Cognizant has come out with a new approach called ‘code halos’ that it believes will open up more multi-million dollar business opportunities. The company, which expects to record 16.5 per cent growth in 2014, taking its revenues to over $10 billion, says the new approach will throw open business opportunities for itself as well as outsourcing companies, large and small.
The ‘code halos’ or virtual ‘halos’ will help companies make sense of Petabytes of electronic information from smartphones, wearable devices and any gadget that leaves a digital footprint.
“We call this data ‘code halos’ as it accompanies people, organisations and devices and, when properly harnessed, contains a treasure trove of business value,” said Paul Roehrig, Assistant VP and Co-director of the Centre for the Future of Work at Cognizant. Roehrig, along with Ben Pring, the other co-director, plans to launch a book on the concept.
Citing the example of Progressive and Allstate, two insurance companies Cognizant has deals with, Roehrig stated that with ‘code halo’ thinking, vehicle insurers can look at real-time data of people’s driving history and price their premium accordingly instead of blanket pricing based on old parameters such as age of the vehicle. “Insurance companies can create new business models, which can help in more tailored pricing,” said Roehrig. “So, a driver who brakes frequently puts more pressure on the vehicle and hence would incur a higher premium,” he added. Companies such as Cognizant are trying to take this approach in a market where competitors are speaking a similar language and offer similar technology services.
“Our competitors approach this from the technology side but the real pain problems are on the business side,” said Roehrig, adding that this kind of approach would help a start-up or a Fortune 500 company.
Software revenueThe market for this kind of offering is rising. According to Gartner, worldwide software revenue totalled $407.3 billion in 2013, a 4.8 per cent increase over 2012, driven by trends such as ‘big data’. Cognizant classifies revenues from such services under the head Social Mobile Analytics Cloud or SMAC. The company has clocked SMAC revenues of $500 million, more than most Indian software exporters.