Capgemini Asia

ABOUT THIS COMPANY:

France’s finest

Headquartered in Paris, Capgemini S.A. provides management consulting, technology services, outsourcing and local professional services in Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific region, as well as in the United Arab Emirates and Morocco. In Asia Pacific, the firm boasts over 22,000 employees, with more than 20,000 of those stationed in offices throughout India. In addition, Capgemini operates regional locations in Australia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Going through a massive restructuring in April 2009, the firm now operates in four main business segments: Capgemini Consulting, Outsourcing Services, Technology Services, and Local Professional Services (including Sogeti operations).

The firm offers its services across the public sector as well as in a variety of private-sector industries, including automotive, chemicals, consumer products, distribution, energy and utilities, financial services, health care, life sciences, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications, and media and entertainment. Major clients have included 14 of the world's largest 15 automobile manufacturers (including GM, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Ford and BMW); 27 of the 30 largest consumer products companies (such as British American Tobacco, Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola and Unilever); a number of finance titans (Citibank, HSBC, ING and the European Investment Bank); and a wide assortment of other industry giants including ABB, Amcor, AstraZeneca, Corus, Carrefour, DHL, FedEx, Lowe's, Prudential, Sprint and Tesco.

CAP, meet Gemini

Capgemini got its start as Sogeti, a French IT services firm founded by Serge Kampf in 1967. Through the acquisition of two major IT services companies (CAP and Gemini Computer Systems) in the 1970s, the firm became Cap Gemini Sogeti. Continuing to grow and expand through acquisitions, the name was eventually shortened to the two-word Cap Gemini. In 2000, Cap Gemini acquired Ernst & Young's consulting business, creating a major global management consulting and outsourcing firm with a rather unwieldy moniker: Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. A massive rebranding campaign took place in April 2004, and the compound name Capgemini was the catchy result.

Meanwhile, the Sogeti name, relaunched in 2002, lives on as Capgemini's local professional services subsidiary. Employing 20,000 people worldwide, it offers application services, infrastructure services and technology consulting. Primarily operating throughout Europe and the U.S., Sogeti also has Indian offices in Bangalore and Mumbai.

Allied in Asia

In addition to its Capgemini and Sogeti offices, the firm operates through a number of alliances around Asia. In Japan, Capgemini operates through an alliance with NTT DATA Corporation, a massive tech solutions firm. Under the alliance agreement, Tokyo-based NTT subsidiary Zacatii Consulting is the preferred partner for Capgemini's clients in Japan; reciprocally, Capgemini is the preferred partner for Zacatii's clients in the U.S. and Europe. The alliance was formed in 2005, when NTT acquired Capgemini's Japanese subsidiary, Capgemini Japan K.K. As an independent subsidiary of NTT, the business was renamed Zacatii Consulting. Today, its clients hail mostly from the manufacturing, technology, communications, consumer goods, life sciences and financial services sectors.

The firm founded a partnership in October 2007 with Samsung SDS to give its clients access to Samsung SDS' services in Korea—and clients of Samsung SDS access to Capgemini's services globally. The two companies pursue joint business, share IT service methods and education, exchange human resources and jointly own each other's brands and intellectual property in Korea. Samsung SDS' goal is to make inroads into the global IT consulting market through Capgemini's already-established worldwide client base.

Meanwhile, Capgemini had previously operated under its own name in Southeast Asia, but Singapore-based Frontline Technologies acquired the firm's Singapore and Malaysia businesses and staff in 2004. An alliance was forged with Capgemini post-acquisition for outsourcing services. Frontline was subsequently acquired by the Singapore subsidiary of BT Group (formerly British Telecom) in March 2008, and has been rebranded as BT Frontline.