India is becoming the toast of high-tech these days. In fact, Indian programmers have become troubleshooters and suppliers of custom programming for U.S. companies that don't want to hire expensive help at home. If buying into such an expensive stock gives you pause, there's a better way to play the India software card. With this split structure, Cognizant execs claim they can finish projects faster, since their Indian presence keeps projects humming 'round the clock. So, Cognizant looks a lot like Infosys, but with somewhat less exposure to the unpredictable Indian legal and political system.
Cognizant clients give the company glowing reviews.
We heard that this model was risky, that these people were in India, and it was hard to talk to them. That never materialized. I couldn't have been happier with the performance and the low cost. The HMO brought in Cognizant to help integrate antiquated database and information-management software, and convert old data into a format compatible with the new systems. Now, says Gentile, his company is considering Cognizant for Web-services jobs.