高知特 (CTSH) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Cognizant Technology Solutions Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions). Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Tyler Scott, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

女士們、先生們，歡迎參加 Cognizant Technology Solutions 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作說明）謝謝。現在我將會議交給投資者關係副總裁 Tyler Scott 先生。請您發言。

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. By now, you should have received a copy of the earnings release and investor supplement for the company's third quarter 2023 results. If you have not, copies are available on our website, cognizant.com. The speakers we have on today's call are Ravi Kumar, Chief Executive Officer; and Jan Siegmund, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝接線員，大家下午好。各位現在應該已經收到公司2023年第三季業績的獲利報告和投資人補充資料。如果您還沒有收到，可以造訪我們的網站cognizant.com取得。今天電話會議的發言人是執行長Ravi Kumar和財務長Jan Siegmund。

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that some of the comments made on today's call and some of the responses to your questions may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to the risks and uncertainties as described in the company's earnings release and other filings with the SEC. Additionally, during our call today, we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe provide useful information for our investors. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures where appropriate to the corresponding GAAP measures can be found in the company's earnings release and other filings with the SEC. With that, I'd like to now turn the call over to Ravi. Please go ahead.

在正式開始之前，我想提醒各位，今天電話會議中的一些發言以及對您提問的一些回答可能包含前瞻性陳述。這些陳述受公司獲利報告和提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的其他文件中所述的風險和不確定性因素的影響。此外，在今天的電話會議中，我們將提及一些我們認為對投資者有用的非公認會計準則（非GAAP）財務指標。非GAAP財務指標與相應的GAAP指標的調節表（如有）可在公司獲利報告和提交給SEC的其他文件中找到。接下來，我將把電話會議交給Ravi。請開始。

Thank you, Tyler. Good afternoon, everyone. Today, I would like to cover 3 topics: our third quarter results, the demand environment and a brief update on our strategic priorities.

謝謝泰勒。大家下午好。今天，我想談談三個面向：我們第三季的業績、市場需求以及我們策略重點的最新進展。

We are pleased with the company's continued progress in the third quarter, during which clients remained cautious amid economic uncertainty and discretionary spend was under pressure. Q3 revenue came in at $4.9 billion, within our guidance range. We saw sequential revenue growth of 20 basis points year-over-year. Revenue grew 0.8% as reported or a modest decline of 20 basis points in constant currency.

我們對公司第三季的持續進展感到滿意。儘管經濟情勢不明朗，客戶仍保持謹慎態度，非必需支出承壓，但第三季營收仍達49億美元，符合我們的預期。營收季增20個基點。以報告匯率計算，營收成長0.8%，以固定匯率計算則小幅下降20個基點。

Our adjusted operating margin of 15.5% exceeded our expectations, mostly reflecting savings from our next generation program, which remains on track as well as from our operational discipline and the timing of spend on investment opportunities. We recorded another quarter of bookings growth, up approximately 9% year-over-year.

經調整後的營業利潤率為15.5%，超出預期，這主要得益於我們下一代產品項目的成本節約（該項目目前進展順利），以及我們嚴格的營運管理和對投資機會的精準把握。我們的訂單量連續第二季實現成長，年增約9%。

We ended Q3 with a record trailing 12-month bookings growth of $26.9 billion, up 16% year-over-year and a strong book-to-bill of 1.4x. We have sustained our large deal momentum through Q3. Approximately 30% of our in-quarter Q3 bookings were large deals, and 3 of these deals exceeded $100 million each. I believe we are getting progressively better at building a creative deal generation engine and solutioning large deals.

