CRN Exclusive: Verizon, Cognizant Partner For Customer Experience Solutions

Verizon Enterprise Solutions and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., an IT consulting and business process outsourcing solution provider, are teaming up to help enterprise clients create high-performance, connected solutions that focus on the customer experience and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Teaneck, N.J.-based Cognizant, No. 10 on the CRN Solution Provider 500, will bring its consulting skills to the alliance. Verizon is already a Cognizant partner for intelligent networks, cloud and security solutions, but the relationship will now include customer relationship management, said Rob Calloway, vice president of CRM solutions for Cognizant.

"We believe this alliance is differentiated in the market and gives our clients the ability to not only visualize their customer experience transformation journey, but also will highlight innovative capabilities offered by both [Cognizant and Verizon] as well as other mutual partners," Calloway said.

[Related: Cognizant Chief Strategy Officer: We're About To Enter The 'Great Digital Build-Out']

Enterprises are up against complex IT environments, and need a way to harness their data to better serve their customers, according to Calloway. These organizations often use point products to address their customer experience initiatives, but these tools often don't look at the big picture of people, technology and processes, Calloway said.

Together, the companies will help enterprise clients design, deploy and manage customer experience solutions that integrate social, mobile, analytics, cloud and sensor technologies. These solutions will ultimately help enterprises understand the meaning behind their data to better understand their end customer’s behaviors, interests and needs.

"We are focused on bettering the customer experience as well as delivering enterprise cloud, Internet of Things and the underpinning of intelligent networking, security and contact center technologies," said Adam Famularo, vice president, global channels, Verizon Enterprise Solutions. "By joining together, we can deliver enhanced value to our clients by addressing digital-age challenges such as increased traffic requirements, growing use of cloud and mobile, and applying analytics to big data for better business outcomes."

Joint customers of Cognizant and Verizon will have access to large-scale technology demonstrations at Verizon’s Innovation Centers in San Francisco and Waltham, Mass. The demonstrations will also be done through a new test-bed lab the companies are jointly building. The lab environment will allow clients to visualize large-scale projects, rather than simply viewing and testing point technology offerings, according to the two companies.

The partnership will target enterprise clients looking to transform how they interact with clients, and will be a good fit for those in retail, manufacturing and logistics, insurance, banking and financial services, as well as the health-care industry, Calloway said.

PUBLISHED SEPT. 14, 2015