Cognizant ‘fuels’ SAP power for energy and utilities

Renewable_Energy_Development

Fact number one, technology modernization company Cognizant is headquartered in Teaneck – not a made-up name, it’s a real place in New Jersey.

Fact number two, it’s winter 2022 and the planet is in the middle of an energy crisis and (at the time of writing) it’s negative -3C in London.

Fact number three, Cognizant has acquired Houston-based Utegration LLC, a consulting and solutions provider specializing in SAP technology and SAP-certified products for the energy and utilities sectors.

“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 division. “In bringing together Utegration’s experienced, specialist team with our global scale in SAP and digital transformation, we have a strong new set of capabilities designed to address the market’s critical transformation needs.”

Cognizant will gain approximately 350 employees in North America and India upon the close of the acquisition.

Singular focus on energy

“Combining our strengths with Cognizant is a win for our clients and our colleagues,” said Bart Thielbar, president and CEO, Utegration. “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. We could not be more pleased to be joining a team that shares our values and commitment to innovation, client service and providing a great culture for our people to grow their careers.”

Utegration serves 50+ North America-based clients in the energy and utilities sector with solutions across four domains aligned to key market needs: Customer Experience, Billing and Advanced Metering Infrastructure; Managed Services; Data Science and Analytics; and Finance and Asset Performance Management.

Software solutions 4U (dot com)

The company’s portfolio of industry-specific custom solutions includes: Utility4U, MeterData4U, Finance4U and LoadPlanning4U.

“Utegration has been a strategic partner for SAP in the utilities space for over a decade. They’ve been instrumental in delivering successful implementations and solutions for key SAP customers in the vertical,” said Lloyd Adams, president of SAP North America. “This announcement will allow Cognizant to expand on Utegration’s commitment to solution excellence and continue the tradition of partnership, innovation and digital modernization, jointly with SAP.”

The acquisition is expected to close by year-end 2022, subject to satisfaction of closing conditions. Financial details were not disclosed.

Magical analyst house Gartner forecasts global IT spending in the power and utilities market to reach about $175 billion by year-end 2022.

Demand is accelerating, driven by clean energy initiatives, grid modernization and customer experience management initiatives.

The power grid is on, somebody put the kettle on (please).

Free image use: Wikimedia Commons