Wipro bags its biggest-ever contract from Alight Solutions
Indian IT major Wipro has bagged a $1.5-billion deal from US-based Alight Solutions. The 10-year deal is Wipro’s largest win so far and is set to provide a much needed boost to CEO Abidali Neemuchwala’s efforts to revive the company. Until recently, Wipro has been the slowest growing among the big Indian IT services companies.
Illinois-based Alight Solutions, previously called Aon Hewitt, is a provider of benefits administration and cloud-based HR and financial solutions. Wipro had last done such a large deal in 2014, when it signed a $1.1-billion outsourcing contract with Canadian logistics firm Atco. Among Indian IT services companies, it is only TCS that has in recent times won multiple billion-plus dollar deals.
Alight, which clocked $2.4 billion revenue in 2016, provides benefits administration and cloud-based HR and financial solutions leveraging technology and data. It has 14 global delivery centres and over 1,400 clients.
Wipro said the engagement will enable digital transformation of Alight’s offerings across health, wealth, HR and finance solutions. “It will enhance the employee experience of Alight’s clients by leveraging Wipro’s strengths in cognitive automation and data analytics,” the company said.
Earlier this year, Wipro had signed a strategic partnership with Alight Solutions’ India operations for $117 million, under which it took over the captive centre operations of Alight. The operations were across four locations in India — Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai and Chennai.
to 1,400 clients serving 19 million employees and their 18 million family members.
Wipro provides HR services to a range of marquee customers globally across industry verticals such as retail, manufacturing, banking and financial services, education, healthcare, energy and utilities.
“When we think about serving our clients and their people, we believe it is imperative to provide technologies and solutions that meet rising trends like the growing adoption of cloud-based technologies, the increased use of automation, rising consumerism and the demand for more personalized, integrated solutions,” said Chris Michalak, Chief Executive Officer, Alight Solutions. “Our partnership with Wipro enables us to leverage Wipro’s unmatched innovation and leadership in automation and digital technologies, while increasing our investments to harness market trends and deliver even better solutions for our clients as their needs and those of their people evolve.”
Abidali Z. Neemuchwala, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Wipro Limited said, “We welcome the Alight India team to the Wipro family. We are delighted to be chosen as a strategic partner by Alight for this transformational project. Our focus will be to modernize Alight’s core technology assets and further automate its operations to enhance the user experience of Alight’s end customers. Wipro’s expertise and best practices in cloud and smart analytics, and investments in proprietary platforms such as Wipro HOLMES™ will enable this transformation.”
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close after receiving required regulatory approvals.
FCM Consulting facilitated the transaction between the two organizations.