The WITCH Monthly Monitor
Monthly update on major global IT consulting and services firms in healthcare
April 2020
The WITCH Monthly Monitor provides latest financial and market performance updates on the WITCH companies, along with other global IT consulting firms on a monthly basis.
Highlights for the month
Wipro
Wipro and Nutanix Partner to Launch Digital Database Services (DDS)Wipro and Nutanix collaborate to launch Wipro’s Digital Database Services (DDS) powered by Nutanix Era and Nutanix HCI software. The offering delivers end-to-end services and enables customers to consolidate their database workloads onto a shared infrastructure to manage database sprawl.
Results for the Quarter and Year ended March 31, 2020 under IFRS
Wipro reports revenue of $2,084 million, a decline of 3.96% YoY for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. The Health BU segment accounted for $273 million with a negative growth of 1.05%. The revenue was negatively impacted by project closures, shifting people to work from home, and delayed approvals.
Wipro senior vice-president Raja Ukil resigns Raja Ukil, SVP and global head of cyber security and risk services (CRS) resigns after 18 years with the firm. Raja Ukil’s exit comes barely a year after he took charge as the head of CRS. In addition to this role, he was also the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).
Infosys
Results for the Fourth Quarter and Year ended March 31, 2020
Infosys reports revenue of $3,197 million, a growth of 4.5% YoY and decline of 1.4% QoQ for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. The life sciences segment accounts for $204 million for the quarter, a decline of 6.85% QoQ and a growth of 11.48% YoY.
D N Prahlad steps off Infosys Board with effect from April 20, 2020
D N Prahlad, Independent Director steps down from the Board with effect from April 20, 2020. Prahlad was an independent director from 2016 and served as Chairperson of the Risk Management Committee. Infosys appoints Uri Levine, a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Waze, as an Independent Director, effective April 20, 2020.
TCS
TCS Closes FY20 with Strong Deal Wins: Augurs Long Term Resilience Amidst Near Term ChallengesTCS reports revenue of $5,444 million, a marginal growth of 0.9% YoY for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. The company’s growth was affected by the pandemic which reversed the positive momentum witnessed in the first half of the quarter. Growth was led by life Sciences and healthcare vertical ($479 million), a growth of 16.2% YoY.
Coronavirus: TCS uses AI for drug discovery
Scientists from TCS Innovation Labs in partnership with Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) use AI to identify new molecules that might have the potential to target specific parts of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). They have identified 31 potential candidate small molecules to target the main protease which helps the virus replicate.
TCS, Cognizant, Persistent bring tech tools to Covid-19 battle
TCS, Cognizant and Persistent Systems bring technology to contain the Covid-19 virus outbreak. Cognizant partners with a life sciences supplier for fast-tracking Covid-19 diagnostic kits and provides support to a global leader in medical devices for Covid-19 ventilators and other devices. Persistent Systems helps Biocomplexity Institute, a research organization specializing in bioinformatics at the University of Virginia, to identify patterns that can help predict the spread of the virus.
Cognizant
Cognizant Security Incident Update Cognizant hit by “Maze” ransomware attack involving internal systems and causing service disruptions for some of their clients. The company’s internal security teams, supplemented by leading cyber defense firms, are actively taking steps to contain this incident.Accenture
Accenture Federal Services Wins $96 Million Task Order to Help the Department of Veterans Affairs Modernize Enterprise Service Management and IT CapabilitiesAccenture Federal Services (AFS) wins a $96 million task order to help the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide IT and mission service experiences to veterans, employees, and other stakeholders. AFS will help VA automate manual workflows and introduce applied intelligence and machine learning capabilities.
Accenture Acquires Yesler, Bolstering its B2B Marketing Services
Accenture acquires Yesler, a Seattle-based B2B marketing services agency that applies an integrated, end-to-end framework to the marketing challenges of technology companies. The acquisition expands Accenture’s B2B marketing services and strengthens areas including account-based marketing, customer advocacy, sales enablement, and marketing automation.
