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Capgemini

Capgemini: A Big Name in the IT Consulting Services in the Digital World

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The most innovative discovery that the world has witnessed in the past 60-70 years is the discovery of computers and the internet. These two technologies have changed the face of the world and have brought humongous opportunities for people in every nook and corner of the world. The internet has made it easy for people sitting in a backward area to work with a company based miles and miles away from their place.

The scope of the internet and computers is not limited to providing jobs to people, but these have also encouraged the startups to provide their B2C and B2B services in the most innovative ways to make the business even easier. Such a company that has taken full advantage of digital innovation is Capgemini, a renowned name in the world of technology and innovation.

About the Company

Capgemini is a French company having its headquarters based in Paris. Serge Kampf founded Capgemini in 1967 in Paris and now the company has expanded to various foreign countries having multiple offices in each. Capgemini is a technology company with expertise in different services, including consulting, technology, professional, and outsourcing services.

Capgemini
Image Source: capgemini.com

The Foundational Story of Capgemini

Kampf founded Capgemini as SOGETI (Société pour la Gestion de l’Entreprise et le Traitement de l’Information) on 1 october, 1967. In the beginning, it started to work as an enterprise management and data processing company. As SOGETI, Capgemini, in 1974, acquired a New York-based company named Gemini Computer Systems. The next year, the company went on to acquire another technology company, named CAP (Centre d’Analyse et de Programmation), leading to a name change of SOGETI (Due to an international dispute on a similar name as CAP of another company), to Cap Gemini Sogeti.

In the next five years, Cap Gemini Sogeti started its international business by launching its US operations in 1981 and opened 20 new branches in the US only. By this time, the company had employed about 500 people and also made another acquisition of a data conversion company, named DASD Corporation. The company cut the Sogeti from its name and changed it to Cap Gemini. It also redesigned the company logo for every branch in the world. This way, Sogeti became a separate subsidiary of Cap Gemini that solely works as information technology consulting company.

In the year 2000, by acquiring Ernst & Young Consulting, Capgemini entered into the consulting business and started its consulting business as Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. In 2017, the company had another rebranding of its name, and from Cap Gemini, it became Capgemini.

The Founder Serge Kampf

Serge Kampf is one of the leaders who are known for their management and leadership skills and are the role-models for many budding entrepreneurs. Kampf was born on 13 October 1934 in Grenoble, France. He was born to a soldier father. Since Kampf’s father was in the army, he spent his school days at a boarding. After completing his school, Kampf passed the entrance exam of the French Telecom administration. He then obtained a double honors degree in Law and Economics. After completing his education, his first job was for an underground telephone exchange as a Telecom Inspector.

While working for the exchange, Kampf realized that he does not like his work and wanted to try something else. While looking for opportunities, he got to know about the newly emerging technology, which was IT. Kampf became curious about IT and computers and immediately applied for jobs in two companies working in IT, Bull and IBM. Though he got offers from both companies, he went on to join Bull. He started as a commercial engineer, and later, with one after another promotion, he became the regional manager of Bull.

After working for seven years with Bull, Kampf got motivated to start his own business. He wanted to have the freedom of a boss and did not want to serve anyone else than himself. So in 1967, he resigned from Bull and started Sogeti on 1 October 1967, from a two-room office in Grenoble, with a team of six people. The company wasn’t one of its kind, but it was the first French IT services company.

Kampf served Capgemini as its CEO till 2002, and in 2012, he resigned as the Chairman of the company too. He served the Board of Directors as the vice-president till 2016, when he died at the age of 81 in Grenoble.

Capgemini Today

Capgemini is dominating the IT consulting services in the world. It has multiple branches in different countries in the world, and as of 2020, more than 370,000 employees are working for the company across the globe. Currently, Aiman Ezzat is the serving CEO at Capgemini, and Paul Hermelin is the chairman of the Board of the company.

Unisys

Unisys: A Journey from the Typewriters Makers to the Biggest IT Service Providers

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Unisys is an American global IT company founded in 1986, having a history with firearms, typewriters, and calculation machines. The company deals in IT consulting, software, and outsourcing services. Unisys headquarter is based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. As an IT company, Unisys specializes in system integration, high-end server technology, cloud management software, maintenance, and support as well as cybersecurity. Unisys is a result of the merger of three different companies, E.Remington, Sperry Gyroscope Company, and the American Airthmometer Company, all three specializing in distinct domains.

The Long Back History of Unisys

The history of Unisys dates back to 1816 when a company named E. Remington was founded by Eliphalet Remington. The company was a manufacturer of firearms. But later, when Remington’s three sons joined the company, they thought of expanding its operations. In 1873, the company tried their hands-on building typewriters and introduced the first commercially viable typewriter, named the Remington Model 1, having the QWERTY layout. Later the company built a new typewriter model in which the typist could use the Shift key to make a letter capital.

During the same time, the American Airthmometer Company (Later renamed to Burroughs Adding Machine) had also got the patent for an adding machine that would only record the final result of a calculation. On the other hand, the Sperry Gyroscope Company was in the business of manufacturing navigation equipment for ships and aircraft.

Unisys
Image Source: unisys.co.in

By 1925 Burroughs had introduced a calculating machine that can also subtract and a billing machine that could perform direct multiplication. The Remington’s, on the other hand, had already introduced a noise-less typewriter as well as America’s first electrical typewriter.

