Newsletter
HCLTech is acquiring Guardian India Operations, the India-based Global Capability Centre (GCC) of US insurer Guardian Life Insurance, for $10.5 million (around ₹101 crore).
Along with the acquisition, the two companies have also signed a seven-year partnership, under which HCLTech will continue managing Guardian's technology and operations.
Guardian Life Insurance sells life insurance, retirement plans, wealth management products and employee benefits to millions of Americans.
More context: Guardian India Operations is not an insurance company. It is Guardian's India office that supports its US business.
Think of it as the company's technology and operations backbone.
Around 2,000 employees based in India build software, manage technology systems, analyse data, process operations and provide back-office support that helps Guardian serve its customers in the US.
This type of office is called a Global Capability Centre (GCC).
Why is Guardian selling: managing a technology organisation isn't its core business.
Guardian's expertise lies in selling insurance, not running thousands of engineers, upgrading technology systems or managing large IT teams.
Instead of owning and operating its own GCC, Guardian has decided to hand those responsibilities over to a company whose core business is technology.
Why is HCLTech buying: normally, winning a large outsourcing contract takes years.
An IT company first has to win the client, hire employees, train them, understand the client's systems and build delivery teams from scratch.
HCLTech is skipping most of those steps.
