Cognizant acquires Australian digital solutions firm Odecee

IT services major Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. has acquired Australia-based Odecee Pty Ltd, a provider of digital solutions for enterprises, for an undisclosed amount.

Post-acquisition, Cognizant will get the Intellectual Property (IP) rights of Velocedee, a platform that helps centralise secure mobile applications and enables rapid implementation of core business processes across mobile devices. As part of the deal, almost 150 employees of Odecee will join Cognizant.

"This strategic acquisition underscores our focus on strengthening our digital capabilities," said John Burgin, regional head (Australia and New Zealand), Cognizant. "As businesses become increasingly technology-intensive and physical processes get instrumented and digitised, our portfolio of services, coupled with our aggressive investments in SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) technologies, will help clients drive meaningful changes and build ever more connected, collaborative, and real-time businesses," he added.

Founded by technology entrepreneurs Michael Bodle, Oscar Huseyin and Con Mouzouris in 2007, Odecee offers enterprise application solutions to companies in the financial services, insurance, healthcare, logistics and communications industries in Australia and New Zealand.

"Becoming a part of Cognizant will enable us to expand our capabilities, services and exposure, while ensuring the long-term vitality and sustainability of the business," said Con Mouzouris, co-founder and managing director of Odecee.

Headquartered in New Jersey, Cognizant provides IT consulting and technology services, as well as outsourcing services in North America, Europe and Asia. It had over 50 delivery centres worldwide and approximately 171,400 employees as of December last year.

It has been fairly aggressive in expanding inorganically. In September it struck a big deal to buy US-based healthcare IT services firm TriZetto for $2.7 billion.

It has also been actively sprucing up its presence in the digital domain. Last month, Cognizant struck a deal to acquire digital marketing company Cadient Group, which offers services to a broad spectrum of life sciences companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, consumer health, and medical device industries.

In April, Cognizant had also signed an agreement to acquire itaas, a digital video solutions company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, for an undisclosed amount.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)