We don’t often comment on industry ‘partnerships’, which so often turn out to be worth little more than the paper they are sometimes written on. But from time to time one comes along that piques our interest, and such is the ‘global alliance’ announced between loss-making, AIM-listed, mobile banking mid-cap, Monitise (see here), and US-headquartered – but very firmly India-centric – offshore IT services giant, Cognizant. The two will boldly go to market together to pitch – and hopefully deliver – Monitise’s mobile banking system.
It’s an ‘interesting’ combination, though it’s not obvious why Cognizant is the ‘chosen one’, given that all the India-based players have a strong suit in the BFSI (banking, financial services, insurance) sector in general, and are pushing the ‘mobile’ story in particular. Certainly Cognizant has a history of ‘odd couple’ European relationships, including with troubled Dutch IT services firm, Ordina, and, well, troubled German IT services play, T-Systems.
Not sure that either of these have been a raging success for Cognizant (or its partners) but at least Montise is in the ‘right space at the right time’. But whether the $60m turnover Monitise will get enough attention from the $6bn turnover Cognizant will be the key to the success of the affair. Unless, of course, the affair turns into something a little more ‘permanent’?