HCL Tech bags $350 mn contract from Readers Digest

At a time when Indian IT industry is struggling to sign on large transformational deals, IT services firm HCL Technologies, signed a seven-year total IT outsourcing services engagement with The Readers Digest Association worth $350 million (around Rs 1,780 crore). The contract will also include taking some of RDAs employees on to HCLs rolls.

Under the transformational engagement HCL Technologies will provide application development and infrastructure support across the application stack of Oracle universe, open technologies, main frame, infrastructure support for network, security, storage, end user computing, data centres including disaster recovery services. 

As a part of the engagement HCL will also rebuild and migrate RDA’s mainframe environment in its New Jersey data centre facility.

HCLs solution to RDA is based upon creation of globally focused  business transformation centre of excellence (CoEs) for global fulfilment, marketing, digital interactive, and shared business services leading to media, publishing, and entertainment domain led innovation.

The global solutions is enabled through an integrated helpdesk in 14 global languages of Portuguese, French, Russian, Cezch, Polish, Spanish, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Romanian, Slovak and Turkish. These will be supported across 45 countries through HCL’s global delivery locations in Poland, US and India.

On the sourcing side, HCL will be taking over several existing IT contracts from RDA and will manage them over the engagement period. This will also involve providing telecom expense management services for its worldwide network through HCL’s ControlPoint Solutions.

“RDA partnership is unique services offering in which HCL blends all its outsourcing strength--applications and infrastructure capabilities, industry knowledge and global reach,” said HCL Technologies Corporare Vice President, Sanjeev Nikore.