Nilekani, Ballmer shake hands on pact

BANGALORE: India's second largest software service provider and the world's largest software maker have signed a new pact to help the business community to enhance their performance and productivity.

Infosys and Microsoft Corp. announced a new IT transformation initiative designed to help clients improve business performance and build competitive advantage. Both have provided an initial investment of $ eight million together to deliver a portfolio of solutions and services that enable clients to realize a simplified, flexible IT environment that lowers the total cost of ownership and accommodates rapid change and innovation.

The industry-specific and cross-industry solutions combine Infosys' consulting, research, and intellectual property and project methods with the latest Microsoft .NET software. Using Infosys' Modular Global Sourcing model, which allows for a targeted, evolutionary approach to sourcing IT, clients can deploy these Microsoft-based solutions in a rapid, strategic, and highly cost-effective manner and use the cost savings to fund new IT projects and increase business advantage.

Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft Corp., said, "Microsoft and Infosys share a commitment to helping customers use technology to improve every area of their business, from process excellence to connecting with customers to responding effectively to the competitive landscape. Microsoft's long-term focus on delivering an integrated, manageable and reliable platform, combined with Infosys' unique delivery model and deep consulting skills, is designed to help customers succeed and grow through increased efficiency, cost savings and business value."

"Innovations in technology by Microsoft inspire the solutions we create," stated Nandan Nilekani, CEO, President and Managing Director, Infosys. "Using Microsoft technologies we can deliver what clients want most — competitive advantage. Our two companies agree that by bringing together complementary assets and skills our clients will benefit from a unique experience of the combined expertise. Our solutions transform IT environments for our clients; improving quality and productivity and ultimately strategic flexibility of their business."

The initial set of joint offerings from the Infosys and Microsoft collaboration displays the end-to-end solution approach. Clients benefit from enhanced business process improvement and IT optimization making the enterprise more efficient, agile and ultimately more competitive. Industry specific offerings for process improvement include an engineering solution for improving product development lifecycle management for Automotive and Aerospace organizations. Includes a retail solution that enhances the total customer experience by supporting smarter selling habits and leveraging information flow to aid in-store operations. Also an RFID solution that enables organizations to seamlessly assess the use of and integrate this emerging technology to meet customer requirements and derive business value.

Consulting services for IT transformation include strategic IT planning, IT portfolio management, business process design or alignment, systems integration and implementation and change management. Technology infrastructure solutions include accelerated deployment, infrastructure management and operational efficiency services and an identity management solution.