IBM said that Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) has expanded its existing relationship with the company. As part of the 10-year services agreement, IBM will bring in its global technology and automation expertise to help enhance and manage ABFRL's IT infrastructure. Under the agreement, IBM will provide infrastructure-as-a-service in a private cloud environment, enabling ABFRL to scale their IT operations in line with their business growth.

With more than 8,000 points-of-sale across 700 cities, including more than 2,000 ABFRL brand outlets, the company owns brands such as Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England among others.

“The retail industry has seen a stupendous growth in the past decade with the emergence of technology-enabled smart consumers. As leaders in the retail industry and to build platforms which provide a seamless experience to our consumers, the need of the hour is to have strong and stable technology partners that can help us realize our future growth. The newly extended agreement with IBM will help us accelerate our transformation in a way which is more efficient, cost-effective and seamless,” said CIO of ABRFL NP Singh.

“As ABFRL continues to grow and expand in the Indian market, having a strong technology backbone to support this growth and creating seamlessness of internal and external processes will become an imperative part of their business,” said Avinash Joshi, Vice President, Infrastructure Services, Global Technology Services, IBM Asia Pacific.

“IBM will use its automation tools and technologies to drive services efficiencies and employee productivity for ABFRL. This pioneering partnership will help ABFRL build a seamless IT platform which will enable them to accelerate innovation and help them have a solid path in driving digital transformation,” Joshi added.