How to Compete in the Global Market: An Interview with Cognizant's Malcolm Frank

Malcolm Frank, senior vice president of marketing and strategy at Cognizant, recently shared insight he's gleaned from over two decades of experience in the IT sector related to the five key elements for profitably competing in the global marketplace and why employee marketing is so vital to the success of a global firm.

ITSMA: Why is it so important for IT marketers to have a global outlook today?

Frank: In his book, The World Is Flat, Thomas L. Friedman says, "It is now possible for more people than ever to collaborate and compete in real time with more other people on more different kinds of work from more different corners of the planet and on a more equal footing than at any previous time in the history of the world." Technology has leveled the playing field. The production of goods and services no longer recognizes political boundaries, and corporate DNA is task based, not geography based.

What was recently perceived as a threat is now seen as a great opportunity. Today businesspeople think, "How do I tap into these deep pools of incredibly talented, incredibly motivated people?" Look at IBM. They've announced that they'll have 60,000 people in India by the end of 2007. One of every five IBM employees is going to be based on the subcontinent. And they are not just doing call center work. They'll be doing primary research and development, complex systems development, value-added business process outsourcing (BPO), and consulting. These are the types of work that are now going onto a global platform.

ITSMA: What are the implications of the flattening world for marketing?

Frank: I've learned from experience that there are five key elements to keep in mind for successfully competing in a global market:

• Employ "naked" marketing. In today's global world, spin no longer works. Customers, and even your employees, have unbelievably strong "BS filters." If marketers don't understand this phenomenon, they risk being designated as corporate liars.
• Understand cultural differences: What's the same? To be successful globally, you need a strategic intent and corporate culture that transcend national boundaries. Marketing's role in communicating the strategy and essence of the culture is invaluable.
• Understand the cultural differences: What's different? Marketers need to pay attention to the way people in different regions learn. Marketing is all about educating; if you can pique people's interest and educate them in a way that feels natural to them, people will be receptive.
• Be "atomically" global. You have to globalize at the smallest level of activity so that the work takes place seamlessly across the globe, with the best person for each task doing each task, regardless of his or her physical location.
• Internal marketing programs are vitally important! With global delivery, consultants might never see their clients, and this creates some very strange situations from a management perspective. How do you close the gap between supply and demand in this circumstance? The answer is internal marketing programs.

ITSMA: Tell us more about how Cognizant ensures that all its employees, wherever they are in the world, are on the same page.

Frank: Cognizant operates with two-thirds of its team 6,000 miles away. Consultants might never see the client, or they see the client four days a year, but there really isn't that close-working, day-to-day, water-cooler, let's-go-have-a-beer-later relationship. We use the power of marketing to bridge the gap between supply and demand.

At Cognizant, we have approximately 36,000 employees. How can I turn these 36,000 people into brand ambassadors? Employees have a hierarchy of needs that we must address, from employee benefits and compensation to personal growth and a sense of purpose. We do this through employee marketing. This means putting the employees in the middle and surrounding them with our brand.

Here are a few examples of how we communicate our message and continually reinforce the sense of purpose and intimacy so that, even though it's a global platform, people feel that it is a very intimate place:

• iPods for every employee. When we recently surpassed $1 billion in annualized revenue, we bought iPods for every employee. Not only did this show our appreciation to the employees, but we now have the infrastructure for podcasts, blogs, and Webcasts to continually communicate with our employee base.
• Management blogs. Because we are a global company, employees could go a full year and see our CEO in person only once. We use management blogs to create intimacy. The blogs take on a personal voice and have proven very popular.
• The Cognizant ticker. This ticker is similar to what you see at the bottom of the TV screen when you're watching CNN or Fox News. When employees are on the Cognizant network, they can turn on the ticker and it will give them company news updates and advice.
• Cognizant FM. This is Cognizant's talk radio. The talk radio format provides depth of information on key issues as well as a sense of intimacy across 36,000+ employees.
• Internal blogging. Cognizant now has more than 600 internal blogs. This creates a sense of community for our key employee demographic. Essentially, they can communicate professionally in the same manner they prefer in their personal lives.

You can't just assume that employees are paying attention to the external programs; dedicated internal marketing programs are vitally important for global firms.

For a longer and more in-depth explanation of the five elements for successfully competing in the global marketplace, please see our new ITSMA Viewpoint, Five Lessons for Competing in the Global Market.