The ‘encyclopaedia’ takes charge

For most, Ramkumar Ramamoorthy was the external face of Cognizant, at least in India, the country where the company took birth in 1994 as a spin-off from Dun & Bradstreet. But Ramamoorthy, 52, who steadily moved up the ladder having started his career with the Nasdaq-listed company in 1998 as programme manager with the content division to chairman and managing director Cognizant India , was much more than that.

For the company’s senior leadership, Ram, as he is known to colleagues and friends, was chief communicator, marketer, strategist, knowledge officer and crisis communication man all rolled in one, a position that earned him enormous respect both within Cognizant and from the external ecosystem.

Lakshmi Narayanan, a co-founder and former vice-chairman and CEO of Cognizant, recalls how Ramamoorthy handled a global banking client evaluating multiple vendors for a large outsourcing contract. A senior executive on the bank’s sourcing team asked Ramamoorthy what he would recommend given Cognizant’s strengths and weakness visa-vis its competition in the context of the bank’s requirements. Ramamoorthy outlined Cognizant’s strengths but added that though his company could cater to some of their other requirements, another vendor had significant strengths in those areas. The bank might want to consider partnering with the other vendor for those requirements, he said. “The client went back and after three or four weeks, the decision they took was exactly the same as what Ramamoorthy had suggested. The bank continues to work with Cognizant,” says Narayanan.

Narayanan, who had hired a young Ramamoorthy, says he has reinvented himself several times over the past 20 years. Starting predominantly in PR and communication areas, Ramamoorthy made it a point to understand the business thoroughly. “His single most important strength to the firm is the competitor positioning and competitor analysis. Not just from a financial market perspective as a listed company, but also from services they provide to the customers,” Narayanan pointed out

Both internally and externally, Ramamoorthy was known for his uprightness and high integrity. “Any wrongdoing happens, he would be the first one to report it immediately,” says Narayanan.

Ramamoorthy comes from Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, where his father was a math teacher who later joined the purchase department of Standard Motors. His mother was a homemaker. The eldest of four siblings, Ramamoorthy completed his Master’s Degree in English Literature, Journalism and Mass Communication from Loyola College in 1990, and an Mphil in American New Journalism from the University of Madras in 1991. He started his career teaching English, Business and Managerial Communications at D G Vaishnav College and Sindhi College while he was still studying. He went on to become the principal of one of them before joining Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) in 1996 in its editorial and technical communications group. It was from here the Ramamoorthy joined Cognizant in 1998, to start Cognizant Interactive, an initiative for developing user documents, online support systems and educational materials. The company had around 1,000 employees with revenue of less than $50 million. He then became the company’s first Chief Knowledge Officer. For 11odd years starting from 2002, he also worked in market research and competitor intelligence, where a dedicated team was formed to analyse market trends and offer expert insight and track competitors.

A colleague of several years says Ramamoorthy’s ability to remember and present the most relevant facts at the right time has become his hallmark. “He is an industry encyclopaedia; he knows Cognizant, its competitors, facts, figures, and he reads extensively. He can get facts at very short notice for an analyst presentation or an industry meeting,” the colleague recalls.

Sekar Viswanathan, vice president at VIT University, says Ramamoorthy has always been a bridge between industry and the academia. As a member of VIT’S Governing Academic Council, his suggestions were always linked to the future direction of the industry. “He has an optimistic view on everything. Once I shared my worry that most students opt for computer science when they seek admission to VIT, and traditional engineering courses were being neglected. He asked me to be happy because it showed that students are all aware where the industry is headed,” said Viswanathan.

Outside of professional activities, Ramamoorthy is a keen cricket fan. So keen, that he switched from a prestigious high school to another that had a robust cricket programme. He is also a voracious reader and loves reading almost everything. “On a sleepy Sunday morning, you will mostly find him at Saravana Bhavan, reading business magazines or other publications,” said a close acquaintance. “He is very driven and passionate about what he does.”