TEANECK, N.J., Jan. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH), a leading provider of business, technology, and consulting services, today announced it has helped global retailers successfully manage the peak shopping season using its business process as a service (BPaaS) platform, Intellipeak. The BPaaS platform combines software, services, and industry-specific best practices to provide an end-to-end business solution. Using Intellipeak, Cognizant supported more than a dozen retailers across three continents in the 2010 peak season, representing more than 30,000 stores and billions of dollars in online transactions.

Intellipeak enables retailers to manage key risks and achieve trouble-free high-volume sales during the peak shopping season by assessing the readiness of business processes, IT systems, and underlying infrastructure. It covers all key business process assets and supports the entire retail life-cycle from merchandizing, warehousing and distribution, to multichannel sales and fulfillment. Equipped with collaborative Enterprise 2.0 features such as community blogs and dashboards for peak business performance monitoring, the platform provides customers a peak readiness index to calibrate risks, heat maps to identify peak timing of key business processes, and an implementation review and preparation plan for the next peak season.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), the world's largest retail trade association, the holiday season can represent anywhere between 25 percent and 40 percent of annual sales for some retailers. In a recent announcement, NRF reported that preliminary 2010 holiday sales in the U.S., which combine the full months of November and December, rose 5.7 percent to $462 billion, representing the best holiday sales gain since 2004 when holiday sales increased 5.9 percent.

"The peak holiday season calls for the highest degree of operational efficiency, business process agility, and infrastructure preparedness," said Brian Light, CIO of Staples, Inc., the world's largest office products company. "With the help of Cognizant's extensive peak management and technology expertise, we were able to provide a seamless experience to our customers. Cognizant supported us with peak planning, training, and system health checks and monitoring to make sure it was 'business as usual' for Staples, even at the height of the peak season."

"At a time when retailers are focusing on increased customer intimacy and channel expansion as key business drivers, a hectic holiday shopping season presents a huge opportunity," said Francisco D'Souza, President and Chief Executive Officer at Cognizant. "Working with the world's leading retailers across the retail value chain, we recognized the need for an end-to-end, next-generation solution that could handle peak season volumes across diverse channels in multiple retail formats. We are happy that Intellipeak provides a flawless platform to address this need."

About Cognizant

Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services. Cognizant's single-minded passion is to dedicate our global technology and innovation know-how, our industry expertise and worldwide resources to working together with clients to make their businesses stronger. With over 50 global delivery centers and more than 100,000 employees as of December 1, 2010, we combine a unique global delivery model infused with a distinct culture of customer satisfaction. A member of the NASDAQ-100 Index and S&P 500 Index, Cognizant is a Forbes Global 2000 company and a member of the Fortune 1000 and is ranked among the top information technology companies in BusinessWeek's Hot Growth and Top 50 Performers listings. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes statements which may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general economic conditions and the factors discussed in our most recent Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cognizant undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE Cognizant