Growth is Cognizant’s DNA, margins are no motivation: Brian Humphries, CEO Cognizant

Brian Humphries took over as CEO of the $16-billion Cognizant six months ago, from Francisco D’Souza. He came in at a time when the IT services company looked to be floundering a little. D’Souza had a spectacular stint of 12 years, during which time Cognizant’s revenue grew so rapidly that it overtook those of WiproNSE 1.42 % and InfosysNSE 1.36 %, and appeared for some time to be catching up with TCS. In a chat with TOI, Humphries spoke about how he sees Cognizant’s future. Excerpts:

Some believe things went out of whack for Cognizant when, partly under pressure from Elliott Management (investor), the company tried to move to a high-margin strategy. Was the margin obsession a big distraction?