PARIS, FRANCE: Capgemini and CONA Services have agreed to a long term co-development and go to market partnership, to build and power a new set of consumer products, retail, and distribution (CPRD) digital solutions, a news release said.

This new strategic partnership will provide the agility, speed and insights required for enterprises integrated with top technology platforms to be competitive in today’s asynchronous, demand-driven market.

The partnership combines Capgemini’s leading global expertise in strategy, technology services, consulting around the building of assets and speed of delivery, with CONA’s industry leading knowledge.

It will also involve close collaboration with both Microsoft and SAP®. The partnership will operate with an agile start up mindset approach to rapidly create digital solutions. Its initial focus will be on meeting the need for cloud enabled configurable plug-in components leveraging the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) for the direct store delivery (DSD), consumer products, retail, and logistics industry.

Ultimately, the partnership will see Capgemini, CONA and their respective communities working together to build, deploy and offer scalable solutions to the wider CPRD industry to empower them as digital businesses. It also enables exciting people development opportunities for both CONA and Capgemini. The partnership includes a joint go to market agreement between the two companies.

Reinhard Meister, Chief Executive Officer of CONA Services said:“This partnership has the potential to solve faster industry growth opportunitiesand will be instrumental in creating a thriving, competitive market powered by innovative digital solutions. CONA Services and Capgemini’s existing long-term relationship, based on similar mindsets, cultures and business values, provides a strong foundation on which we can work together towards this goal which we believe could help to transform our industry.”

CONA Services was established to provide core IT applications, operations, and infrastructure for the largest Coca-Cola bottling partners in North America. It runs a full suite of solutions that deliver end-to-end operating capabilities and provide a competitive advantage in today’s complex market.

Capgemini, has been working with CONA Services as its largest strategic business partner since 2013, supporting various programs including the deployment of the largest single instance of SAP software in the world at the time. Capgemini has helped CONA Services achieve significant business outcomes such as highly stable systems operations, which prompted the opportunity for further strategic collaboration.

Jim Bailey, CEO of Capgemini’s Americas Strategic Business Unit and Member of the Group Executive Board at Capgemini, commented: “We are extremely proud of our long history of working with Coca-Cola and CONA Services. This announcement is a culmination of years of working together and combines the power of two global leaders for the greater advancement of technology within the consumer products, retail, direct store delivery, and logistics segment. Our development and delivery of tomorrow’s products and services to these organizations will move them towards realizing the business benefits of intelligent industry, in terms of harnessing the power of data to improve supply chains, create new customer experiences and new sources of value.”