How Cognizant sees the future of offshoring

Until a few years ago, Cognizant Innovation Solutions was a relative unknown. However it has emerged from the shadows of high-profile rivals just as TCS, Infosys and Wipro to become a leading force in India's outsourcing industry.

Cognizant's Malcolm Frank: The volatility of research forces - social computing, mobile, big data and cloud - slamming at the same time will be the hallmark of the at once decade or twoPhoto: Saritha Rai/silicon.com

Virtualisation of organisations, processes, people and innovation will have a very profound impact on the outsourcing industry. As customers continue to decouple, the outsourcing industry is going through a significant change.

So, what implications does that change have for Cognizant's strategy?Every quarter is different from the previous one as we are in the midst of a landscape-altering transition. In the past, we have seen innovation shifts and economic shifts nevertheless at different times. Now they are happening simultaneously. We believe that the volatility of research forces - social computing, mobile, big data and cloud - slamming at the same time will be the hallmark of the then decade or two.

The game plan of every top outsourcing company?

But isn't that the game plan of every top outsourcing company?There are two simple elements to our strategy - one, recognising the client's business environment. Two, helping the client do something about it. In the beginning of the recession, we got our top 30 people at the same time at Frankfurt every weekend for months to understand this issue through the eyes of the customer. Managers who directly handled the customers' business represented the market.

Do you think the age of your staff has affected your impact on the market?Over 80 percent of our workforce is from the millennial generation. They are aged 34 or younger. They think having access to the internet is as natural as having access to water. Their expectations of an organisation are very different to those of the older generations.