The Past, Present and Future of CGI Group Inc., a global perspective
Prepared By: Mabel Kuri
I. Background
A. About the Company:
CGI Group Inc. offers information technology (IT) and business process services it has its headquarters in Montreal, Canada and is the fifth largest independent information technology services company in the world.
B. History & Timeline
CGI was founded by a young 26 year old entrepreneur Serge Godin and Andre
Imbeau in 1976. The two of them started the company from Serge's basement.
In their first year they had 2 employees and revenue of 138,000$. And within a decade they went on to become a company of $22 million. CGI developed a strategy and a corporate philosophy at the very inception and its formative years that continues to guide them even today. It was during this period that CGI evolved from being a Consulting company to both
Consulting and IT System Integration.
In the following decade the IT industry saw a shift towards IT outsourcing and business process services. CGI was quick in building its outsourcing offerings and it made way to their "Build and Buy" philosophy. They went public in the year 1986 and used the money to acquire outsourcing companies.
They were able to offer clients end-to-end IT services, including Technology
Consulting, System Integration and IT outsourcing services. By this time
CGI's clients included world leaders from diverse industries. They focused on developing their knowledge base on the customers businesses and developed specialized practices and innovative solutions.
CGI's strategic objective has remained helping ALL shareholders succeed and doubling the size of the company. It believes that clients, employees and shareholders want to be associated with the best-the best partner, the best employer and the best investment and CGI strives hard in being the BEST.
The decade starting 1990 and early 2000 saw rapid globalization and CGI continued on it policy of "Build and Buy" two of their notable acquisitions were that of Stanley Inc in 2010 and Logica in 2012. The acquisition of
Stanley doubled their size of US operations. And the acquisition of Logica increased their global staff size from 31,000 to 68,000 professionals and offered greater presence, service capabilities and expertise for their clients across the Americas, Europe and Asia. With this acquisition, they became the world's fifth largest independent IT and business process services company.
Today CGI is present in 40 countries and is recognized by their clients, employees who they call members and shareholders as a world class IT and business process services leader.
Source: CGI.com
II. Analysis
A. CGI's Ownership Advantage:
CGI's continuous growth is a testimony to the confidence that their clients have shown on them and on the dedication shown by their workforce. CGI has built a culture of accountability and ownership which is quite unique in itself. And that is the reason they call majority of their employees CGI shareholders, 87% of their employees are owner / shareholders in the company. CGI's DNA is built in the teaming up of all members in a common dream, vision and mission that drives them all together to make CGI a global world class information technology and business process services leader helping their clients succeed. This (a strong Corporate Culture) has been the key ingredient for their success and is one of their ownership advantages in the IT industry.
Another ownership advantage of CGI is their commitment to customer satisfaction driven by their quality initiatives and innovative solutions.
They have a rating of 9.4 on 10 on client satisfaction and a proven track record of 95% on-time and on-budget projects. CGI's approach is of local availability, committed experts, global reach, comprehensive quality processes and
