Mihai Constandiș, Country Manager, Global Network of Studios Presales Leader, Cognizant: This year is not only about embracing change, it is about leading the change

The beginning of the year is quite energetic, definitely more energetic than in other years, at the level of the entire economy, and our industry is strongly connected to all economic areas. 

We are a global company operating in a global market, with major clients, but we also note that IT&C remains the most dynamic sector in Romania, an engine of economic growth and an extraordinary pool of talents.

The basis of the economy outlooks’ optimism across industries is also fueled by AI. We will see growth in 2024 and in the years to come in which AI, and specifically GenAI, will play a major role.

The Boston Consulting Group asserts that “to be an industry leader in five years, you need a clear and compelling Generative AI strategy today”. AI and machine learning are thoroughly integrated into many of the products and services we buy nowadys.

Companies, regardless of the industry, must secure their competitve edge. To deploy continuous innovation quickly, businesses need a different kind of software engineering. We need much more than just speed and productivity, we need educated decisions, and generative AI enables us to fundamentally scale all aspects of modern engineering for competitive advantage. It generates business insights, so one can confidently achieve more, faster – and stay ahead.

The future is extremely exciting as we feel that we are part of a new revolution that is happening as we speak. We are proud that at Cognizant we have all the capabilities, experience and resources to carry out projects at the level of excellence equipping companies for the new AI reality.  It is something that we envisioned, having been strongly connected to the global markets and trends in the last 30 years.

Generative AI is not just about the next generation of chatbots, it’s a revolution

We are celebrating 30  years of Cognizant, from the dot com era and Y2K, to the growth of cloud computing, to the explosion of generative AI today, the next growth factor. 2023 has been a landmark for Enterprise generative AI. Businesses have started to embark on the gen AI journey beyond the realms of Consumer generative AI.

Generative AI is not just about the next generation of chatbots, it’s a revolution. The technical barriers to entry are low whilst the advantages are high: accelerated time to value, cost efficiency, broad business applications and continuous advances in model capabilities. From 2024, investments are more and more directed towards generative AI, designed to improve our lives and educate our decisions.

Hard figures confirm it. Cognizant has recently published a study conducted with Oxford Economics about the impact of AI and the numbers are outstanding. Generative artificial intelligence is projected to bring more than $1 trillion in annual growth to the U.S. economy by 2032 and boost worker productivity by 10% and total factor productivity by 3.5% by 2032. We will see an increase in the adoption of generative AI – about 13% of companies surveyed said they would adopt it in 3-4 years, and almost half of them would adopt it in a decade. We were glad to present these together with our vision at the World Economic Forum in Davos to deeply thoughtful people from around the world. 

Let’s not forget that AI is an assistant tool in people’s hands and as it becomes increasingly feasible to automate technical aspects of work – coding, research, or data management, for example – the ability to leverage soft skills for tasks that still require a human touch becomes critical.

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are also two emerging technologies that have the potential to revolutionize the way we live and work. In 2024, we can expect to see continued growth in the adoption of AR and VR solutions, as businesses look to improve employee training, product development, and customer experience.

Business environment’s interest in artificial intelligence (AI) has never been greater. We receive a lot of questions from customers about how artificial intelligence could concretely help them.

Indeed, the potential of gen AI is huge but it needs to operate in an ecosystem where all the wheels spin optimally. To be AI-ready and benefit from AI implementations, a broader ecosystem is needed, encompassing a specific data infrastructure that delivers honest results, talent, responsible AI practices, and organizational culture embracing the new. These are the main challenges of a company on its way to AI implementation.

We currently have a lot of clients that we are preparing for the AI era, helping them create an optimal data infrastructure to train AI models and also build an organizational culture in favor of adopting artificial intelligence. But we also have clients for whom we have already implemented projects.

Data management and protection are also important challenges as the volume of data grows, companies must focus on effectively managing and securing this asset. Implementing advanced cybersecurity measures and ensuring compliance with data protection regulations will be essential.

