Forbes Asia — October 2017

12 | FORBES ASIA OCTOBER 2017

T

he accelerating shift to cloud-

based IT, greater adoption of

automation and the Trump

administration’s stance on im-

migration have combined to

make the future of IT outsourcing provid-

ers in India uncertain. Companies such

as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and

Wipro are attempting to rapidly enhance

their high-level business-consulting rep-

ertoire, build AI-based tech solutions and

add thousands of local recruits in Ameri-

ca, their biggest market. This is an unprec-

edented cultural shift as well, for all these

companies.

At their U.S.-headquartered but large-

ly India-based competitor, Cognizant Tech-

nology Solutions, CEO Francisco D’Souza,

49, is pushing the Nasdaq-listed Teaneck,

New Jersey, company headlong into change,

including the $2.7 billion acquisition of

TriZetto Corp., made two years ago. That

has helped Cognizant’s health care unit im-

pact 160 million Americans, D’Souza says

in an interview. The overarching plan is to

become a strong intellectual-property busi-

ness advisor and tech provider rolled into

one. And for that, he expects to accelerate

the pace of acquisitions at Cognizant, he

tells Forbes India. Edited excerpts:

Q: This year you entered your second

decade as CEO of Cognizant. What

strikes you about the current phase of

change in technology?

D’Souza: The overriding thought that

comes to mind is just how much inno-

vation we’ve seen. About 24 years ago,

when we started Cognizant, technolo-

gy was largely a back-office function. It’s

gone from there to becoming the very

basis of competitive advantage for many

of the businesses we serve; and because

of this evolution, the best days are still

ahead of us. If you think of the great digi-

tal buildout that’s happening, I think Cog-

nizant, and the [tech] industry in general,

is still in the early innings. The next years

will see digital technology being deployed

more broadly in all industries and in

many more companies. And digital isn’t

just one thing, it’s many different technol-

ogies—social, cloud, mobile, analytics,

block chain, AI, IoT and so on.

What has changed more recently,

and how are you preparing to remain

a relevant vendor to your clients?

Until a few years ago, there was a sense

among our clients that digital technolo-

gies would be fundamental to their future.

But the patterns of how, why and where

were less clear. So we saw a lot of small pi-

lots, testing and iterating. In the last cou-

ple of years, we’ve seen that change—the

patterns are becoming clear, digital tech-

nologies are becoming more mainstream,

and we see clients adopting it at scale.

To do digital at scale, our clients are

having to change their business, opera-

tions and technology models simultane-

ously. That is at the core of today’s change.

One of the most foundational changes

that we’ve made at Cognizant over the last

two years is to realign our delivery capa-

FORBES ASIA

COGNIZANT

BEYOND THE

I.T. ADVERSITY

Cognizant’s U.S.-anchored chief sees bluer skies

amid the cloud for India’s troubled tech sector.

BY HARICHANDAN ARAKALI