CNBC TV 18: Cognizant’s CEO Sees a Share Shift Within IT and Operations Budgets Toward a Global Delivery Model

“We finished a wonderful 2011 north of 33% year-over-year growth and we feel good as we look forward to 2012 with our guidance of at least 23% revenue growth,” says Francisco D’Souza. “We think that this is driven by the fact that more than ever, our clients, who on the one hand are facing significant cost pressures from economic volatility around the world, and on the other hand are looking to innovate and drive top-line revenue growth, are increasingly seeing Cognizant as one platform on which they can accomplish both of those objectives and are increasingly turning to us. We feel very good about the business.”

He adds, “What’s really important is not the magnitude of IT budget as much as the share shift that’s going on within the IT and operations budgets more toward a global delivery model. This is a shift that we have seen happening over several years now and we think that the current economic environment is only accelerating that shift.”

Stating that the company is very pleased with its performance in the fourth quarter in North America, D’Souza adds, “We see encouraging signs in the economy in North America and our outlook for 2012 is for continued strength in North America. We expect that North America across all of the industries we serve will continue to do nicely.” On Europe, he says, “In the longer term, we are very optimistic about our prospects in Europe.”

Commenting on the expansion of Cognizant’s executive management team to support the ongoing growth of the business, D’Souza says, “We are very excited about the expansion of our executive team. This is a move that we have made to take a group of long standing Cognizant veterans, broaden out our executive team by promoting a group of people who had a long track record with the company and who have played significant roles in building this company over many years.”

He notes, “Underlying this expansion of our management team is a belief that in order for us to continue to be successful, we mustn’t fall into the trap of focusing solely on executing against the opportunity that’s immediately available to us in the market-place, but that we must pay equal attention to building services and capabilities for long-term growth.”