Cognizant is acquiring US-based Utegration LLC, a consulting and solutions provider, for an undisclosed sum to leverage its SAP-based products and capabilities in the energy and utility sectors. The deal will allow Cognizant to tap into the lucrative power and utility sector, which has seen an increase in IT spending driven by clean energy projects and grid modernization.
According to Gartner, global IT spending in the power and utility sector is expected to reach $175 billion by the end of the year.
Utegration specializes in SAP technologies and SAP-certified products for the energy and utility sectors. It currently caters to more than 50 organizations in North America. Its solutions are focused on core areas of operations such as customer experience, billing, and advanced metering infrastructure, managed services, data science and analytics; and finance and asset performance management.
“We believe Utegration’s rich industry expertise and differentiated portfolio of energy and utilities-focused products and accelerators is a perfect complement to our SAP practice,” said Rob Vatter, Executive Vice President of Cognizant’s Enterprise Platform Services.
Cognizant will gain close to 350 employees in North America and India after the completion of the deal, which is expected by the end of this year.
“Utegration has grown with a singular focus on the needs of energy and utilities businesses and becoming part of Cognizant expands the scope and scale we have to deliver for clients, including beyond the energy sector,” Bart Thielbar, President and CEO of Utegration.
Lloyd Adams, President of SAP North America, said that Utegration has been a “strategic partner” for SAP in the utility sector for more than a decade and has been “instrumental” in providing solutions to key SAP customers in the sector.
SAP is one of the largest providers of enterprise application software, which licenses its products to other companies. Its core software products are enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM). ERP is used by companies to manage their business operations, while CRM is used to manage interactions with customers.
