We are organized around and go to market across our four industryindustry-based business segments:

For the year ended December 31, 2017,2020, the distribution of our revenues across our four industry-focusedindustry-based business segments was as follows:

Our Solutionsservices include digital services and Services

Our Digital Business & Technology practice helps clients build modern enterprises that deliver exceptional customer experiences that are created at the intersection of cloud and digital. Our clients are able to embrace a new business and technology stack that comprises consumer-grade software, enterprise applications, modernized data and the instrumentation of everything in cloud-first architectures. Combining a technology vision, strategy, roadmap, capabilities, solutions, partnerships, and subject matter expertise, Digital Business & Technology is an integrated growth enabler for commercial markets. Areas of focus within this practice area are:

Our solutions help physicians and healthcare organizations simplify businessDigital Business Operations practice helps clients rethink their operating models by assessing their existing processes and execute strategiesrecommending automation. This allows clients to fundamentally transform their processes while realizing cost savings benefits from these improvements. Areas of focus within this practice area are:

The markets for technology, digital and outsourcingour services are highly competitive, characterized by a large number of participants and subject to rapid change. Various competitors in all or some of such markets include:

The principal competitive factors affecting the markets for our services include:

We provide value to our customersclients based, in part, on our proprietary innovations, methodologies, software, reusable knowledge capital and other intellectual property, or IP assets. We recognize the importance of IP and its ability to differentiate us from our competitors. We seek IP protection for many of our innovations and rely on a combination of IPpatent, copyright and trade secret laws, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions, to protect our IP and our brand.IP. We have registered, and applied for the registration of, U.S. and international trademarks, service marks, and domain names and copyrights.to protect our brands, including our Cognizant ownsbrand, which is one of our most valuable assets. We own or isare licensed under a number of patents, trademarks and copyrights and licenses, which vary inof varying duration, relating to our products and services. We actively seekalso have policies requiring our associates to respect the IP protection for our innovations.rights of others. While our proprietary IP rights are important to our success, we believe our business as a whole is not materially dependent on any particular intellectual propertyIP right or any particular group of patents, trademarks, copyrights or licenses.licenses, other than our Cognizant brand.

As a global professional services company, Cognizant competes on the basis of the knowledge, experience, insights, skills and talent of its employees and the value they can provide to our clients. We aim for our employees to be good.feel motivated, engaged, and empowered to do their best work through careers they find meaningful. In a market where competition for skilled IT professionals is intense, we focus on the following:

Information About Our Executive Officers

The following table identifies our current executive officers:

None of our executive officers is related to any other executive officer or to any of our Directors. Our executive officers are appointed annually by the Board of Directors and generally serve until their successors are duly appointed and qualified.

We began our IT development and maintenance services business in early 1994 as an in-house technology development center for The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation and its operating units. In 1996, we were spun-off from The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation and, in 1998, we completed an initial public offering to become a public company.

No information on our website is incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K or any other public filing made by us with the SEC.

Global macroeconomic conditions have a material adverse effect on our ability to retain and attract customers and on our competitive position, which could in turn have a material adversesignificant effect on our business resultsas well as the businesses of operationsour clients. Volatile, negative or uncertain economic conditions could cause our clients to reduce, postpone or cancel spending on projects with us and financial condition.could make it more difficult for us to accurately forecast client demand and have available the right resources to profitably address such client demand. Clients may reduce demand for services quickly and with little warning, which may cause us to incur extra costs where we have employed more personnel than client demand supports.

Our business results of operationsis particularly susceptible to economic and financial condition may be affected by the rate of growthpolitical conditions in the use of technology in business and the type and level of technology spending bymarkets where our customers.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve. The ultimate extent to which the pandemic impacts our business, liquidity, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the delivery and effectiveness of vaccines, future mutations of the COVID-19 virus and any resulting impact on the effectiveness of vaccines, the duration and extent of the pandemic and waves of infection, travel restrictions and social distancing, the duration and extent of business closures and business disruptions and the effectiveness of actions taken to contain, treat and prevent the disease. If we or our clients experience prolonged shutdowns or other business disruptions, our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and the trading price of our common stock may be materially adversely affected, by fluctuationsand our ability to access the capital markets may be limited.

