Press releases serve as potent tools for companies to strategically position themselves within their target markets, captivating prospective customers, talent, and investors. By disseminating key messages, companies effectively spotlight strengths, achievements, and offerings, bolstering brand visibility, credibility, and investor interest.
This commentary scrutinizes press releases issued by publicly listed top IT companies – Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, and HCL Tech in January and February 2024. They serve as a comprehensive barometer of performance and shed light on narratives across multiple categories such as Client Wins, completed engagements, solution launches, Partnerships, Acquisitions, Awards, Analyst Relations, and CSR.
Highlights:
A total of 62 press releases were issued (32 in January 2024 and 30 in February 2024).
From a company perspective, HCL accounted for 30%, followed by Infosys (22%), TCS and Tech Mahindra (16%), and Wipro (12%).
Dominant categories included 25% in Partnerships, 18% in awards, and 13% each in Client engagements and win announcements.
Top Categories and Observations:
1. Partnerships:
These were in three broad areas: AI/GenAI, Telecoms and Cloud.
AI/GenAI:
- Wipro and HCLTech partnering with Intel Foundry. Interestingly, Intel launched Intel Foundry as the world’s first systems foundry for the AI era, delivering leadership in technology, resiliency and sustainability.
- Infosys and HCL long standing partnership with SAP.
- Wipro is building an Enterprise AI ready platform with IBM Watson.
Telecoms:
- Mobile World Congress, the premier flagship event for Telecom, just concluded on 29th February. A few announcements were made around this timeline.
- 5G: Wipro with Nokia (Private Wireless Solution to Speed up Enterprise Digital Transformation) and HCLTech with Verizon (FlexSpace 5G to redefine digital workplace).
- Tech M also announced a partnership with TOTSCo, Pegatron and Indostat. The one with Indostat to build an LLM for Bahasa Indonesia and its Dialects.
Cloud:
- HCLTech announced partnership with AWS for the Financial Services Competency and with CISCO for Cloud native solutions.
2. Wins:
Eight win announcements were made, with seven wins in Europe and one in APAC, signaling stronger momentum in Europe.
- TCS led with four (Aviva, The Co-operative Group Limited, Enento and Europ Assistance) win announcements, followed by Tech Mahindra (KWC Group and Proximus) and Infosys (Musgrave and Pacific International Lines) with two each.
3. Client engagements:
Of the 8 coverages around Client engagements, an interesting one was by Infosys around the Australian Open and using AI to bridge the connection with tennis fans and create immersive experiences.
Other coverages by these companies were for Clients such as Dow Jones, Manpower group, Sunrise, Regional Investment Corporation Australia and Euroclear Finland National Central Securities Depository.
4. Acquisitions:
Two acquisitions were announced in the said period.
- Infosys acquired InSemi, a semiconductor Design Services Provider to further strengthen its Engineering R&D capabilities.
- Wipro acquired Aggnee which has strong Intellectual Property in the property & casualty (P&C) insurance space with strong focus on the Duck Creek platform.
5. Awards:
- These were on the CSR, recognition as a top employer and on the business side.
In conclusion
Investors and Clients look for signals from sources like press releases to form a hypothesis on performance. While the narrative is far more deeper and broader, these signals help build the broad framework.
B2B sales is complex and partnerships play a big role in co-creating solutions for Clients and ultimately drive revenues. The big five covered in this report are deepening existing partnerships built over decades. At the same time, they are exploring newer ones in line with technological advancements.
Future newsletters I will do a deep dive on a long term timeline to identify insights and intel!
I value your feedback. If you found this analysis helpful or have suggestions for improvement, please let me know.
Data source: websites of Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS, HCL Tech and Wipro.
