VAR500: Accenture Wins Homeland Security Contract; Wipro Consolidates

VAR500 Solution Providers In the News

2012 started off with new contracts, recognition and changing faces among these VAR500 solution providers. Here's what's happening at some of North America's leading IT solution providers, including Accenture, CGI Group, Cognizant, Deloitte Consulting and Wipro.

Accenture Wins Contract, Provides Biometrics To Protect U.S. Border

Accenture Federal Services won a 13-month, $71 million contract from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to further enhance the capabilities of the department's immigration and border management functions. The contract supports the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program, a biometric and biographic identity management system that helps federal, state and local officials determine if travelers can legally enter or remain in the U.S. Work will include growing the number and types of biometrics used in identification as well as increasing technical services and capabilities to support users of the system. Upgrades under the contract will allow biometric information to be shared in real time with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Defense.

Cognizant's CEO Named Top Exec

India's Economic Times has named Francisco D’Souza among the 12 newsmakers who will ’define India in 2012.’ D’Souza is one of the three corporate execs named to the list. Why D'Souza? According to the Economic Times, "Because he might overturn the pecking order of Indian IT firms. Last year, Cognizant gate-crashed into the Top 3 revenue list, forcing Wipro out of the big league." The other two to beat: TCS and Infosys.

CGI Budget System Goes To Vermont

CGI’s public sector performance budgeting solution will replace the State of Vermont’s Office of Budget and Management's aging budget system. The new solution will integrate with the State’s existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform. As part of CGI’s AMS Advantage ERP suite, the performance budgeting solution offers flexible and configurable budgeting functionality that meets the unique needs of the public sector without time consuming and costly customizations. The open architecture supports integration with Vermont’s existing ERP system and supports statewide reporting that is timely, accurate, and reliable.

Kudos For Deloitte's Welfare Solution

The advanced technology behind Michigan’s welfare delivery system, developed by Deloitte, has received a national award for outstanding achievement from the Center for Digital Government.

The Digital Government Achievement Awards spotlight outstanding agency and department web sites and applications. Michigan’s integrated eligibility and payment system, known as Bridges, was one of only seven federal and state projects cited this year for excellence in the ’government-to-citizen’ category. In all, 43 awards were presented.

’Deloitte helped us replace three legacy systems in 83 counties so we could deliver vital human services in the most efficient way possible," said David Behen, Michigan’s chief information officer, in a statement. "The productivity gains achieved by our state have been significant.’

Wipro Consolidates

Wipro Technologies, the Global Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing business of Wipro Limited announced its plans to create a focused global unit called the "Business Operations Unit," which will enable Wipro to deliver differentiated value for clients with seamless, predictable execution. The company will consolidate its Business Application Services, Global Delivery, Quality and IS teams under the newly formed Business Operations Unit.

Bhanumurthy BM, currently the Senior Vice President and Head of Wipro Technologies' Retail, Consumer Goods, Transportation & Government Strategic Business Unit will take over as the Chief Business Operations Officer. Srini Pallia, who leads Business Application Services, will take over as the Strategic Business Unit head for Wipro Technologies’ Retail, Consumer Goods, Transportation & Government business unit. Sambuddha Deb, Global Chief Delivery Officer, Wipro Limited, will retire from the company by March 2012.