Our success is dependent, in large part, on our ability to keep our supply of skilled employees, including project managers, IT engineers and senior technical personnel, in particular those with experience in key digital areas, in balance with client demand around the Indian rupeeworld and on our ability to attract and retain senior management with the knowledge and skills to lead our business globally. Each year, we must hire tens of thousands of new employees and reskill, retain, and motivate our workforce of hundreds of thousands of employees with diverse skills and expertise in order to serve client demands across the globe, respond quickly to rapid and ongoing technological, industry and macroeconomic developments and grow and manage our business. We also must continue to maintain an effective senior leadership team that, among other foreign currency exchangethings, is effective in executing on our strategic goals and growing our digital business. The loss of senior executives, or the failure to attract, integrate and retain new senior executives as the needs of our business require, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Achievement of our targeted growth rates restrictions on the deploymentrequires continued significant organic growth of cash acrossour business as well as inorganic growth through acquisitions. To achieve such growth, we must, among other things, continue to significantly expand our global operations, increase our product and service offerings, in particular with respect to digital, and scale our use of derivative financial instruments.

Our goals for profitability and capital return rely upon a number of assumptions, including our ability to improve the efficiency of our operations and make successful investments to grow and further develop our business. Our profitability depends on the efficiency with which we run our operations and the cost of our operations, especially the compensation and benefits costs of our employees. We have incurred, and may continue to incur, substantial costs related to implementing our strategy to optimize such costs, and we may not realize the ultimate cost savings that we expect. We may not be able to efficiently utilize our employees if increased regulation, policy changes or administrative burdens of immigration, work visas or client worksite placement prevents us from deploying our employees on a timely basis, or at all, to fulfill the needs of our clients. Increases in wages and other than the U.S. dollar.costs may put pressure on our profitability. Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates can also have a number of adverse effects on us. Because our consolidated financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars, we must translate revenues, expenses and income, as well as assets and liabilities, into U.S. dollars at exchange rates in effect during or at the end of each reporting period. Therefore, changes in the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies will affect our revenues, income from operations and net income and the value of balance sheetwhen items originally denominated in other currencies. There is no guarantee that our financial results will not be adversely affected by currency exchange rate fluctuations. In addition, in some countries we could be subject to strict restrictions on the movement of cash and the exchange of foreign currencies which could limit our ability to use these funds across our global operations. Further, as we leverage our global delivery model, a portionare translated or remeasured into U.S. dollars for presentation of our expenses is incurred in currencies other than those in which we bill for the related services. An increase in the value of certain currencies, such as the Indian rupee, against the U.S. dollar could increase costs for delivery of services at offshore sites by increasing labor and other costs that are denominated in local currency.

Our success depends on our ability to continue to develop and implement services and solutions that anticipate and respond to rapid and continuing changes in technology to serve the evolving needs of our clients. Examples of areas of significant change include digital-, cloud- and security-related offerings, which are continually evolving, as well as developments in areas such as AI, augmented reality, automation, blockchain, IoT, quantum computing and as-a-service solutions. If we do not sufficiently invest in new technologies, successfully adapt to industry developments and changing demand, and evolve and expand our business at sufficient speed and scale to keep pace with the demands of the markets we serve, we may be unable to develop and maintain a competitive advantage and execute on our growth strategy, which would materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are required to comply with increasingly complex and changing data security and privacy regulations in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and in other jurisdictions in which we operate that regulate the collection, use and transfer of personal data, including the transfer of personal data between or among countries. For example, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation has imposed stringent compliance obligations regarding the handling of personal data and has resulted in the issuance of significant financial penalties for noncompliance. In the United States, there have been proposals for federal privacy legislation and many new state privacy laws are on the horizon. Recently enacted legislation, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, and its successor the California Privacy Rights Act that will go into effect on January 1, 2023, impose extensive privacy requirements on organizations governing personal information. Existing U.S. sectoral laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act also impose extensive privacy and security requirements on organizations operating in the healthcare industry, which we serve. Additionally, in India, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 continues to make progress through the Indian Parliament. If enacted in its current form it would impose stringent obligations on the handling of personal data, including certain localization requirements for sensitive data. Other countries have enacted or are considering enacting data localization laws that require certain data to stay within their borders. We may also face audits or investigations by one or more domestic or foreign government agencies or our clients pursuant to our contractual obligations relating to our compliance with these regulations. Complying with changing regulatory requirements requires us to incur losses fromsubstantial costs, exposes us to potential regulatory action or litigation, and may require changes to our usebusiness practices in certain jurisdictions, any of derivative financial instrumentswhich could materially adversely affect our business operations and operating results.

