CGI expands partnership with Volkswagen

CGI, a Montreal-based IT consulting firm, has expanded its partnership with Volkswagen Group to create a new entity – MARV1N (pronounced “Marvin”) – to support IT infrastructure at the global automobile manufacturer.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of CGI Germany, Marvin will serve as a development unit for digitalization projects at Volkswagen – supporting plans to develop new IT systems more efficiently.

The Wolfsburg, Germany-based manufacturer is aiming to replace hundreds of legacy IT systems with fewer and more powerful solutions by 2026 – enabling faster processes and reducing IT-related operating costs.

"For the development and production of modern products, we need modern IT systems. At the Volkswagen Group, we are therefore working on our system landscape of the future: powerful, cross-brand, and scalable," said Hauke Stars, board member for IT at Volkswagen Group. "Our deepened collaboration with CGI is a further step to secure the increasing demand for software development performance in the Volkswagen Group."

The creation of the Marvin group will allow its employees to focus entirely on Volkswagen projects, leading to deepened understanding of the company’s core processes and software products over the long term.

“As part of this new strategic partnership, our software architects, developers and consultants will deliver services and solutions grounded in both technology expertise and knowledge of manufacturing business processes. We look forward to bringing CGI's proven best practices, global capabilities and technology innovation to this new joint initiative," said François Boulanger, president and CEO of CGI.

The Marvin team will initially focus on projects in technical development at Volkswagen, such as a new cross-company IT system that will consolidate data of all requirements for electrical/electronic architecture and software functions.