J.D. Edwards partners with Covansys to set up development center in India
Wednesday, 26 February 2003, 20:30 IST
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DENVER: J.D. Edwards (Nasdaq:JDEC) Wednesday announced an agreement with Covansys Corporation (Nasdaq:CVNS) to provide additional development resources and to establish a development center for J.D. Edwards in Chennai. J.D. Edwards will tap resources consisting of 60 additional full-time Covansys developers, enabling J.D. Edwards to decrease the time it takes to deliver new products, while maintaining the quality of its J.D. Edwards 5 collaborative commerce software. Also, J.D. Edwards will use Covansys' development operations in Chennai to reduce initial costs associated with the establishment of a new physical plant. In addition to benefiting customers worldwide, the agreement will enable J.D. Edwards to provide its Asia-Pacific customers with specialized, regional software development and services. "As a global company, we constantly search for the best resources worldwide to provide our customers with products and services that help them drive their businesses," said Bob Dutkowsky, chairman, president and CEO of J.D. Edwards. "At the same time, we need to make smart decisions that return the most value for our shareholders. Our partnership with Covansys allows us to immediately add talented developers to our pool of engineers to rapidly deploy new products, ensure software quality, and reduce overall costs." Covansys, based in Farmington Hills, Mich., has 4,800 employees worldwide. It offers one of the largest offshore capabilities among U.S.-based technology services providers, with two wholly-owned development centers in India that are SEI CMM® Level 5 certified. Since its inception in 1985, Covansys has worked with leading companies, such as IBM, SIRVA, Henry Ford Health System and UNUMProvident Corporation to successfully deliver an array of innovative and cost-effective business and technical solutions on time and within budget. "Whether you are a software company of 20 employees or a global leader like J.D. Edwards, companies are constantly looking to employ innovative solutions that drive down business costs, improve products and increase customer service. Offshore outsourcing is the most efficient way to reach those goals," said Martin C. Clague, Covansys president and CEO. "As we embark on this partnership with J.D. Edwards, we will utilize our rich experience in this market to help it truly reap the benefits of Covansys' offshore outsourcing services. We look forward to providing J.D. Edwards with the highest level of service and expanding our relationship with the company in the future." A team of developers based in Chennai will support J.D. Edwards' high value-add development teams in the United States and focus on quality assurance, testing and maintenance. By shifting these responsibilities, J.D. Edwards will not only increase its testing capabilities by 30 percent, but also can redeploy its internal testing and maintenance team to strategic, new software development. "We made a commitment to our customers to deliver the high quality, innovative software that supports evolution of their business," said Mike Madden, senior vice president and chief technology officer at J.D. Edwards. "By combining the resources of our talented internal development team with the developers based in Chennai, we increase our capacity to deliver quality solutions to help our customers while keeping costs in line." Gerald Massey, Covansys executive vice president adds, "J.D. Edwards' selection of Covansys to assist it in outsourcing a vital component of its business legitimizes the value of Covansys' offshore outsourcing services. We are very excited about this alliance and are confident in our ability to help J.D. Edwards in reaching its offshore outsourcing goals." As part of the terms of this build, operate, transfer (BOT) six-year agreement with Covansys, J.D. Edwards has the option to significantly increase the number of developers annually. In addition, J.D. Edwards can take ownership of the infrastructure created by Covansys and has the option to assume the physical lease held by Covansys. As a result, J.D. Edwards increases productivity, while minimizing risk and decreasing associated ramp-up costs. When these resources are transferred, cost savings of up to 30 percent may be realized. J.D. Edwards has no plans to reduce its existing development resources and instead will leverage those resources to focus on developing new functionality to deliver new products and maintain existing products for its customers.
Source: IANS
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