Sustainability will be another growth driver

As the green economy grows, we’re learning that green solutions often lead to bottom-line growth. And AI is already having a significant contribution in solving the problems of the modern world.

“Sustainability is fast becoming not just a way of doing business but a way of being a business” as shown in our most recent study where we worked with Oxford Economics to survey 3,000 executives across every market and sector, and where “66 of all respondents are focused on the sustainability of their internal operations”.

This year is not only about embracing change, it is about leading the change

We are not just talking about it, we are living it. We are empowering our clients to accelerate their journeys in generative AI adoption. Businesses need to move beyond the traditional approaches to unlock the true value of gen AI.

We’re starting to get past the AI hype of recent years and actually understand that AI is more than just a trendy topic. A whole world is eager to understand how we can truly benefit from generative AI implementations and how they can bring full value to their businesses – from improving operational efficiency, creating new revenue streams, product and service innovations to education in decision-making.

A whole world wonders how big the change would be. Will it help us or will AI rather steal our jobs? Of course, there is still some fear of artificial intelligence, and as this technology becomes commonplace in the job market, there will be a need for new employee skills in business strategy and AI management.

In line with this vision, Cognizant recently launched an unprecedented global training initiative, Synapse. This project will help 1 million people worldwide to be equipped for the expanding digital economy by 2026.

The IT market is extremely competitive. You need to learn all the time to be relevant. A recent study by World Economic Forum shows that a skill in the IT industry has now a lifespan of 2.5 years.

So we have to keep up, just like an athlete is constantly training to perform. Our professionals are like Formula One drivers, as it’s a topic we like as Cognizant is the strategic IT parter of Aston Martin Aramco FormulaOne team.  The projects Cognizant is working on grow you tremendously as a professional, giving you ample exposure to markets and to major players that set the ground in the economy.

The reason why we are permanently offering to our people more than a competitive package – access to knowledge, an investment in themselves. Cognizant is the employer of choice, the place where you are constantly training to be the best among the best.

In 2023 Cognizant significantly enhanced GenAI capabilities. We are working alongside global giants to deliver AI solutions at scale. We collaborated with Microsoft on gen AI-powered Bluebolt Innovation Assistant, that generated 100K ideas with 21K+ implemented with clients with many leveraging gen AI. Cognizant also expanded its alliance with Google Cloud to bring AI to enterprise clients and I am happy to announce that the Romanian team is part of this project.

We learned more than ever. 90% of Cognizant’s global workforce spent time in learning in 2023, with 270K employees acquiring at least one new skill or proficiency and 137K employees acquiring a digital skill. Moreover, 88K employees completed AI and gen AI courses. We are a company equipped for the new digital world powered by AI and help customers be at the forefront and meet the challenges of this ever-changing world through technology, processes and experiences.

And we are proud to say we are a top employer in Romania with collaboration hubs in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Timisoara and Baia Mare, setting the strategic direction, solution and support for our client businesses, building products that create meaningful experiences and predictable business outcomes.

In today’s digital age, technology is revolutionizing industries across the globe

At Cognizant, we are proud to be at the forefront of this transformation. Recently, to leverage new technologies and meet customer demands we launched a new initiative Flowsource “a modern, generative AI infused full-stack engineering platform that integrates, orchestrates, and automates workflows, leading engineering frameworks, reusable templates and best-in-class tools along the software development lifecycle. A modern, generative AI infused full-stack engineering platform that integrates, orchestrates, and automates workflows, leading engineering frameworks, reusable templates and best-in-class tools along the software development lifecycle.

The result? High quality code at speed, enhanced transparency and control, contained security and compliance risks, enhanced reliability and operational excellence, and a better developer experience”.

AI is here to help us in this mission, not otherwise. And it’s going to hummanize technology in an unprecedently way. The possibilities of us together with generative AI are infinite. Let’s enjoy the ride!