The Hindu Business Line : Cognizant begins China operations

COGNIZANT Technology Solutions has started its operations in China. The US-based software company, which faced delays over legal issues, has appointed Mr Henry Yang as head of its Chinese operations.

A native Chinese, Mr Henry has over 15 years experience in information technology industry. Educated in Canada, Mr Henry spent over eight years there, working with Nortel Networks. He moved to China, and worked with IT companies in Asia-Pacific with special focus on China, said Mr R. Chandrasekaran, Managing Director, Cognizant.

With a strong offshore presence in India, Cogizant announced its China foray at the end of last year. It normally takes about four months to set up a software development centre in China. However, for Cognizant it took a little longer than expected due to legal processes, Mr Chandrasekaran recently told presspersons. The company is now working out of a customer's premises, and will finalise a location for its China centre in about 10 days, he said.

Cognizant joins software firms in India such as Satyam Computers, NIIT and Tata Consultancy Services in having a China centre. It is in the process of interviewing several locals there, and in the next few weeks should have its formal Chinese entity on the ground. In the first year, the company plans to recruit 70 to 100 employees, and it would be a mix of both Indian and Chinese, he said.

To begin with, key positions will be filled up with locals. To integrate the company's China operations with Cognizant's way of doing business, including its onsite/offshore model, processes maturity, programme management and business culture, the company would send a few people from India for the integration, Mr Chandrasekaran said.

Cognizant will deploy one senior person from its delivery organisation in India as Integration Manager.

Alongside, it would also bring those recruited in China to India for a period of two to three months for a reverse familiarisation exercise.

"This, we believe is critical to Cognizantize our operations in China," he said.

To begin with, the Chinese operations may not be of large volume. China will only be a source and not a market. However, after the Olympics and China's progress on the World Trade Organisation, China would emerge as an attractive market, he said.

The projects that Cognizant is executing in China are for a multinational client in the financial services vertical. A sizeable number of the company's multinational clients in other verticals such as banking, insurance, manufacturing, and retail have also evinced interest in outsourcing work to us in China, he said.

Cognizant is looking at China as a development base that would help service its multinational customers locally — especially in China and Japan, he added.

India still the top site

Cognizant would continue to focus on India, as currently it is the only destination that has volumes and the capability to service its global requirements.

"We believe that China is at least five years away from creating that capability. Until mid-May, and from the beginning of the calendar year, we have added approximately 1,900 professionals globally, of which, over 1,500 were added in India," said Mr R. Chandrasekaran, Managing Director, Cognizant.