Pradeep was named "Wizard of Cognizant" by former employer Cognizant Technology Solutions. The corporate website explained, "A Wizard of Cognizant is a specially talented person who plays a big role in building real world customer solutions. Because of far reaching interests and an overabundance of energy this person has come up with unique and leading edge point of view on the relationships between technology, business, and culture."

Summary

• Innovator of a Globally-proven method for business process centric software development
• Change leader
• Corporate entrepreneur (founder/leader of three COEs)
• Former director at Cognizant Technology Solutions
• International author/speaker
• Columbia Business School alumnus

experience

• Principal Consultant: Process Innovation Center, Since October 2007 (completed 3-month Consulting at Cognizant end of December 2007)
• Director: Cognizant Technology Solutions, October 1996 – September 2007
• Assistant Manager: Tata Consultancy Services, 1989 – 1996
• About a year each at three other companies.

Education

• Columbia Business School, Certificate in Business Excellence (Executive Education), April/May 2008
• Indian Institute of Management, Management Development Program for Senior Managers, 2003
• University of California, Berkeley (Extn), User Interface Engineering, 1994 – 1995
• University of Madras, Bachelor of Science, Physics, 1981 – 1984.

Innovations

• Process-Efficient Technology (PET): A holistic method to design/improve an IT-enabled business process — uniquely viewing and integrating the user interface as a process element
• Process-Centered Design (PCD): A business process driven approach to design business applications. PCD has helped build over 175 process-centric applications
• UCID: A usability driven approach to integrate and develop all user-related textual elements including user interface labels, application messages, and user assistance materials like online Help. Approach covered in my book published in the US.

Research

• Initiated and directed 10 research/study projects
• Discovered new insights in the areas of IT and business process.

Corporate entrepreneurship

• Set up and led three Centers of Excellence, the most recent two at Cognizant
• One of these COEs initially helped software teams deliver business process centric user interfaces, but quickly evolved to help them deliver process-centric applications and business process improvements
• Created new-breed practitioners with "blended" role and skill-set [business analysis + design].

Change leadership

• Led innovation-driven Change initiative … The innovation that required Change was the business process centric approach to software development
• Software development approach changed from technology centric to business process centric … Change manifested itself in 175+ projects, delivering productivity & process improvements to 100+ US/European enterprises
• Launched this Change initiative back when employer was a "promising venture" of around 250 people … This Change initiative differentiated the company in the marketplace and played an important role in the company’s fast growth.

Publications

• Book published by Artech House, USA (User-Centered Information Development for Improved Software Usability)
• Article Aligning Technology with Business Strategy at Columbia Business School website
• Authored several other articles three of them published by ACM (USA), STC (USA), and IGI Global (USA).

Speaking

• CHI 2005 Conference, Portland, USA
• HCI 2005 Conference, Las Vegas, USA
• QAI and STC conferences, India
• Lecture on Blue Ocean Strategy at Great Lakes Institute of Management, India
• Corporate training at Unisys and Sallie Mae in the US.

Pro. assoc. leadership

• Founded Institute for Process-Efficient Technology, www.chi-si.org/instipet/index.html
• Founded an ACM chapter, www.chi-si.org.

Conference chairing

• Through the ACM chapter (www.chi-si.org), organized/chaired India’s first (2001) and subsequent 6 annual national conferences on human-computer interaction
• Through Institute for Process-Efficient Technology (www.chi-si.org/instipet/index.html), organized/chaired India’s first Business Process Management conference in 2007.

Academic contribution

• Pioneered 5-credit User Interface course for BITS Pilani’s Masters degree program in Software Engineering (2004)
• Proposed the course, designed it, trained the faculty, and facilitated teaching and student evaluation.

Biographies

• Described as “innovator of the business process centric approach” in CSI Communications, India, March 2007
• Profiled as "Distinguished Professional" in IEEE Professional Communication Society, USA, 1993
• Profiled in Who’s Who in the World Millennium Edition 2000, USA.

Media / recognition

• Forrester Research, USA (industry analyst firm)
• Ziff Davis Media, USA (Pradeep could not honor invitation to travel to the US for “GREAT MINDS” video interview)
• CIO India
• The Times of India
• The Financial Express
• The Hindu Business Line
• The Week
• Express Computer
• Gravity (Great Lakes Inst. of Management’s magazine). 

Personal

• Location: Born and raised in India ... Lived in the US for about a year and a half while working for IBM San Jose Programming Labs through Indian employer
• Last vacation: Cochin (India) ... Speedboat ride! ... Hotel (Taj Residency located on the shores) with beautiful views of the backwaters and harbor
• Hobby: Interior design ... Recently turned living room into home office
• A favorite Bible verse: "... yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." 1 Corinthians 15:10

Contact