Cognizant bags 5-yr IT outsourcing deal from Future Group

IT major Cognizant today said it has bagged a five-year, multi-million dollar, engagement with Future Group to provide end-to-end IT infrastructure services for all group companies.

The deal size, however, was not disclosed.

Future Group, one of the country's largest multi-format retail groups, operates chains like Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Central, Home Town, and eZone.

It also has allied businesses in consumer finance, life and non-life insurance, logistics infrastructure and supply chain, and brand and IPR development.

Under the managed services agreement, Cognizant will support more than 1,000 Future Group stores-including marquee names such as Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Central, Home Town, and eZone-across 85 towns and cities in India, and the new stores opened in the future, Cognizant said in a statement.

Besides service desk support, data center management, and network services support, Cognizant will also deliver the mission-critical, last-mile IT infrastructure services support to Future Group's network of stores, warehouses, offices, and data centers, it added.

Cognizant will implement an Enterprise Management Platform to help the Group proactively monitor, manage, and report business service performance, thereby improving operational agility and drive business transformation, it said.

Along with Future Group, Cognizant will set up a Point-of-Sale lab to develop and deploy IT solutions to provide consumer experience in stores, and also to co-innovate around the future of the store, leveraging mobile and kiosk technologies.

"We chose Cognizant as our strategic partner after a comprehensive selection process. Our relationship with Cognizant will allow Future Group to harness Cognizant's broad range of business transformation capabilities in our mission to become a premier catalyst in India's consumption-led growth story," Rakesh Biyani, CEO (Retail Business) and an Executive Board Member at Future Group said.