The Information Technology 100
32
Cognizant Technology Solutions
As more companies farm out their business tasks to India, Cognizant keeps riding the outsourcing wave. The bulk of the New Jersey-based outsourcer's sales come from managing enterprise applications for corporations in its development centers scattered across India. But Cognizant developed a twist on the formula that has given it an advantage over the increasingly crowded field. Rather than setting up shop solely in India, Cognizant was one of the first outsourcers to focus on building a U.S.-based management team so that it could develop closer relationships with customers.
The strategy is working like a charm. About 87% of its sales come from customers in North America, most of which are large corporations that want to cut their tech costs -- such as JP Morgan Chase and United Healthcare. Now, Cognizant is seeing growth from testing software code and is moving upstream into consulting.
Company Info
| STOCK INFO | CTSH |
| Revenues* | $648.6 MILLION
|
| Revenue Growth | 56.9%
|
| Return on Equity | 22.2%
|
| Total Return | 107.6%
|
| Profits* | $112.4 MILLION
|
| Industry | SERVICES
|
| CORPORATE WEB SITE
|
All figures are for the most recent available 12 months.
* Latest available data for the 12-month period ended Dec. 31, Jan. 31, Feb. 29, Mar. 31, or Apr. 30. For companies that do not report quarterly, the most recent annual data were used.
Data provided by Standard & Poor's Compustat, BusinessWeek
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Company Snapshot
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation provides custom information technology (IT) services related to IT design, development, integration, and maintenance services in the United States and Europe. The company offers Web-centric applications, data warehousing, component-based development, and legacy and client-server systems. Its IT services include application design, development, integration, and re-engineering and application maintenance. The company provides IT services using an integrated on-site/offshore business model. It primarily offers its services to the companies in the financial, health-care, and retail/manufacturing/logistics industries. Cognizant Technology has a strategic relationship with The Trizetto Group Inc. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Teaneck, N.J.
No. of Employees
15,300
Data provided by 
Lakshmi Narayanan
Bio
Lakshmi Narayanan was elected as the President in March 1998, was appointed as its Chief Executive Officer on December 22, 2003, and serves as a Director. Mr. Narayanan served as the Chief Operating Officer of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. from March 1998 to December 2003. He joined the Indian subsidiary of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. as Chief Technology Officer in 1994 and was elected President of the subsidiary on January 1, 1996. Prior to joining Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., from 1975 to 1994 Mr. Narayanan was the regional head of Tata Consultancy Services, a large consulting and software services company located in India. Mr. Narayanan holds a Bachelor of Science degree, a Master of Science degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Indian Institute of Science.
AGE: 52
Titles
President and Chief Executive Officer
Total Compensation*
$461,293
Total Value of Options**
$ 66.8 MILLION
Degrees Held
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (BS, MS, MBA)
* Latest available fiscal year
** The sum of the net value of options exercised and held in the latest available fiscal year
Key Executives
Lakshmi Narayanan, Francisco D'Souza, Gordon J. Coburn, Ramakrishnan Chandrasekaran
Board Members
Lakshmi Narayanan, John E. Klein, Robert W. Howe, Robert E. Weissman, Venetia Kontogouris, Thomas M. Wendel
