Couche-Tard signs 10-year, $281M deal to outsource IT services

Dive Brief:

Alimentation Couche-Tard has tapped global intelligence and consulting firm CGI to provide managed information technology services for the convenience retailer over the next decade, according to a Friday announcement.
The 10-year, $281 million strategic partnership aims to help Couche-Tard improve its customer and employee experience, accelerate speed and quality to market, access broad technical skills and expertise and provide support for its key business strategies, according to the announcement.
On a broader scale, the partnership will help “modernize, automate and hyperscale” Couche-Tard’s global technology vision, Ed Dzadovsky, the convenience retailer’s chief technology officer, said in the announcement.

Dive Insight:

Although Couche-Tard’s latest partnership marks a significant step for the company moving forward, it isn’t the first sign of the company wanting to scale back its in-house technology efforts. Earlier this year, Couche-Tard shuttered its global innovation team, which had spearheaded technology-driven projects like the company’s Smart Checkout program and retail innovation lab store at McGill University in Montreal.

By partnering with CGI, Couche-Tard will now outsource various IT services that support “mission-critical business functions,” such as its store manager experience, business process automation and innovation, and data access and visibility, according to the announcement.

"With technology at the forefront of every customer and employee experience, it is paramount to have market agility, the highest quality and reliability,” Dzadovsky said in the announcement. “CGI has impressed us with a thorough understanding of our complex environment, an ability to bring talent, automation, and strategic thinking to the table, and their insightfulness surrounding people and culture."

Moving forward, CGI will help Couche-Tard craft their overall business strategy, helping the retailer invest in new capabilities that scale to its own needs and those of its customers, François Boulanger, president and COO of CGI, said in the announcement.

There is no indication of any layoffs happening at Couche-Tard during this time.

Founded in 1976, Montreal-based CGI is one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world. The company focuses on strategic IT and business consulting, systems integration, managed IT and business process services, and intellectual property solutions.

Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard operates more than 5,700 c-stores in the U.S. It is the second-largest c-store company in North America behind 7-Eleven.