Malcolm Frank Takes Charge as Cognizant's Service Line Digital Business and Technology Head

Cognizant has created a new service line, Digital Business and Technology (DBT), by fusing the two service lines Digital Business and Digital Systems and Technology.

Now, the new service line would be headed by Malcolm Frank, who was earlier heading Cognizant's Digital Business Unit. Gregory Hyttenrauch, who was earlier heading Digital Systems and Technology is now President, North America.

Ganesh Ayyar would lead to Digital Business Operations, which was earlier known as Digital Operations. While the company acknowledged the changes, Cognizant did not further comment on the development.

The change in the way the company operates is aligned to the needs of its customers, said a senior Cognizant employee, who shared that under the new service line, the sales team can focus more on DBT, which is where the demand is.
Brian Humphries, the CEO, noted the demand in the areas of cloud and core modernization in the earlier earnings call in July.
For IT services firms, including Cognizant, it offers great opportunities.

DBT includes new-age technologies such as artificial intelligence, IoT, cloud enablement, and core modernization, which is in huge demand currently.

As Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft, noted in a FICCI event last year, technology has become core to businesses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Technology is no longer just nice to have," he had said then.

"In a matter of months, COVID-19 has exposed the extent of the digital divide between digital natives and traditional companies," said Humphries in the Q2 earnings call. The company follows a calendar year for its fiscal.

That is probably why these changes are in line with the strategy Humphries outlined in the earnings call, which is to align the company's offerings to the changing customer needs.

Humphries said, "We aim to execute a series of bold moves to realize our vision and these actions call for us to accelerate digital, optimize our core business, transform our commercial model, supercharge our talents and enhance our reputation.”