Kimberly-Clark Outsources To India, Again

Eight days after indicating it would outsource some accounting functions to India, pulp and paper company Kimberly-Clark on Tuesday disclosed plans to hand off a number of technology operations to an offshore service provider with primary facilities in the country.

Under what the parties are describing as a "multimillion dollar" deal, Kimberly-Clark will outsource maintenance, development, and operation of its SAP business software environment and several other key applications, including supply chain and planning management, to Cognizant Technology Solutions. Cognizant has headquarters in Teaneck, N.J., but operates primarily from India.

The contract is for five years with possible one-year extensions. Specific financial terms were not disclosed.

"We were looking for a partnership that would deliver cost savings via worldwide sourcing," Ian Maginnis, Kimberly-Clark's VP for business support delivery, said in a statement. It was not immediately clear how many Kimberly-Clark employees would be affected by the move.

On Jan. 8, Kimberly-Clark announced it had tapped India's Genpact to handle "non-core" finance and accounting functions. The outsourcing initiatives are in line with broader cost-reduction efforts that the papermaker announced in 2005.