Cognizant Technology Solutions hopes to earn around $500 million this year from offering SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) technologies to clients, according to its Chief Executive Officer Francisco D’Souza.
Cognizant started offering SMAC service from last year and now delivers the service to 60 per cent of its top 100 customers, said a company spokesperson.
The company sees strong evidence that SMAC is the next secular shift in computing, he told analysts while discussing the company’s second quarter financial results. This new IT model blends multiple technologies to promote productivity and competitiveness.
Sunshine sector
SMAC is the sunshine sector in the information technology industry. Industry estimates say that the combined potential of SMAC technologies is estimated to be between $70 billion and $200 billion over the next three years.
Cognizant recently built a Centre of Excellence for social media analytics for a global consumer goods company to help them gain insights from the data gleaned from a variety of social media sources, said D’Souza. The company is seeing the most traction in SMAC in the mobile space. “A year or two ago, if we had looked at the mobile work we were doing, it would be small engagements in that space. Now, we are starting to see a real significant client engagement in mobility,” he said.
Analytics & cloud
Analytics offers the opportunity to drive better business performance through Big Data and deep analysis. Cloud is a very significant part of Cognizant’s business but it is distributed across many areas . Social is to a lesser extent but continues to be some interest there as well, he said.
Jennifer Hamel, Research Analyst, Technology Business Research, a US-based research firm, said Cognizant’s ability to generate interest in SMAC technologies through thought leadership and advisory services positions it to meet, if not exceed, its $500 million target for SMAC revenue in 2013.
Hamel believes SMAC solutions will enable Cognizant to build mind share within key verticals such as financial services and retail and compete for deals with rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services, which recently launched a suite of mobile insurance applications.