Our business model is dependent on our global delivery capabilities, which include coordination between our delivery centers in India, our other global and regional delivery centers, the offices of our clients and our associates worldwide. System failures, outages and operational disruptions may be caused by factors outside of our control, such as hostilities, political unrest, terrorist attacks, natural disasters (including events that couldmay be caused or exacerbated by climate change), and public health emergencies and pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting the geographies where our people, equipment and clients are located. For example, we have substantial global delivery operations in Chennai, India, a materialcity that has experienced severe rains, flooding and droughts in recent years and is at significant risk of increasingly severe natural disasters in future years as a result of climate change. Our risk management, business continuity and disaster recovery plans may not be effective at preventing or mitigating the effects of such disruptions, particularly in the case of catastrophic events or longer term developments, such as the impacts of climate change. Any such disruption may result in lost revenues, a loss of clients and reputational damage, which would have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our global operations expose usA substantial portion of our employees in the United States, United Kingdom, European Union and other jurisdictions rely on visas to numerouswork in those areas such that any restrictions on such visas or immigration more generally or increased costs of obtaining such visas or increases in the wages we are required to pay associates on visas may affect our ability to compete for and sometimes conflicting legal and regulatory requirements, and violations ofprovide services to clients in these regulationsjurisdictions, which could harmmaterially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The practice of outsourcing services to organizations operating in other countries is a topic of political discussion in the United States, which is our largest market, as well as other regions in which we have customers.clients. For example, measures aimed at limiting or restricting outsourcing by U.S. companies have been put forward for consideration by the U.S. Congress and in state legislatures to address concerns over the perceived association between offshore outsourcing and the loss of jobs domestically. Further, the current U.S. administration or Congress may seek to limit outsourcing by U.S. companies. If enacted,any such measures may broaden existing restrictions on outsourcing by federal and state government agencies and on government contracts with firms that outsource services directly or indirectly, or impact private industry with measures that include tax disincentives, fees or penalties, intellectual property transfer restrictions, mandatory government audit requirements, and new standards that have the effect of restricting the use of certain business and/or work visas. In the event that any of these measures become law,measure is enacted, our ability to provide services to our customersclients could be impaired, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Existing and future legislative and administrative/regulatory policies restricting the performance of business process services from an offshore location could also have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.impaired.

In addition, from time to time there has been publicity about purported negative experiences associated with offshore outsourcing, such as alleged domestic job loss and theft and misappropriation of sensitive customerclient data, particularly involving service providers in India. Current or prospective customersclients may elect to perform certain services themselves or may be discouraged from utilizing global service delivery providers like us due to negative perceptions that may be associated with using global service delivery models or firms. Any slowdown or reversal of existing industry trends toward global service delivery would seriously harm our ability to compete effectively with competitors that provide the majority of their services from within the country in which our customersclients operate.

We are also subject to a wide range of potential enforcement actions, audits or investigations regarding our compliance with these laws or regulations in the conduct of our business, and any finding of a violation could subject us to a wide range of civil or criminal penalties, including fines, debarment, or suspension or disqualification from government contracting, prohibitions or restrictions on doing business, loss of clients and business, legal claims by clients and damage to our reputation.

