Wipro strikes its biggest deal, hopes to win lost ground

Bangaluru: Wipro Limited has won its largest-ever single deal. The tech major bagged a 10-year contract from Illinois-based Alight Solutions LLC, the company said on Sunday. The deal will bring revenues in the range of $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion for the company over the next 10 years.

Clearly, this is Wipro’s largest win to date. In 2014, it signed a $1.1 billion outsourcing deal with a Canadian logistics firm ATCO for 10 years that will be ending in 2024.

Under the new engagement, Wipro will provide a comprehensive suite of solutions and services to Alight Solutions, a leader in technology-enabled health, wealth, HR and finance solutions. It will also enable digital transformation of Alight’s offerings across health, wealth, HR and finance solutions, and enhance the employee experience of Alight’s clients by leveraging Wipro’s industry-leading strengths in digital technologies, cognitive automation and data analytics.

During Q4, Wipro signed a strategic partnership with Alight Solutions to acquire its India operations for $117 million. Alight has delivery centres in Gurgaon, Noida, Mumbai and Chennai.

Commenting on Sunday’s mega deal, Wipro CEO and ED Abidali Z Neemuchwala, said, “We are delighted to be chosen by Alight as their long-term strategic partner in their enterprise transformation journey to bring digital experiences and offerings to employees and employers globally. This is testimony to the capabilities we have built through our strategic investments in Wipro Digital, cloud platforms and cognitive platform Wipro HOLMES.”

Chris Michalak, CEO, Alight Solutions, said, “Our industry-leading partnership with Wipro will enhance our client experience by drawing on Wipro’s leading position in automation and innovation, while allowing Alight to invest in its health, wealth and cloud-based solutions to meet the needs of our clients,”.

Analyst community believes that the problem with Wipro is the inordinate amount of time it has been spe-nding in internal restructuring that begun four years ago and is still not completed.

However, Phil Fersht, CEO of Seattle-based HfS Research said, “Wipro took hard punches early on and this deal will help it reap some rewards now.”