Can new CEO Ravi bring Cognizant back on track?

- Ravi Kumar' appointment came as surprise

- Under ex-CEO Brian Humphries, many senior leaders left the company

- Cognizant suffered a record attrition number

- It's higher than Indian and global peers

- There was a feeling that India as a delivery centre was not receiving adequate attention

- 60% of its staffers operating out of the country

Bengaluru: Winning large deals, talent retention, refocus on India as a delivery centre and acceleration of revenue growth are priorities of Ravi Kumar S, new CEO at Cognizant, as the company wants to come out of past years of relative underperformance.

Analysts feel that Kumar, who was an Infosys veteran and led its US operations before joining Cognizant, has his task cut out in terms of energising the sales engine to win more outsourcing contracts.

"The sales engine has to be accelerated to win large deals. The focus on India as a delivery centre has to be reinstated because there was a feeling that it has been diluted. Moreover, while all IT firms has seen elevated attrition, it was higher for Cognizant as compared to peers. So, the new CEO has to devise means to attract and retain talent for Cognizant's future growth," Pareekh Jain, an IT outsourcing advisor & Founder of Pareekh Consulting told Bizz Buzz.

Cognizant in a surprise decision has appointed Ravi Kumar as the new CEO effective immediately last week replacing the incumbent Brian Humphries. Under Humphries, many senior leaders left the company with the company witnessing a record attrition number, way higher than Indian and global peers. There was a feeling that India as a delivery centre was not receiving adequate attention as it used to be despite 60 per cent of its staffers operating out of the country.

Many senior leaders were not happy with the operating style of the outgoing CEO, sources in the know said.

"In its chase of margin, Cognizant somewhere has lost its focus on domain capabilities. Cognizant has a very sharp practice in healthcare and BFSI verticals and the company used to invest heavily in these practices for differentiated offerings. That focus seems to have diluted. Apart from accelerating the sales engine, the CEO may like to reorient company's focus on these aspects," Jain said.

Sources in the know said as an Infosys veteran, he may like to take some of the elements of Infosys' current CEO, Salil Parekh's playbook.

"When Salil Parekh joined, he emphasized on accelerating revenue growth through winning large deals, building partnerships with enterprises and providing differentiated offerings like putting all cloud offerings under one roof. Kumar was an important part of those efforts, who led the company in all important US market and got the results delivered as per management's wishes. So, it is very likely that Kumar may try to replicate some of those experience in Cognizant's growth revival," said an industry source.

He also added that the new CEO has to deliver fast to win the trust of the board, failing which Cognizant can take some tough calls.

"Desperate times make boards take tough calls. Currently, the board of Cognizant seems to have less tolerance to underperformance after bearing it in previous years. So, the new CEO has to deliver and deliver it fast," said the person.

The sales engine has to be accelerated to win large deals. The focus on India as a delivery centre has to be reinstated because there was a feeling that it has been diluted. Moreover, while all IT firms has seen elevated attrition, it was higher for Cognizant as compared to peers. So, the new CEO has to devise means to attract and retain talent for Cognizant's future growth

- Pareekh Jain, an IT outsourcing advisor & Founder of Pareekh Consulting