Cognizant announces expansion of R&D partnership with Aveva
Technology and management consultancy Cognizant has announced an expansion of its research and development (R&D) partnership with multinational IT company Aveva. The partnership will focus on the development of “cutting-edge industrial software that will help shape the future across a range of industries, from water and energy, to food and infrastructure,” according to a press release.
The news comes hot on the heels of another of Cognizant’s pushes toward digitization – the firm in early March acquired Dublin-based fintech innovation company Meritsoft for an undisclosed fee. Meritsoft specializes in RegTech, tax, post-trade, and data analytics solutions, and has worked for a number of the world’s premier capital market institutions.
For its partnership with Aveva, experts from Cognizant’s digital, Internet of Things, and product, cloud, and software engineering arms will align with Aveva’s employees to create engineering and industrial software that will “span the entire engineering lifecycle, including simulations, design, construction, commissioning, planning, operations management, monitoring and control, as well as performance optimization.” This will allow customers to leverage various technologies to boost revenue, competitiveness, and profitability.
"Our industrial software portfolio is the result of years of industry-leading innovation and business alignment with customers worldwide," Andrew McCloskey, Aveva’s CTO and executive vice president of R&D, said. "Digitally transforming the engineering, operations and asset lifecycle is key for our customers to compete globally, drive growth and gain competitive advantage. Cognizant's global presence, high-end experts, robust delivery framework, and culture of innovation complement our vision for digital transformation."
The multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal furthers Cognizant’s 2009 alliance with Invensys Operations Management, a UK-based provider of technology systems. Invensys was in 2013 acquired by Schneider Electric Software, the industrial and enterprise software solutions arm of French energy group Schneider Electric. Schneider Electric Software merged with Aveva in 2018.
"Industry 4.0 is here and is now transforming the world of manufacturing. As Aveva's largest R&D partner, our expanded collaboration will help customers accelerate their Industry 4.0 journey and transform into a 'connected enterprise' with greater reliability, efficiency and safety across their value chain," Rajaram Radhakrishnan, Cognizant’s global head for manufacturing, logistics, energy, and utilities said. "As information and operational technologies converge, the combination of Cognizant's digital capabilities and Aveva's deep domain expertise will strengthen our best-in-class solutions, and create new market opportunities. Cognizant and Aveva are uniquely positioned to innovate on reliable, cost-effective and easy-to-use products that transform core processes, plant engineering, and plant operations."
Cognizant is headquartered in New Jersey, is ranked 195 on the Fortune 500, has 281,600 global employees, and has annual revenues of $16.3 billion. In early April, the firm hired ex-Vodafone business CEO Brian Humphries as its new CEO. Aveva is based in Cambridge, UK, with more than 4,400 employees at 80 locations in more than 40 countries.
Related: Cognizant launches tech innovation hub in Boulder, Colorado
