Everything you should know about Vodafone and IBM multi-million dollar deal

India's largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea has signed a five-year agreement with IBM to reduce IT-related costs.

The collaboration will provide Vodafone Idea with hybrid cloud-based digital platforms, to enable more intimate engagement with customers enhancing business efficiency, agility, and scale.

In addition, this new infrastructure platform will remove constraints to the exponential growth of data usage driven by increasing consumption of video, streaming and digital commerce, the telco said.

Delivering better customer experience through a digital medium is one of the focus areas for Vodafone Idea, said Balesh Sharma, CEO, Vodafone Idea Limited, speaking about the renewed strategic relationship with IBM.

Sharma said, "This five-year collaboration with IBM, opens new opportunities for us to partner together in domains like cloud, AI and IoT. We will also be able to leverage collateral from the cloud partnership already announced between Vodafone and IBM in Europe. Achieving synergies post-merger from the combination of Vodafone India Limited & Idea Cellular Limited is a strategic priority for us and we continue to be ahead of the track."

Agreement Benefits

It will consolidate applications, and infrastructure including Data centers, Disaster Recovery Centers, and further accelerate existing Cloud usage.

Vodafone Idea will also leverage Dynamic Automation and Robotic Process Automation to drive efficiency and standardization across IT operations.

IBM is also supporting Vodafone Idea with an option of extended flexible payment plan structure for the term of the contract through IBM Global Financing, its wholly owned subsidiary.

Furthermore this partnership will help Vodafone Idea in deploying new age technologies with built-in customizations and novel innovations.

It will also provide a platform for fast-track joint initiatives in AI and IOT.