Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited
(NYSE:WIT), today announced that it has entered into a five-year
strategic agreement to provide Charming Shoppes, Inc. (Nasdaq:CHRS), a
leading multi-brand specialty apparel retailer primarily focused on
plus-size women's apparel, with end-to-end information technology
services that include application management, remote infrastructure
management and mainframe hosting. This partnership will be an integral
component of Charming Shoppes’ transformation journey to optimize IT
spend and improve business agility.
Under the agreement, Wipro will be responsible for application
management of the entire suite of applications encompassing stores,
supply chain, merchandising, marketing and analytics, business
intelligence and corporate systems. Wipro will provide hosting services
from its state-of-the-art U.S.-based data centers and manage
infrastructure using a robust ITIL-based service management framework
including data center operations, network and security operations and
performance management. These services will be delivered across stores,
distribution centers and the corporate brand offices of Charming Shoppes.
During the term of the agreement, Wipro will work with Charming Shoppes
to affect year-over-year improvements in performance and efficiency
thereby providing stable, flexible and scalable IT platforms to help the
retailer achieve business objectives, focus on core brands and increase
cash flow. Charming Shoppes will maintain a viable ongoing IT operation
in Bensalem and retain key retail business and technical expertise.
"As the leading provider of women’s specialty plus apparel, our focus is
on strengthening our brands and providing a superior customer
experience," said Denis Gingue, Senior Vice President and CIO of
Charming Shoppes, Inc. "We rely on IT as a critical enabler for our
businesses – and strategic partnerships are critical to our future
success. We selected Wipro because of their retail and fashion
experience, technical competency in infrastructure and applications and
their process discipline in IT operations."
“We will leverage our depth and best practices in infrastructure and
application management and our experience in transforming Retail
enterprises, to add value to Charming Shoppes,” said Bhanu Murthy BM,
Senior Vice President and Business Unit Global Head at Wipro.
"Charming Shoppes is a strategic customer for us in the U.S.
