BANGALORE: Infosys Technologies Ltd. and Cephren, provider of online collaboration and e-commerce services for the global construction industry, has announced a strategic partnership. Under the terms of the agreement, the partnership will encompass four primary collaborative areas: product development, quality assurance and maintenance, systems integration, and professional services.
According to a release, all four areas of collaboration will focus on leveraging Cephren's e-commerce and project management services for large commercial construction projects. Traditionally, a construction project involved hundreds of individuals from geographically dispersed firms, with no established process for communicating and collaborating. Cephren allows building professionals -- architects, engineers, developers, general contractors, sub-contractors and all of their materials suppliers -- to use the Web to share documents, to collaborate on construction projects and to procure goods and services.
"Business-to-business e-commerce for the construction industry has witnessed tremendous growth. We are excited about partnering with Cephren, the leader in this area," commented Infosys president and COO Nandan Nilekani. "Our knowledge of the latest technologies, combined with the Infosys Global Delivery Model, provides rapid time-to-market and other significant benefits for Cephren customers," he added.
"Our partnership with Infosys allows us to leverage not only their systems integration expertise, but also their best practices approach to product development, quality assurance and maintenance," stated Cephren co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Ashok Segu. "By utilizing our combined strengths, we can ensure that our customers will receive enterprise-class e-Commerce solutions rapidly, efficiently and cost- effectively."
To support the partnership, Infosys will provide a product competency center (PCC) that will function as a virtual extension of Cephren. The PCC's e-commerce domain experts will manage all quality processes, including compliance with the Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) Level five requirements, protect intellectual property, ensure code perfection and customization, and offer 24x7 global support and coverage.