第三季末，我們創下過去12個月訂單成長269億美元的紀錄，年增16%，訂單出貨比也維持在1.4倍的強勁水準。我們在第三季保持了強勁的大單成長動能。第三季約30%的訂單為大單，其中3筆交易金額超過1億美元。我相信，我們在建立創新交易產生機制和解決大單方面正不斷進步。

I am especially encouraged to see our continued decline in attrition. Trailing 12-month voluntary attrition for our tech services business declined to 16.2%, down about 4 percentage points sequentially and down 13 points year-over-year. This decline in attrition was a positive factor in our just completed annual client Net Promoter Score survey, which showed significant improvement year-over-year and hit a historic high for Cognizant.

我尤其欣喜地看到我們的員工流動率持續下降。過去12個月，我們技術服務業務的自願離職率降至16.2%，較上季下降約4個百分點，較去年同期下降13個百分點。員工流失率的下降對我們剛完成的年度客戶淨推薦值（NPS）調查產生了積極影響，該調查顯示NPS較上年顯著提升，並創下Cognizant的歷史新高。

Clients let us know that leadership, account management and delivery are especially important to them. And the survey results show that in these areas, we're doing a great job. This assessment of how clients perceive Cognizant underscores the interdependence of the employee and client experience that gives us confidence that the changes we are making will help strengthen the portfolio over the long run.

客戶告訴我們，領導力、客戶管理和交付對他們來說特別重要。調查結果顯示，我們在這些方面做得非常好。客戶對 Cognizant 的評價凸顯了員工體驗和客戶體驗之間的相互依存關係，這讓我們相信，我們正在進行的變革將有助於長期增強我們的業務組合。

While Jan will cover our performance at a business segment level, I want to offer a quick word about financial services. We continue to reposition our Financial Services segment, while responding to an increasingly challenged demand environment. One of the ways we are striving to reinvigorate growth is through a sharply focused subindustry go-to-market approach in the Americas directly by highly experienced leaders. We believe this change will increase our agility and deepen our domain expertise.

Jan 將在下屬各業務部門層級介紹我們的業績，我想就金融服務業務簡單談幾句。我們正在持續調整金融服務業務的策略佈局，以因應日益嚴峻的市場需求。為了重振成長，我們正努力在美洲地區採取精準的細分產業市場拓展策略，並由經驗豐富的領導者直接負責。我們相信，這項調整將提升我們的敏捷性，並深化我們在相關領域的專業知識。

Let's turn to the demand environment and what I'm hearing from clients. Clients remain focused on efficiency initiatives to reduce costs and consolidate providers as they increase their productivity and resilience and we are helping them do so. This should, in turn, enable them to underwrite their continuing investment in digital transformation.

讓我們來看看市場需求以及我從客戶那裡了解到的情況。客戶仍然專注於提高效率、降低成本和整合供應商，以提高生產力和韌性，而我們正在幫助他們實現這些目標。這反過來應該能夠讓他們更有底氣地繼續投資數位轉型。

For example, during the quarter, we expanded our relationship with Lineage, a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics to help build an industry-leading operating platform and establish a plan to support their operations through automation and infrastructure management. We also established a new multiyear relationship with Swedish firm, Intrum. We expect to provide end-to-end digital integration and core modernization services for their credit management technology platform.

例如，本季我們深化了與全球溫控物流領導者Lineage的合作關係，協助其建構業界領先的營運平台，並制定了透過自動化和基礎設施管理支​​援其營運的方案。此外，我們也與瑞典公司Intrum建立了新的多年合作關係。我們計劃為其信用管理技術平台提供端到端的數位整合和核心現代化服務。

To dive deeper into clients' long-term objectives and discover new ways to strengthen our partnership with them, Cognizant held a 2-day Discovery Summit last month for about 130 of our North America clients, our first large-scale client gathering in more than 4 years. We discussed the transformative power of generative AI and how we believe it can reshape every industry.

為了深入了解客戶的長期目標，並探索加強與客戶合作關係的新途徑，Cognizant 上個月為約 130 位北美客戶舉辦了為期兩天的探索高峰會，這是我們四年多來首次舉辦的大型客戶聚會。我們探討了生成式人工智慧的變革力量，以及我們認為它將如何重塑各行各業。

We showed clients how to apply generative AI to create more connected, collaborative and responsive relationships with their customers. We also ran live use cases at Cognizant's new AI platform, showing generative AI working alongside legacy data and machine learning models to rapidly create end-to-end AI use cases to tackle client KPIs.

