Mint: Cognizant’s Chief Financial Officer Talks About the Company’s Strategy for 2014

“We’ll continue to expand into Europe, particularly continental Europe,” says Karen McLoughlin. “The C1 (Group of Companies) acquisition that we did in early 2013 is really integrating very nicely; we’re starting to get some new joint logos and market opportunities together. The Equinox acquisition we did in France in Q4 is also coming along nicely. So these acquisitions have really positioned us well for growth in the Continent.”

In terms of other geographies, she adds, Cognizant is expanding nicely into Latin America—that will continue to be a focus—also the Middle East and Asia Pacific. “We’ll also see a big focus in growing our Horizon 3 business that focuses on newer areas such as social, mobile, analytics and cloud computing (SMAC),” she says.

McLoughlin notes, “From our perspective, our clients want a partner who can help them run better and run different...Clients are looking for integrated solutions—‘find me a partner who can bring to me consulting, maintenance and development, infrastructure management and support, etc., and bring to me a bundled solution and really help me solve a business problem’. Clients are looking not just for cost-effectiveness, but also transformation and consulting capabilities. I think if you’re focused only on the cost side of the equation, long term it’s less of a solution.”

Responding to a question about non-linear growth, she says, “Over the years, we’ve proved that we can manage and grow a large workforce. In terms of non-linear growth, I think over the years the business will become more non-linear, but it’s not a straight line. You will not see a huge change overnight; you will see more of a slow curve.”

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