Stokes. Outsourcing the day-to-day IT operations allows DTTN's staff to focus on the business and servicing customers.

The DTTN system entered its pilot phase at the end of 2005, with a full production launch to follow in the first half of this year.