In 1927, the Remington Typewriter Company partnered with the Rand Kardex Corporation, and the merger resulted in the Remington Rand company. This partnership led to the acquisition of many other companies, including the Dalton Adding Machine Company, the Powers Accounting Machine Company, the Baker-Vawter Company, etc., making their way into the computation world. With the acquisition of Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, and the founding of the Engineering Research Associates (ERA), the journey of Remington Rand started as one of the biggest computer manufacturers in the US. In June 1951, Remington Rand manufactured its first computer named Univac I (Universal Automatic Computer), first used by the US census bureau.

In 1955, the Remington Rand and Sperry Gyroscope had a merger, forming the company Sperry Rand. The company in a decade delivered over 100 computers to the military and for commercial use. Some of these computers were also used for weather forecasting by the US government. The Remington Rand in 1955 also introduced the Univac 1103, which was the first computer to use RAM. Finally, in 1986, Burroughs also merged with Sperry Rand, and hence Unisys was formed.

Journey as Unisys

Unisys was a result of a $4.8 billion worth acquisition of the Sperry Rand by Burroughs, one of the largest of its time. The name, Unisys, was selected through a competition with 31000 entries. Unisys is a combination of words united, information and systems. With this merger, the company became the second-biggest computer manufacturing company, having over 120000 employees working for it.

Though the company continued to deliver products to the US government, it saw a steep decline in the number of its customer base for commercial computers. The company was facing a lot of competition and had to cut its employees count too. In fact, the company had replaced three CEOs in seven years.

From Manufacturing to Service Providers

Later, the company decided to shift the business from manufacturing computers to providing IT services and high-end servers. Along with that, the company also started dealing with outsourcing its services, systems integration, and consulting services, etc. In the year 2000, Unisys introduced the UNISYS ES7000 servers.

Along with computers, Unisys was also holding ownership of a medical and healthcare insurance wing, i.e., a company named Medicare. Unisys sold the company in 2010, for a sum of $135 million.

Unisys has always been a big player in the field of IT, and its clients include the various departments of the US government and major names like Dell, Lloyd Banks, Nextel, Swift, and Telefonica, etc. Currently, Peter Altabef is serving Unisys as the CEO as well as the President. Around 22,000 employees are working for the company, and as of 2018, Unisys has $2.83 billion in total annual revenue.

Applied Materials

The Journey of Applied Materials from a small start-up to a pioneer in the electronics industry

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Applied Materials is one of the leading companies in the electronics industry to shape the future with excellent innovations in technology. Michael A. McNeilly founded the company in 1967 and since then it is striving to make our lives better in the modern era. The company not only aims to bring innovations but also works for making technology affordable for everyone. The contribution of the company forms the foundation of the most trending breakthroughs of this century like  Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Augmented Reality, etc. The company mainly focuses on supplying equipment and software that are required to build semiconductor chips. Applied Materials is currently based in Santa Clara, California, U.S.

The Foundational Story of Applied Materials

Michael A. McKeilly founded the company in 1967 and it went public in 1972. The company started diversifying in the following years and shifted its main focus from semiconductors. But, in 1976 when James C. Morgan became the CEO of the company it again went back to semiconductors only and sales started rising subsequently. In 1984, Applied Materials made a breakthrough as it became the first U.S. semiconductor equipment manufacturing company to spread its branches in Japan and China.

Applied Materials
Image Source: barrons.com

In the next decade, the company acquired two big Israeli companies with $285million. The company has made several acquisitions since 2000. It acquired Etec Systems Inc., Oramir Semiconductor Equipment Ltd., Baccini, etc. Another huge achievement for Applied Materials was in 2009 when it opened the world’s largest commercial solar energy research center and development facility. This solar technology center was established in China. Later this year, the company acquired Semitool Inc and in 2011 it acquired Varian Semiconductor.

In 2013, the company merged with Tokyo Electron and planned to change the name of this merged conglomerate to Eteris. But, unfortunately in 2015, the merger was scrapped due to some antitrust issues. In 2018, the company was listed in FORTUNE World’s Most Admired Companies. Applied Materials has always shown interest in making investments towards better education and improving several communities for the better well-being of people. Currently, the CEO of the company is Gary E. Dickerson who is aligning more than 21,000 employees to work for a better future.

Founder of Applied Materials: Michael A. McNeilly

Michael A. McNeilly has a very rich entrepreneurial experience as he started very young in his journey to reach excellence. Before co-founding Applied Materials, Michael A. McNeilly founded Apogee Chemicals when he was twenty-five. After three years, he co-founded Applied Materials. Michael received a loan of $7,500 from his father-in-law to start Applied Materials. When the company has found the name of the company was Applied Materials Technology but while filing an IPO Michael changed the name to Applied Materials.

In his entrepreneurial journey in the semiconductor industry, Michael became the co-recipient of the first SEMI award in the category of “Outstanding Contributions to the Semiconductor Industry.” He also served as a member of the board of directors in more than 30 companies. His journey just began with Apogee Chemicals and Applied Materials as he founded fourteen more companies after it. While he was in Applied Materials he issued over twenty patents. Michael passed away in 2005 but before he passed away he majorly contributed to semiconductor technology. Michael was also the recipient of the “Outstanding Contributions to NASA Technology Commercialization” from NASA.

Vision and goal of the company

Applied Materials designs highly sophisticated technologies and software for complex chips and displays for many companies. The main goal of the company is to help their customers build large capacity and faster memory chips with the help of Applied Material’s technology. The company also works for making high integrated and more efficient processors. Apart from contributing to creating chips and processors, the company also designs technologies for high-resolution displays. Around 30% of the total number of employees are dedicated to research and development and the company invests around $2billion annually for the same purpose. Currently, the company has more than 12,500 patents.

The company has a strong vision towards solving high-value problems providing equal focus from research purposes to customer support. Applied Materials also believe in establishing high-value collaboration and developing a strong work culture globally.