我們向客戶展示如何應用生成式人工智慧來建立與客戶之間更緊密、更協作、更快速回應的關係。我們還在 Cognizant 的全新人工智慧平台上進行了現場用例演示，展示了生成式人工智慧如何與傳統數據和機器學習模型協同工作，快速創建端到端的人工智慧用例，以應對客戶的關鍵績效指標 (KPI)。

As mentioned last quarter, we expect to invest approximately $1 billion in our generative AI capabilities over the next 3 years, focusing on areas such as platform modernization infrastructure, recruiting and upskilling. To that end, we opened a dedicated AI innovation studio in London. And later this year, we expect to OpenAI studios in New York, Dallas and Bangalore.

如上季所述，我們預計未來三年將在生成式人工智慧能力方面投資約10億美元，重點領域包括平台現代化基礎設施、人才招募和技能提升。為此，我們在倫敦開設了一家專門的人工智慧創新工作室。今年晚些時候，我們計劃在紐約、達拉斯和班加羅爾設立OpenAI工作室。

We have trained about 55,000 of our employees in generative AI this year and have an additional 40,000 employees from all levels of our company registered in pursuing training on Gen AI. We have also invested in AI partnerships and experimental infrastructure to support early client engagements. We believe clients will depend on partners like Cognizant to generate significant productivity gains through automated AI-powered platforms for design, engineering and operations. This shift in client behavior further validates a recently refined strategy, which is aimed at strengthening Cognizant's differentiation to help drive growth.

今年，我們已對約 55,000 名員工進行了生成式人工智慧 (Gen AI) 培訓，另有來自公司各層級的 40,000 名員工已註冊參加 Gen AI 培訓。此外，我們還投資了人工智慧合作夥伴關係和實驗性基礎設施，以支援早期客戶專案。我們相信，客戶將依賴像 Cognizant 這樣的合作夥伴，透過自動化人工智慧平台，在設計、工程和營運領域顯著提升生產力。客戶行為的這種轉變進一步驗證了我們近期完善的策略，該策略旨在增強 Cognizant 的差異化優勢，從而推動公司成長。

Our strategy is focused on 3 imperatives. First, we are resolved to be an industry-led, creating value for clients by integrating technology with industry use cases to drive business outcomes. We are embedding industry expertise across our value chain and select industries. We are developing more enterprise scale platforms designed for industry and operational use cases.

我們的策略聚焦於三大要務。首先，我們致力於成為行業主導型企業，透過將技術與行業應用案例結合，為客戶創造價值，從而推動業務成果。我們正在將行業專長融入我們的價值鏈和特定行業中。我們正在開發更多面向產業和營運應用案例的企業級平台。

Partnerships have a major role to play here. We are focused on expanding our partner ecosystem across a range of technology providers. Among them, hyperscalers, cloud providers, enterprise software companies, digital software enterprises and emerging startups. We believe this partner ecosystem will enable us to enhance our integrated offering by combining third-party products with our service solutions, helping to deliver enterprise-wide digital transformation. We believe this strategy as a full stack provider opens new and significant managed services opportunities.

合作夥伴關係在此發揮至關重要的作用。我們致力於拓展合作夥伴生態系統，涵蓋各類技術供應商，包括超大規模雲端服務商、雲端服務供應商、企業軟體公司、數位軟體企業以及新創公司。我們相信，這個合作夥伴生態系統將使我們能夠透過將第三方產品與我們的服務解決方案結合，增強我們的整合產品，從而助力企業實現數位轉型。我們相信，作為全端服務供應商，這項策略將帶來全新且意義重大的託管服務機會。

Second, given today's more heterogeneous technology landscape and the desire of many clients to build their own technology muscle, we focus on operating a highly flexible business model to meet clients where they are in their digital transformation journeys. We can support them across a range of project types, whether that's structured deals, traditional managed services, build-operate-transfer, co-innovation, partner solutions or large technology transformations.

