By John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
August 13, 2010

A BPO and IT firm which recently revitalized its Manila hub has revealed that it is keen on using Web 2.0 functionalities in order to improve and streamline its business processes, an executive of the firm announced recently.

Probably one of the first of its kind, Cognizant 2.0—from the name of the firm, Cognizant—is a collaborative platform and ecosystem which helps in delivering projects across the company’s multiple locations around the globe.

Developing a modern collaborative tool to be used by its employees seems a logical step for Cognizant, who has a presence in more than 80 locations across the globe.

The firm’s unique business process includes having locations where their customers are based, nearshore delivery centers, and offshore delivery centers, ensuring that each location leverages the best-of-breed skills various delivery centers have to offer.

“We want to move from cost arbitrage and into intellectual arbitrage—which is the ability to leverage global talent to be able to do specific tasks, so that customers can get value [out of their investments],” explained R Chandrasekaran, president and managing director, global delivery, Cognizant.

Using Cognizant Web 2.0, which was internally developed three to four years back, according to Chandrasekaran, they will be able to realize the move to intellectual arbitrage, especially that they aim to service multiple customers from financial services, healthcare, communications, media, and high-tech industries around the globe.

In the Philippines, where their contact center hub is located, agents can use the platform to post queries answerable by their 88,000-strong workforce around the globe who also use the same platform.

“Anybody can post queries, and have their questions answered. We want to leverage the knowledge of all people working on the ecosystem,” the company executive remarked.

Chandrasekaran said they chose the Philippines as their contact center hub because of the Filipinos’ English language capabilities, the technological infrastructure, the robust educational system, and the citizens’ customer-friendly approach to service.

Cognizant recently moved to their new delivery center in Manila, transferring to a larger site that can take up at least 600 professionals, up from merely 200 seats in their previous Manila site.

Chandrasekaran said they are bullish about expanding in the nation’s capital—and possibly in nearby and far-flung provinces—especially since the stellar growth of the company has been achieved even if they are barely a year into operations in the country.

“Our Manila center will continue to strengthen our integrated global delivery capabilities, as our investments in new global, regional, and local delivery centers help our clients harness specialized talent globally in order to meet their requirements and risk preferences, as well as provide business continuity,” he added.

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