Cognizant Expands SAP Capabilities for Energy and Utilities Clients with Acquisition of Utegration By CIOTechOutlook Team

Cognizant Expands SAP Capabilities for Energy and Utilities Clients with Acquisition of Utegration

CIOTechOutlook Team | Thursday, 08 December 2022, 05:53 IST

Cognizant today announced it has agreed to acquire Houston-based Utegration LLC, a full-service 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. "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.

"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 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."

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

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

Independent industry analyst Gartner® forecasts global IT spending in the power and utilities market to reach about $175 billion by year-end 2022.1 Demand is accelerating, driven by clean energy initiatives, grid modernization, and customer experience management initiatives.