BWI: Wipro and British American Tobacco Enter into a Strategic Engagement

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: WIPRO
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 05:30 PM IST (12:00 PM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Information technology; Technology
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Wipro and British American Tobacco Enter into a Strategic Engagement
Sign a multi-year Agreement for Application Support Services

Bangalore, Karnataka, India, Wednesday, January 27, 2010 -- (Business Wire India) -- Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) today announced that it has entered into a multi-year outsourcing engagement with British American Tobacco, to help the company improve the effectiveness and efficiency of application support services for its global business operations.

Under the agreement, both companies will partner to leverage Wipro's global scale and transformational capabilities to achieve step change results in productivity, IT costs and service quality. More specifically, the agreement will provide an enterprise-wide global application support delivery model and capability, reduce the total cost of ownership and allow more opportunities for value added services to business users of British American Tobacco.

Wipro will be delivering this global program across over 130 countries in which British American Tobacco operates.

Phil Colman, Chief Information Officer, British American Tobacco said, "The global capabilities of Wipro match very well with the needs of British American Tobacco as a Global Enterprise. We look forward to a successful and productive relationship".

"We believe this is the right way forward for us in terms of our IT strategy. We will be considerably more effective across our global enterprise. These changes will help us improve the application support service quality, facilitate better integration, enable enhanced knowledge sharing and, ultimately, help us become more competitive," added Ben Fourie, Head of Global IT Services at British American Tobacco.

Commenting on this agreement, Suresh Vaswani, Jt.CEO, IT Business and Member of the Board, Wipro Ltd, said "Wipro is committed to provide value to British American Tobacco in delivering a successful transformational engagement. We are confident that our extensive experience in enterprise-wide global application support delivery model and capability will enable British American Tobacco to realize significant benefits and we are happy that British American Tobacco has offered us an opportunity to work with them."

Bhanu Murthy B M, Sr. Vice President - Retail, CPG, Transportation and Government, Wipro Technologies said, "We are excited to be chosen for this transformational initiative at British American Tobacco. Wipro will bring in standardized processes, methodologies and governance to set British American Tobacco on a strategic cost optimization path while ensuring a high level of service to the business and will participate in bringing in clear business
benefits."

About Wipro

Wipro Technologies, a division of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) is the first PCMM Level 5 and SEI CMM Level 5 certified global IT services organization. Wipro Technologies was recently assessed at Level 5 for CMMI V 1.2 across offshore and onsite development centers. Wipro is one of the largest product engineering and support service providers worldwide. Wipro provides comprehensive research and development services, IT solutions and services, including systems integration, information systems outsourcing, package implementation, software application management, and data center managed services to corporations globally.

In the Indian market, Wipro is a leader in providing IT solutions and services for the corporate segment in India, offering system integration, network integration, software solutions and IT services.

Wipro also has a profitable presence in niche market segments of consumer products and lighting. In the Asia-Pacific and Middle East markets, Wipro provides IT solutions and services for global corporations. Wipro's ADS' are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and its equity shares are listed in India on the Stock Exchange - Mumbai, and the National Stock Exchange.

For more information, please visit our website at www.wipro.com

Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

Media Contacts:

Wipro Technologies

India:
Radhika Mahadevan
Wipro Technologies
+91- 9945042603
radhika.mahadevan@wipro.com

Mangala Koti Singhal
Gutenberg Communications
+91 9686446789
mangala@gutenbergpr.com

US:
Eric Belove
Wipro Technologies
+ 1 (732).216.6242
eric.belove@wipro.com

Lavanya DJ
Gutenberg Communications
+ 212).239.8740
lavanya@gutenbergpr.com

UK:
Rahul Kadavakolu
Wipro Technologies
+44 792 020 5496
rahul.kadavakolu@wipro.com

Shalini Siromani
Gutenberg Communications
+44.79.6066.3200
shalini@gutenbergpr.com



KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, MARKETING, BUSINESS SERVICES, IT, TECHNOLOGY, WIPRO.BO, WIPRO.NS

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