Centrica selects Cognizant as its SAP transformation partner
Cognizant has been selected as sole technology services partner by international energy services and solutions company Centrica. The move continues a lasting partnership between the firms stretching back longer than a decade.
“As an energy services provider operating at global scale, we need agile technologies and an infrastructure that can scale across the business without complexity,” said Darren Miles, CIO, Centrica. “Cognizant has been a trusted, insightful partner in our journey over many years as we have evolved to improve our business efficiency and transform our customer-facing offerings to deliver more personalised and engaging customer service.”
The new contract will see Cognizant manage and transform the SAP environment supporting Centrica’s UK operations, ultimatelyleading to the consolidation of the system, and enabling Centrica to streamline business processes and respond more quickly to market and regulatory changes, improving operational efficiency as well as user experience.
Centrica is one of the globe’s larger supplier of energy and energy-related services. The company services its customer base through several operating arms, such as British Gas, Bord Gáis Energy and Direct Energy. Through these hubs, Centrica provides energy supply and services to 10 million business and residential customers in the UK – making its SAP enterprise system one of the UK energy industry’s most substantial SAP deployments.
Rob Walker, Managing Director, UK&I, Cognizant, noted, “The ability to adapt quickly to change and to connect with customers in a meaningful way is key. We are pleased to be helping Centrica meet these challenges head-on, drawing on our rich domain knowledge of the energy and utility industry, along with our extensive engineering and SAP expertise.”
Innovative new technologies and digitally savvy new competition are reshaping the energy industry, with customers looking for greater control of their services as a result. Cognizant’s help will enable Centrica cope with the disruption of the sector to retain and add customers. To this end, Centrica’s customers will benefit from changes in account management processes, as well as receiving better insights on energy use and managing tariffs, highly personalised offers and a smoother onboarding process for new services.
The multiyear engagement builds on Cognizant’s long-standing relationship with Centrica, which is now in its sixteenth year. Since 2005, Cognizant has provided Centrica with a broad range of consulting, data, cloud and digital engineering services. For example, in 2016, the client selected Cognizant as its partner to deliver end-to-end digital assurance as-a-service across its technology landscape – part of a wider digital transformation agenda.
