Cognizant buys Pune SAP-based firm

BANGALORE: Cognizant Technology Solutions has acquired Pune based SAP services provider, Ygyan Consulting for approximately $2 million. SAP services partner since 2000, and recently selected as a channel partner of SAP India for the mySAP All-in-One solutions, Ygyan has churned in revenue of $3 million with 85 consultants in the SAP practice. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of February.

The acquisition is expected to augment Cognizant’s ability to deliver offshore application management projects, large implementation projects, SAP version upgrades, and ABAP development projects. Ygyan also has expertise in all SAP modules including the BusinessWarehouse and CRM. It has developed pre-configured solutions for the Trading and Distribution industry.

"Cognizant is seeing increased demand from our customers for many SAP services, including upgrading and enhancing their SAP applications, and ongoing maintenance and support," said John Beaumont, SAP Practice Head for Cognizant. "The Ygyan acquisition will help us meet customer needs and increase our SAP capabilities."

This acquisition is similar to the ACES, Siebel CRM company that Cognizant acquired in April 2003. It is expected to provide Cognizant adiditional depth to our SAP practice and provide us an opportunity to cross-sell our core services to Ygyan's client base. Ygyan has clients in the UK, Singapore and India with most of the resources in Pune.

"We are looking forward to becoming a part of Cognizant’s global team," said Anant Padmanabhan, Managing Director of Ygyan. "We believe that being a part of a world-class company like Cognizant provides the opportunity to best leverage our excellent niche skills."

"There is a growing demand for all offshore services, including SAP," said Lakshmi Narayanan, CEO and President of Cognizant. "Cognizant’s strategy of making very focused ‘tuck-in’ acquisitions to meet specific needs has been working well."

CIOL Bureau