Today, Cognizant's clients are benefiting from 4th Generation services. Operating as their technology partner, Cognizant provides the expertise to help our clients realize their objectives.

4th Generation Offshore Outsourcing provides seamless integration between the customer and Cognizant. We go far beyond the established onsite/offshore model by offering in-depth local consulting presence, onsite teams focused on the customer's business applications, and the management depth that partners closely with our clients.

• Vertical industry domain knowledge. We know our customers' businesses and have industry knowledge that is a powerful combination with our technology expertise.
• State-of-the-art technology expertise. Our core competencies range from legacy platform integration and major enterprise applications to emerging technologies such as Java, .NET, and XML web services
• State-of-the-art tools to manage technology deployment
• Business transformation. We know how to help our clients rapidly achieve their business transformation goals
• Highly disciplined program management and change management. Our robust management processes eliminate the hurdles of managing complex offshore deployments along with managing change issues at the customer location.

• Organizational agility. We have the speed and flexibility to marshal local consulting support and offshore development resources into a cohesive team that quickly delivers time-to-benefit.

• 1st Generation: Offshore services originated as a tactical solution for importing high-quality, low-cost services in a staff augmentation mode. Typically, offshore professionals were brought onsite with temporary visas and were paid at lower hourly rates. In most cases, this approach was limited to application maintenance or development projects that were already highly defined. However, the potential for labor savings was limited because of the need to import talent.
• 2nd Generation: This was the pure "Offshore Production" phase where second-generation offshore outsourcers established small regional marketing offices near major clients, while sending work offshore. Although more cost-effective than 1st generation offshore, this approach was suitable for less complex engagements with well defined functional specifications that did not require extensive project management.
• 3rd Generation: The "Onsite/Offshore" model emerged, adding local project management and liaison staff to improve day-to-day coordination and problem resolution with projects sent offshore. With onsite project management, projects of slightly more complexity that required frequent change could be handled.
• 4th Generation: The "Seamless Integration" phase, 4th Generation Offshore Outsourcing provides the best of both worlds: the low-cost of offshore development coupled with critical management presence. This allows our clients to interact with us on a regular basis, forming meaningful partnerships. The client is free to focus on the business, while we focus on the technologies necessary to support it. This approach to outsourcing is suitable for projects of high complexity and large-scale transformational outsourcing. The 4th generation offshore outsourcing provider is the ideal partner for helping enterprises undergo profound business transformation.