Infosys wins a billion dollar deal from Daimler, its second mega-deal in a pandemic year 

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Bengaluru: Software major Infosys said it has won a multi-year deal from German automotive major Daimler to drive hybrid-cloud powered innovation and IT infrastructure transformation. While Infosys did not disclose the size of the deal, sources ET NOW spoke to pegged it at over a billion dollars, making it the second billion dollar deal for Infosys in a pandemic year, months after it won a large deal from Vanguard. 

Daimler is working towards a model that will have IT infrastructure across its plants and regions, and supports consolidation of its data centers. As a part of this partnership, automotive IT infrastructure experts based out of Germany, wider Europe, the U.S. and the APAC region will transition from Daimler AG to Infosys.

“As we embark on this journey, we will bring together capabilities, ecosystems and a hybrid cloud infrastructure that will shape new experiences for Daimler AG and the industry at large. Infosys has deep expertise in helping our clients across the globe navigate their digital journeys, and as part of this strategic partnership, we look forward to setting a new standard for the automotive industry,” said Salil Parekh, Chief Executive Officer, Infosys.

At the same time, Jan Brecht, Chief Information Officer, Daimler and Mercedes-Benz, said, “Software becomes modular and IT infrastructure becomes big. Daimler will take three steps at once to transform its IT infrastructure: consolidation, scaling and modernization. We need to think about infrastructure beyond the size of our company. With Infosys we found a partner to scale, to innovate and to speed up. Moreover, this is a strategic partnership for Daimler’s IT capabilities and Infosys’ automotive expertise."

Parekh, who took charge nearly 3 years ago, helped restore stability, growth and confidence in an Infosys that was bruised by constant tensions between founder Narayana Murthy and the then board and CEO Vishal Sikka, over concerns around corporate governance. It's not surprising then that Parekh has a strong vote of confidence from co-founder chairman Nandan Nilekani recently.

"The new world needs a more agile infrastructure, it has to be fixed by reinventing the corporation, something Infosys has been doing. Infosys has been doing a terrific job of completely reinventing itself under Salil Parekh. The Infosys management and board is committed to transforming the company to be even more relevant to clients. Infosys under the leadership of Salil Parekh will continue to prosper and thrive," Nandan Nilekani told journalists last week. 

2020 has been a turnaround year of sorts for software major Infosys, as it managed to pivot to a global delivery model where 99% of its employees continue to work from home, scaled offerings in cloud and digital, even as it won a $1.5 Billion deal from Vanguard, the biggest in its history. It has also been outperforming its peers in recent quarters.  

CEO Salil Parekh said the company continues to see good momentum, with no apparent delays in decision making due to the US elections, Brexit or the uncertainty around vaccine rollout. 

"The momentum is quite similar, steady and strong. We are not seeing anything change from the second quarter. We are confident about what we have seen so far. Many of the deals are new, digital transformation programs. We have not seen any real impact on decision-making," Parekh told ET NOW in response to a query at an Infosys media day event recently. He added that pricing is holding up well and they expect digital to exceed 50% of revenues in the next few quarters.