Ravi Kumar Cognizant: Infosys Veteran Ravi Kumar Likely to Play Key Role at Cognizant: Analysts

Ravi Kumar FROM, KnowingThe newly appointed U.S. Americas president is likely to play a key role in the Teaneck, New Jersey-based software exporter’s core team, analysts said, amid a major effort to shore up executive leadership after a worrying period of top management attrition. .

Last week, Cognizant stated that infosis the veteran will replace Interim America’s President Surya Gummadi and oversee business in the United States, Canada and Latin America.

Ravi Kumar, who is expected to join the company in January, will manage more than 70% of the company’s business and improve performance across key verticals in a highly competitive market, even as macroeconomic headwinds and labor shortages threaten margins.

Asked if Kumar was hired based on his chances of becoming CEO in the future, Phil Fersht, chief executive and chief analyst at HFS Research, said, “Of course. Brian Humphreys [CEO] openly seeks to have a strong succession model and clearly sees Ravi Kumar as a potential candidate for his role in the future.”

Cognizant did not respond to questions from ET about Kumar’s potential role.

In an internal email announcing Kumar’s entry into Cognizant, which was reviewed by ET, Humphreys highlighted the closeness to the CEO that Kumar’s role entails: “I believe his leadership will bring a new level of energy and innovative thinking to help accelerate growth. Ravi will also serve as my close partner. He is based in New York and will join the EU, reporting to me…”

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Kumar, as president of Infosys for six years, led the global services vertical of a Bangalore-based IT service provider, focusing on digital transformation, consulting, cloud, data and enterprise bundled services, among others.

Humphries’ post also pointed to Kumar’s strong “outside profile”, which meant his presence on the boards of several organizations: Transunion, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Governors of the New York Academy of Sciences, the Digimarc Corporation, and the Skills Consortium. World Economic Forum.

For Kumar, who earned the third-highest salary at Infosys in 2021-2022 after CEO Salil Parekh and former UB COO Praveen Rao, a move to Cognizant would not make sense without a clear path to the top.

“Ravi Kumar wouldn’t have moved there if it wasn’t an obvious possibility. [of becoming CEO] on the road Strong leaders need strong successors to move their organizations forward, and this is a sensational move by Humphreys that shows real intentions,” Fersht said.

Cognizant, of late, has been concerned that he is seeing a high degree of output from his best talent.

Several mid-range companies, including mind tree — which hired Debashis Chatterjee as CEO from Cognizant — found its leaders in a software exporter.

With the recent appointment of Kumar and Ernst & Young leader Rob Walker as president of global growth markets, analysts say Cognizant has sent a strong signal that it is on the lookout for Tier 1 IT leaders.

“I’m impressed that Cognizant was able to bring in Ravi Kumar. Over the past few years, the team has had problems with attrition and attracting top-notch talent. This move is significant because it shows that the executive team and board of directors understand that bringing in the best talent will help improve overall recruitment,” said Ray Wang of Constellation Research.

Analysts criticizing Cognizant’s delay in strengthening its executive committee say Kumar’s appointment should be seen as meddling at the board level.

Moshe Katri of U.S. asset management firm Wedbush Securities said: “This is an action initiated by the board of directors, possibly in response to the company’s years of falling behind its Tier 1 peers…”

Cognizant reported 31% voluntary redundancies in the second quarter, higher than comparable companies in India. But the company has confirmed that this includes people in training, BPOs and other segments.

The company cut its revenue guidance for fiscal year 22 twice in a row, but saw an improvement in operating margins in the second quarter.

Like colleagues, Cognizant also said on Monday that it would raise wages by 7-10%.

In the July-September quarter, Indian software exporters showed signs of taming attrition, with Infosys cutting their share from 28.4% to 27.1% and Wipro recorded a 30 basis point decline to 23%, but it’s not clear if Cognizant has turned the corner.

Cognizant will report third quarter results on November 2nd.