In a break from its traditional reliance on the home-grown IT that supported its rapid expansion in the US, Wal-Mart has begun rolling out global information technology systems.

The largest retailer in the world selected Germany’s SAP software over competition from Oracle last October. The company has also stepped up its hiring in its IT department, with an accompanying increase in corporate costs, as it begins to implement the changes.

“Efficiency of the home grown system has not kept pace with the corporation’s growth,” said Tom Schoewe, chief financial officer.

“It is going to be expensive to implement, but it will be far more efficient once we’re up and running and . . . it is scalable. As you continue to see us grow, enter new countries, it’s something that can accommodate that better than our home-grown solution,” he added.

Wal-Mart’s corporate expenses in the first quarter of the year rose by 20 percent - in part - due to the company’s rising IT costs. The company did not name the actual amount but added that without the expenditure on “transformation” projects, corporate expenses would have increased by 3 percent.

The additional expenses “will continue to be a headwind for the rest of this fiscal year and for several years to come,” added Mr Schoewe.

The initial phase of the global roll-out is expected to be completed in the next two years, with a second and third phase completed in three to five years.

Wal-Mart’s shift to using an external software package is a significant shift for the company. In the past the company’s IT department spearheaded the development of technologies that have in the past transformed it business.

Wal-Mat will continue to develop its own IT solutions, including RFID wireless tagging solutions, and hopes to create a global e-commerce platform that would both unify the systems used by existing online operations in the US and Europe and be replicable in new markets.

Tesco, Wal-Mart’s UK rival, relies on Oracle’s software for a global software system that was most recently deployed to support its US Fresh & Easy chain