Cognizant CEO opens up on New Signature acquisition

Brian Humphries reveals rationale while speaking on earnings call

Tom Wright
@TomWrightCRN
30 July 2020

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New Signature will "provide a foundation for a dedicated Microsoft business group" within services giant Cognizant, the acquirer's CEO Brian Humphries has said.

The acquisition of New Signature, one of Microsoft's top global cloud partners, was announced on Tuesday - the day before Cognizant released its quarterly numbers.

Speaking on a call with investors, transcribed by Seeking Alpha, Humphries said: "[On Tuesday] we announced our fifth cloud-related acquisition of the past year, New Signature, one of the world's largest independent Microsoft public cloud transformation specialist that serves all three Microsoft clouds.

"This will provide a foundation for a dedicated Microsoft business group within Cognizant."

Humphries was speaking as Cognizant reveals sales fell 3.4 per cent year on year during the quarter ending 30 June, to $4bn.

Net income dropped 29 per cent to $361m.

But the CEO said the services giant has turned a corner after a period of changing management and a portfolio reshuffle over recent months.

The firm has also been rocked by a ransomware attack which it announced in April.

"[With] New signature, I think you'll see our ability to scale the Microsoft business practice rapidly," he said.

"So I just think the portfolio is broader. The leadership team are more harmonious. There's more energy and we're completely focused on winning again. Any external distractions over the last few years are 100 per cent behind us at this moment in time."

Humphries also said that Cognizant will continue along an M&A path which has also seen it form a Workday unit as the result of an acquisition in May.

"I will continue to use M&A as a means to support the strategy," he said.

"We will do it thoughtfully, of course. I don't want anybody feel as though we take anything for granted, but in the same vein, we are organically investing behind our strategic priorities.

"So while we've done a series of cloud acquisitions in the last year, we have also set aside tens of millions of dollars to invest in hyperscale partners and SaaS vendors with a view to accelerating or cloud practices."