其次，鑑於當今技術格局日益多元化，以及眾多客戶希望建立自身技術實力，我們專注於營運高度靈活的商業模式，以滿足客戶在數位轉型過程中不同階段的需求。我們能夠為各種類型的專案提供支持，包括結構化交易、傳統管理服務、建設-營運-移交 (BOT)、聯合創新、合作夥伴解決方案以及大型技術轉型專案。

And to help clients strengthen their technology expertise, we can either lend our human capital along with our human capital value chain which includes learning, development, automation and AI infrastructure and more. Our business model flexibility is well suited to the changing nature of large deals where we see increasing demand for bundling services, often a combination of software people takeover infrastructure and services. These deals have a potential to bring Cognizant into the heart of clients' business landscape, putting us in a strong position to capture future services opportunities.

為了幫助客戶增強技術實力，我們可以提供我們的人力資本以及涵蓋學習、發展、自動化和人工智慧基礎設施等的人力資本價值鏈。我們靈活的商業模式非常適合大型交易不斷變化的需求，我們看到市場對捆綁式服務的需求日益增長，通常是將軟體、人員、基礎設施和服務相結合。這些交易有可能使 Cognizant 深入客戶業務的核心，使我們處於有利地位，從而掌握未來的服務機會。

Our third imperative is to enable more intimate levels of client collaboration and co-innovation. This effort grows out of our heritage of client centricity and grassroots innovation. Given the scale and diversity of our global teams, we believe we have a potential to harvest an abundance of ideas, big and small, that can contribute to our clients' focus.

我們的第三項要務是促進與客戶更深入的合作與共同創新。這項努力源自於我們以客戶為中心和自下而上創新的傳統。鑑於我們全球團隊的規模和多樣性，我們相信我們有能力收集到大量大大小小的創意，這些創意都能幫助客戶實現其目標。

Inspired by our BlueBolt's grassroots innovation movement launched in quarter 2, more than 35,000 of our employees have generated 75,000 ideas. We have already implemented about 14,000 of these ideas, nearly 6,000 of which are client-facing. A strengthened ability to co-innovate with clients is especially valuable as they grapple with understanding and applying generative AI.

受我們BlueBolt第二季啟動的草根創新運動的啟發，超過35,000名員工提出了75,000個創意。我們已經實施了其中約14,000個創意，近6,000個是面向客戶的。隨著客戶努力理解和應用生成式人工智慧，增強與客戶的協同創新能力尤其重要。

During the quarter, we launched Telco Assurance 360, a cloud-based AI-powered solution built on ServiceNow and designed to provide telcos with real-time visibility into network issues and fast proactive resolution through AI-powered analytics.

本季度，我們推出了 Telco Assurance 360​​，這是一個基於 ServiceNow 構建的雲端 AI 解決方案，旨在透過 AI 驅動的分析，為電信營運商提供網路問題的即時可見性並快速主動地解決問題。

We also signed a multiyear agreement with a leading provider of digital and cloud-enabled solutions that are vital to the administration of health and human services programs across the U.S. Cognizant will serve as the client's sole global IT services and operations partner to help drive transformation at scale. We also provide the client with access to our AI, machine learning and generated AI tools, along with our TriZetto platform to advance revenue growth, increase administrative efficiency and improve the member experience.

