Cognizant is an American multinational corporation that provides IT services,

including digital, technology, consulting, and operations services.

It is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States. Cognizant is part of
the NASDAQ-100 and trades under CTSH. It was founded as an in-house technology
unit of Dun & Bradstreet in 1994,[4] and started serving external clients in
1996.1990s, when companies sharpened their focus on hard business parameters
such as revenues and profits, the company grew by delivering critical application
development and maintenance services.

Cognizant had a period of fast growth during the 2000s, becoming a Fortune 500
company in 2011.
The company has been involved in a number of controversies in India, the United
Kingdom, and the United States.

Cognizant began as Dun & Bradstreet Satyam Software (DBSS),

In 1996, Dun & Bradstreet spun off several of its subsidiaries including Erisco,
IMS International, Nielsen Media Research, Pilot Software, Strategic Technologies
and DBSS,
to form a new company called Cognizant Corporation. Three months later, in 1997,
DBSS renamed itself to Cognizant Technology Solutions. In July 1997, Dun &
Bradstreet bought
Satyam's 24% stake in DBSS for $3.4 million.[9][10] Headquarters were moved to the
United States, and in March 1998, Kumar Mahadeva was named CEO.[11] Operating as a
division of the
Cognizant Corporation, the company focused on Y2K-related projects and web
development.[12]

In 1998, the parent company, Cognizant Corporation, split into two companies: IMS
Health and Nielsen Media Research.[13] After this restructuring, Cognizant
Technology Solutions became a public subsidiary of IMS Health. In June 1998, IMS
Health partially spun off the company, conducting an initial public offering of the
Cognizant stock. The company raised $34 million, less than what the IMS Health
underwriters had hoped.
Cognizant provides information technology, information security, consulting, ITO
and BPO services. These include business & technology consulting, systems
integration,
application development & maintenance, IT infrastructure services, analytics,
business intelligence, data warehousing, customer relationship management, supply
chain management,
engineering & manufacturing solutions, enterprise resource planning, research and
development outsourcing, and testing solutions.

Cognizant has three key practice areas that span its business � Digital Business,
Digital Operations, and Digital Systems & Technology.[80]
Cognizant is led by Brian Humphries (CEO), Karen McLoughlin (CFO) and Malcolm Frank
(President, Cognizant Digital Business).[85]

On 1 April 2019, Francisco D'Souza was replaced by Brian Humphries as the CEO

The company claims reported over $2.6 billion in cash and short term investments
for the quarter ending 30 September 2012.[citation needed]

Cognizant became a Fortune 500 company in 2011.[95]

In 2015, the Fortune named it as the world's fourth most admired IT services
company.[104] In 2017, Cognizant was named in Fortune's Future 50 list.[105]