Accenture Acquires Revolutionary Security, Provider of Cybersecurity Services for Critical Infrastructure
Accenture acquires Revolutionary Security, a Philadelphia-based firm specializing in enterprise cybersecurity for IT and operational technology (OT) environments. The company’s portfolio of cybersecurity services includes assessment and testing, design, and build of security programs and functions as well as security operations for its clients’ IT and OT systems across several industries including healthcare.
Atos
Atos to Deliver Next Generation Cloud Services to the State of TexasAtos wins a multi-year contract with the State of Texas’ Department of Information Resources (DIR) to deliver private cloud transformation and artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.
First quarter of 2020
Atos reports revenue of $3,126 million (€ 2,834 million), a decline of 4.94% YoY and 8.14% QoQ in USD for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 owing to the reduced economic activity due to the pandemic. This quarter, the company reports healthcare and life sciences as a separate segment which was earlier reported along with the public sector as public and health. The healthcare and life sciences accounted for $356 million (€ 323 million) of the total revenue.
Atos acquires data science firm Miner & Kasch
Atos acquires Miner & Kasch, an AI and data science consulting firm headquartered in Maryland. With this acquisition, Accenture will enhance its big data and AI consulting practice of zData experts to accelerate its Data Science-as-a-Service offering.
Atos extends cybersecurity offering with “Identity as a Service”
Atos extends its Identity & Access Management offering with a new Identity as a Service – EvidianIDaaS which is available from the cloud on a subscription basis, on-premises, and as-a-Service applications.
IBM
IBM launches IBM Rapid Supplier Connect, a blockchain-based network designed to help government agencies and healthcare organizations identify and onboard alternative vendors of supplies and equipment. Suppliers and buyers currently joining the network include hospitals and other organizations such as Northwell Health and The Worldwide Supply Chain Federation.
IBM Reports 2020 First-Quarter Results
Tech Mahindra and IBM to Help Their Clients Modernize Operations Leveraging Cloud
IBM collaborates with Tech Mahindra to help businesses migrate core business applications to the IBM public cloud using IBM Cloud Paks. In addition, the companies will establish innovation centers in India, North America, and the UK targeting key sectors of telecommunication, manufacturing, financial services, insurance, retail, and healthcare.
IBM Offers “Watson Assistant for Citizens” to Provide Responses to COVID-19 Questions
IBM offers “Watson Assistant for Citizens” available on IBM public cloud to understand and respond to common questions about COVID-19. Watson Assistant for Citizens leverages currently available data from external sources, including guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and local sources such as links to school closings, news, and documents.
IBM taps former Bank of America CTO to oversee cloud business
IBM appoints Howard Boville, former CTO of Bank of America as SVP of Cloud Platform, effective May 1, 2020. Boville helped Bank of America collaborate with IBM on a public cloud for the financial services sector.
NTT Data
Sharecare Partners With IPSoft and NTT DATA to Power Free COVID-19 Screening Solution With Conversational AISharecare launches an interactive COVID-19 screener, developed in partnership with IPsoft and NTT DATA for anonymous screening for the novel coronavirus. Pisgah Health Foundation becomes Sharecare’s first Blue Zones Project partner to integrate this solution.
The City of Austin Partners with NTT DATA to Test and Trace for COVID-19
NTT Data Services partners with the city of Austin to launch a web application that will allow citizens to electronically schedule COVID-19 tests and also help to securely trace anonymized positive results to assess testing demand and identify high-risk areas for a proactive response.
Others
UnitedHealth’s Optum is in advanced talks to acquire remote mental health provider AbleTo for about $470 millionOptum plans to acquire New York-based AbleTo, a provider of virtual behavioral health care for approximately $470 million. The company offers virtual therapy programs and has seen an uptick in users during the pandemic.
Optum Partnering with California to Increase COVID-19 Testing Capacity
Optum partners with the state of California to increase daily testing capacity by providing end-to-end testing of COVID-19, from collecting specimens to reporting results to individuals, over 80 sites across California.
