Cognizant’s consulting head Mark Livingston quits
Cognizant senior vice-president Chell Smith will replace Mark Livingston as global head of consulting on Wednesday . Smith joined Cognizant in 2014 from Ernst & Young where she held several leadership roles in the consulting firm.
Livingston, who joined Cognizant in 2008, grew the consulting practice from 1,600 consultants to nearly 6,000. Livingston is credited with marrying strategy and technology, and collaborating with cross-function teams, thereby building a consulting practice that's probably the best among its Indian peers.
Early on, Livingston realized that consulting engagements needed change makers - those with deep-domain/integration expertise to navigate shifts in clients' digital landscape.
Phil Fersht, CEO of HfS Research, said consulting is very hard in Indian IT firms - clients expect to pay offshore rates for complex work, and it was a tough challenge for a guy who had had a long consulting career.
"Guess is was time for a change of focus with Chell Smith, who has a very good reputation. Livingston was working across multiple clients, so would have had more of an incremental business focus on existing deals, than winning new logos for the firm," he said.
Rod Bourgeois, head of research in DeepDive Equity Research, said Livingston's departure could be somewhat of a setback in Cognizant's effort to build consulting capability and move further into digital transformation work, since this was a key area of focus during his time at Cognizant.
In January, the IDC Market Scape report assessed 15 major global IoT consulting and systems integration vendors. The report said that buyers rated Cognizant highly for "portfolio benefits delivered, pricing model options and customer service."
Livingston, who joined Cognizant in 2008, grew the consulting practice from 1,600 consultants to nearly 6,000. Livingston is credited with marrying strategy and technology, and collaborating with cross-function teams, thereby building a consulting practice that's probably the best among its Indian peers.
Early on, Livingston realized that consulting engagements needed change makers - those with deep-domain/integration expertise to navigate shifts in clients' digital landscape.
Phil Fersht, CEO of HfS Research, said consulting is very hard in Indian IT firms - clients expect to pay offshore rates for complex work, and it was a tough challenge for a guy who had had a long consulting career.
"Guess is was time for a change of focus with Chell Smith, who has a very good reputation. Livingston was working across multiple clients, so would have had more of an incremental business focus on existing deals, than winning new logos for the firm," he said.
Rod Bourgeois, head of research in DeepDive Equity Research, said Livingston's departure could be somewhat of a setback in Cognizant's effort to build consulting capability and move further into digital transformation work, since this was a key area of focus during his time at Cognizant.
In January, the IDC Market Scape report assessed 15 major global IoT consulting and systems integration vendors. The report said that buyers rated Cognizant highly for "portfolio benefits delivered, pricing model options and customer service."
