Bangalore, Oct 24 (IANS): US-based leading IT consulting major Cognizant Friday announced winning a multi-year deal to provide software services to Vorwerk group in Germany.

"Vorwerk has selected us to transform its IT infrastructure and provide application services for standardising and centralising its operations and reduce costs," the company said in a statement here but did not disclose the value of the deal.

The euro 2.6-billion ($3.3-billion) Vorwerk group with subsidiaries in 24 countries the world over directly markets high-quality utility products, including Kobold vacuum cleaners, Thermomix kitchen appliances and Jafra cosmetics.

As part of the six-year deal, Cognizant, headed by Indian-born chief executive Francisco Dsouza, will provide Vorwerk integrated service management, data centre, network and application management services.

"We will also deliver end-user computing services and manage a new service desk to assist Vorwerk's employees in diverse languages spanning German, Italian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech and Polish," Cognizant president for technology solutions Debashis Chatterjee said in the statement.

The partnership with Cognizant will also enable Vorwerk to focus on its core competencies, as centralisation will make its IT environment transparent and pro-actively monitor, manage and improve its IT infrastructure.

"We chose Cognizant as our strategic partner because of its ability to understand our needs and provide the best support to meet them. As an expanding business, customer orientation and time-to-market are top priorities for us," Vorwerk managing partner Reiner Strecker said on the occasion.

The tech tie-up will help the direct-sales specialist (Vorwerk) to optimise its IT investments and improve service quality to its end-users and support its strategic orientation in the IT sector.

"Our capabilities in IT Infrastructure services and understanding of Vorwerk's business will help us set up best-in-class service delivery processes and help the group explore growth opportunities in its key business areas," Chatterjee added.

The 130-year-old German group, which includes akf bank and Vorwerk Carpets employs a whopping 622,000 people worldwide, including 610,00- as independent advisers and operates in 70 countries across the world.

With 75 software development and delivery centres worldwide, including India in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, the New Jersey-headquartered Cognizant employees 187,400 people and caters to Fortune 500 firms.