The industriesinterpretation of tax laws and regulations in which our customers are concentrated, such as the financial services industry and the healthcare industry, are, or may be, increasingly subject to governmental regulation and intervention. For instance, the financial services industry is subject to extensive and complex federal and state regulation. As a provider of services to financial institutions, portions of our operations are examined by a number of regulatory agencies. These agencies regulate the services we provide and the mannermany jurisdictions in which we operate. For example, some financial services regulators have imposed guidelines for useoperate and the related tax accounting principles are complex and require considerable judgment to determine our income taxes and other tax liabilities worldwide. Tax laws and regulations affecting us and our clients, including applicable tax rates, and the interpretation and enforcement of cloud computing services that mandate specific controls or require financial services enterprises to obtain regulatory approval prior to outsourcing certain functions. If wesuch laws and regulations are unable to comply with these guidelines or controls, or if our customers are unable to obtain regulatory approval to use our services where required, our business may be harmed. In addition, customers in the financial services sector have been subject to increased regulation following the enactmentchange as a result of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in the United States. New or changing regulations under Dodd-Frank, as well as other regulations or legislation affecting our customers in the financial services industry, may reduce demand for our services or cause us to incur costly changes in our processes or personnel, thereby negatively affecting our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The following are several examples of applicable tax laws.

We are subject to, and may become a party to, a variety of litigation or other claims and suits that arise from time to time in the conduct of our Common Stockbusiness. Our business is subject to the risk of litigation involving current and Governing Documentsformer employees, clients, alliance partners, subcontractors, suppliers, competitors, shareholders, government agencies or others through private actions, class actions, whistleblower claims, administrative proceedings, regulatory actions or other litigation. While we maintain insurance for certain potential liabilities, such insurance does not cover all types and amounts of potential liabilities and is subject to various exclusions as well as caps on amounts recoverable.

Our stock price continuesclient engagements expose us to be volatile.

To support our planned growth, weWe have sales and marketing offices, innovation labs, and digital design and consulting centers in major business markets, including New York, London, Paris, Melbourne, Singapore, and Sao Paulo, among others, which are continually expanding our global and regional delivery center capacity through a strategy that includes both the construction and leasing of new facilities. As presented in the table below, as of December 31, 2017, we leased 13.1 million square feet and owned 13.8 million square feet related to our global and regional delivery centers located in 32 countries and used to deliver services to our customersclients across all four of our business segments.

We utilize a global delivery model with delivery centers worldwide, including in-country, regional and global delivery centers. We have over 31 million square feet. In addition tofeet of owned and leased facilities for our executive officedelivery centers. Our largest delivery center presence is in India - Chennai (10 million square feet), Hyderabad (4 million square feet), Pune (3 million square feet), Bangalore (3 million square feet) and the above global and regionalKolkata (3 million square feet) - representing 88% of our total delivery centers weon a square-foot basis. We also have business development officesa significant number of delivery centers in approximately 80 citiesother countries, including the United States, Philippines, Canada, Mexico and 38 countries across the globe.

We believe that our current facilities are adequate to support our existing operations. We also believeoperations in the immediate future, and that we will be able to obtain suitable additional facilities on commercially reasonable terms on an “as needed basis.”as needed.

We regularly purchase shares in connection with our stock-based compensation plans as shares of our Class A common stock are tendered by employees for payment of applicable statutory tax withholdings. For the three months ended December 31, 2017,2020, we purchased 438,0370.2 shares at an aggregate cost of $32$18 million in connection with employee tax withholding obligations.

The following graph compares the cumulative total stockholder return on our Class A common stock with the cumulative total return on the S&P 500 Index, Nasdaq-100 Index, S&P 500 Information Technology Index and a Peer Group Index (capitalization weighted) for the period beginning December 31, 20122015 and ending on the last day of our last completed fiscal year. The stock performance shown on the graph below is not indicative of future price performance.