HCL inks management deal with US firm

NEW DELHI: HCL Technologies on Tuesday announced that it has won a five-year IT applications support and infrastructure management deal from US-based flavoured beverages firm Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS). The financial details were not disclosed.

HCL America president Shami Khorana said the DPS deal was the fourth large outsourcing contract bagged by the IT firm in the US this year, the other three being a $350-million contract from The Reader���s Digest Association, a $100-million deal from Xerox and another with Viacom for an undisclosed amount.

As part of the deal, the Indian IT firm will provide services such as end-user computing, integrated service desk, network management and managed print services, for which HCL tied up with Xerox last year. DPS will also become HCL���s anchor service desk customer at the IT firm���s Raleigh delivery facility in the US.

HCL said it won the deal while competing against the top multinational IT firms including IBM. No other Indian IT firm was in the fray.The consumer goods firm is an existing client of the Indian IT firm.

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) and retail contribute about 6.5- 7% to HCL's revenues. ���This will be a large growth vertical for us going forward,��� Mr Khorana said. Companies in the space are not only looking to cut IT costs but they want to transform their IT infrastructure as well, he added.