The Hindu: Cognizant’s President Says Digital Technologies Have Become a Priority for Clients

“We have been successful in establishing ourselves as a trusted advisor to our clients and in serving the dual mandate that they often face—‘run better’ and ‘run different’,” says Gordon Coburn. Excerpts:

“Digital technologies have become a priority area for clients. The business discussion occurs before technology comes in; how a client is going to its customers, engaging with its employees, and using its supply chain. That has very little to do with technology, but has to do with how you fundamentally change your business process, show differentiation and use your competitive advantage in the market.

This has to include its CIO, yes, but it also includes entire leadership in the C-Suite, including Operations and Marketing. To have that discussion, you need deep industry knowledge, process knowledge and a sense of the competitive and regulatory environments. We have invested heavily into our consulting business to help us do this.

Earlier, clients opted for a niche provider for that upfront business discussion on the ‘art of the possible’ and are now coming to the likes of Cognizant when they need the integrated solutions.

The shift is towards output-based, which is really managed services, and that has been going on for a while. Acceptance of outcome-based models is evolving. We are seeing some traction.

I think there have been several catalysts for clients to focus on process changes. Several clients look at what they do as core to their business. That has been driven by regulatory changes and their continued costs to compliance in both healthcare and financial services; driven by pressure to reduce administrative costs in the healthcare industry, and by the crises and the fundamental structural changes in the financial services industry. The challenges in the drug pipeline are driving this trend in the pharmaceutical industry.

So, (CXOs in) these three industries wish to be as efficient as possible and are willing to change some of their business processes. That is helping them move towards the outcome-based model.”

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