TCS on February 8 announced the expansion of its partnership with UK-based client Phoenix Group in a £600 million ($723 million) deal.
Largest deal this fiscal year
This is TCS’ largest deal win in fiscal year 2023.
It is also a win in its second-largest global market, despite an increasingly cautious macro environment and uncertainty around client spending.
What the deal involves
Phoenix Group is UK’s largest long-term savings and retirements provider and will also be TCS’ largest deal in the UK in three years.
The deal involves TCS driving synergies and enhancing customer experience for life insurance provider ReAssure’s policyholders, which Phoenix Group acquired in 2020.
The expanded partnership is aimed at transforming ReAssure’s operations, consolidating the heritage business on TCS BaNCS.
How TCS will contribute
Customer administration and servicing of ReAssure’s 3 million policies will be managed by Diligenta, TCS’ regulated subsidiary in the UK, on behalf of Phoenix Group.
TCS will leverage its Innovation Lab in the UK where its contextual experts and solution architects look for new ways to harness digital technologies to enhance the experience for policyholders, advisers, employers and operational staff, and to continuously improve the service quality for Phoenix Group’s customers.
“Ultimately, this transformation will ensure that Phoenix’s customers benefit from the clear digital focus, consistent customer journeys and customer proposition provided by one platform,” Brid Meaney, CEO of Heritage Division, Phoenix Group, said.
Customer experience transformation
“Customer experience transformation has been cornerstone of the TCS BaNCS platform’s value proposition.
Towards this, we have been continuously investing in product and service innovation, setting a benchmark in the UK life and pensions industry,” said R Vivekanand, President, BFSI Products and Platforms at TCS.
Little change in deal mix from size or tenure perspective
Speaking to Moneycontrol post the company’s Q3 earnings and commenting on the deal pipeline, CEO Rajesh Gopinathan said that there is not much change in terms of the mix of deals from a size or tenure perspective.
“There is slightly more focus on cost being a major lever as opposed to transformation at any cost.
There is a lot more sensitivity to the efficiency angle and that holistic view of transformation and efficiency…that’s our sweet spot,” he said.
The road ahead
He said that the company wouldn’t be competitive if it was purely about cost or transformation at any cost as the company’s model is not optimized for it.
“Strategic, well thought out transformation initiatives which balance both efficiency and transformation, that’s our sweet spot and that’s what the market is moving towards,” he said.
