IBM recently announced that it has signed a five-year business transformation deal with UTV Software Communications. IBM will help UTV transform its business processes to provide customers with high-quality content and services as it continues its rapid rate of expansion.

Under this agreement UTV will work with IBM to sharpen its focus within the organization on its core media business. Acting as the change catalyst to UTV, IBM will be implementing various business transformation initiatives over the next few years.

UTV intends to streamline the company’s finance and accounts, rights management, procurement, projects, material management and other key functions by implementing an enterprise-wide SAP solution. For UTV the objective of this deal is to provide a customer-centric operating environment that delivers quality, cost-effective and value-added information services to enterprise entities, reducing total cost of ownership and providing security compliance while enabling the company to focus on its core business.
The contract also includes India’s first cloud-enabled email implementation via LotusLive iNotes, a web-based e-mail service.

“At UTV, our focus is on setting trends and not following the same. The market here is growing at a rapid pace and customers are increasingly becoming demanding, making it imperative for us to offer fresh delivery platforms and content diversity enabled by technology,” said Rajeev Wagle, Chief Financial Officer, UTV Software Communications.

"Media and entertainment companies around the globe have to be leaner and smarter than ever to overcome the technology challenges they face as they evolve in a multi-channel marketplace," said Avinash Joshi, Director – Communications Sector, IBM India/ South Asia. “We will work closely with UTV in its quest towards delivering trend-setting content for its audience,” Joshi further said.

UTV also plans to expand this agreement with a selection of core media business solutions including Broadcast Management System (BMS), Content Management System (CMS), and IP Rights Management, which will be implemented in various lines of businesses including broadcasting and TV content production.