Nokia signs TCS as IT partner

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest information technology (IT) services provider, today announced it had entered into a long-term agreement with Nokia, a global leader in mobile communications, to help transform its IT landscape. The company did not disclose the financial details. However, sources said the deal size could be $100 million.

TCS was selected as a global IT partner for consolidating Nokia’s global internal applications suite with a single provider. The company’s core applications for enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, product lifecycle management, supply chain management, enterprise information management and corporate functions will be supported and developed by TCS across the world.

“This deal with Nokia reflects our capability and commitment to the Nordic region,” said, Amit Bajaj, head – Nordic and Baltic region, TCS.

TCS’ Nordic operations comprise 4,500 professionals working across Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, servicing leading Nordic companies such as Nokia, Ericsson, TDC, ABB, Telenor, NETS and SAS.

In a separate press announcement, Nokia said that it plans to transfer certain activities and upto 820 employees to TCS and HCL Technologies. Nokia also plans to reduce its global IT organization by up to 300 employees. "Nokia will offer employees affected by these planned reductions both financial support and a comprehensive Bridge support program. These are the last anticipated reductions as part of Nokia's focused strategy announcement of June 2012," said the company's statement.

The majority of the employees affected by these planned changes are based in Finland. Nokia is beginning the process of engaging with employee representatives on these plans in accordance with country-specific legal requirements..