What Cognizant gets wrong in Financial Services
Cognizant's banking practice offers something that sounds attractive: offshore delivery at a cost that is 40-60% below onshore consulting rates. The cost equation changes when you factor in the time zone latency on critical decisions, the ramp time for offshore engineers to understand a legacy core banking system, and the compliance complexity of a globally distributed team touching systems with BSA/AML reporting obligations.
Core banking modernization is the most complex technology program most banks will undertake. The migration from COBOL to cloud-native requires engineers who understand transaction integrity, reconciliation logic, and the operational constraints of a system that cannot go down. Cognizant's offshore model deploys engineers who execute specifications — the architectural judgment required for core banking migration does not scale with headcount.
BSA/AML transaction monitoring requirements have specific data residency and access control implications. Financial intelligence that can trigger SAR filings cannot be casually accessed by offshore engineers across jurisdictions without explicit BSA compliance controls. Cognizant's managed services model does not design these controls at the architecture layer.
What we deploy instead
Our banking technology teams deploy with core banking migration experience and BSA/AML compliance architecture embedded from the first data model. Engineers who have executed live-parallel cutovers and know what happens when reconciliation fails at 11 PM.
Fixed-price banking engagements with defined architectural milestones. The first milestone is a working integration with your core system in a sandbox — before the full engagement scope is committed.
SOC 2 and PCI DSS built into the architecture from day one — enforced automatically by ALICE at every commit.
Fixed-price engagements. Production system in 8-20 weeks. No discovery phase. No change orders.
Domain-qualified engineers with financial services experience. The senior engineer who scopes the engagement is the senior engineer who delivers it.
Full source code and documentation transferred at close. No licensing. No managed services dependency.
The compliance difference
BSA/AML transaction monitoring, GLBA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, Basel III capital reporting for larger institutions. Banking compliance requires onshore engineering teams with BSA access controls from the architecture layer.
What switching from Cognizant looks like
Banking technology engagement: 16-24 weeks for a core modernization to parallel-run. Team: 12-20 engineers. Fixed price. Full IP transfer.
Architecture review and scope definition. We review existing deliverables and identify gaps.
Scope locked, team assembled, first sprint underway. Working code from week two.
First production milestone — a working integration or system component, not a document.
Full IP transfer. Source code, documentation, operational runbooks. Your team runs the system.
Failed Vendor Recovery Playbook
Step-by-step framework for recovering from a failed Cognizant engagement — from emergency stabilisation through full re-platforming. 4-phase playbook covering stabilise, assess, transition, and normalise.