我們還與一家領先的數位化和雲端解決方案提供商簽署了多年協議，這些解決方案對於美國各地衛生和公共服務項目的管理至關重要。 Cognizant 將作為該客戶唯一的全球 IT 服務和營運合作夥伴，協助其大規模轉型。此外，我們還將為客戶提供我們的人工智慧、機器學習和人工智慧生成工具，以及 TriZetto 平台，以促進收入成長、提高管理效率並改善會員體驗。

What's more, we are expanding our strategic collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies to jointly implement the AI-based solutions at the edge as a part of our Car-to-Cloud initiative. We encourage our clients who want to transform their businesses by being AI first to begin the journey by modernizing the data architecture, cloud infrastructure and core business applications.

此外，我們正在擴大與高通科技公司的策略合作，共同在邊緣端部署基於人工智慧的解決方案，作為我們「車聯網」計畫的一部分。我們鼓勵希望透過人工智慧實現業務轉型的客戶，首先從資料架構、雲端基礎設施和核心業務應用程式的現代化改造入手。

Today, we are running more than 150-plus early client engagements that incorporate the use of generative AI. Some of the examples of this work include general productivity use cases related to writing code, code analysis and troubleshooting, knowledge management and translating product specs into natural chat or speech, business specific use cases for call center automation product prototyping, audience prediction, claims management, medical scribing and research and development; and domain specific use cases like onboarding new employees, validating deep documents and financial statement planning analytics. We have 300-plus additional opportunities in our pipeline that we are planning to scale.

目前，我們正在進行超過150個早期客戶項目，這些項目都融入了生成式人工智慧技術。這些項目涵蓋了多種應用場景，包括提升通用生產力的應用（例如編寫程式碼、程式碼分析和故障排除、知識管理以及將產品規格轉化為自然語音或聊天）、針對特定業務的應用（例如呼叫中心自動化產品原型設計、受眾預測、理賠管理、醫療記錄和研發）以及特定領域的應用（例如新員工入職培訓、深度驗證和財務報表規劃分析）。此外，我們還有300多個潛在項目正在籌備中，並計劃擴大規模。

Let's turn to a quick update on our 3 long-term strategic objectives, starting with becoming an employer of choice in our industry. I see Cognizant as a human capital company, first; and a technology company, second. Everything we do hinges on the quality, dedication and scale of our talent base. That's why it is so consequential that our voluntary attrition continues to fall, putting us on par with the industry average. We expect further improvement in our attrition in quarter 4. It's also worth noting that in quarter 3, we had a net sequential head count increase for the first time in several quarters.

讓我們快速了解我們的三大長期策略目標，首先是成為業界首選雇主。我認為 Cognizant 首先是一家人力資本公司，其次才是一家科技公司。我們所做的一切都取決於我們人才庫的品質、敬業精神和規模。因此，我們員工自願離職率持續下降，與行業平均水平持平，這一點至關重要。我們預計第四季員工離職率將進一步改善。此外，值得一提的是，第三季我們實現了幾個季度以來的首次員工淨成長。

As a human capital company, we are determined to help improve the lives of workers around the world. With that in mind, we announced a groundbreaking training initiative yesterday called Cognizant Synapse Initiative, a job training endeavor, is aimed at empowering more than 1 million individuals with the advanced technology skills, including generative AI, and that, they will need to thrive in the digital economy. We intend to build a consortium of partners for training and jobs, which will then employ individuals who have upskilled through our Synapse Initiative.

作為一家人力資本公司，我們致力於幫助改善世界各地勞工的生活。為此，我們昨日宣布了一項開創性的培訓計畫——Cognizant Synapse Initiative。這項職業培訓計畫旨在幫助超過100萬人掌握先進技術技能，包括生成式人工智慧，從而幫助他們在數位經濟中蓬勃發展。我們計劃建立一個由合作夥伴組成的培訓和就業聯盟，為透過Synapse Initiative提陞技能的人員提供就業機會。

Our next performance objective is to accelerate revenue growth. When I joined Cognizant in January, I said large deals are one of my top priorities. As I mentioned earlier, we are pleased to see our continuing large deals momentum, which is underpinned by the work we are doing to improve the capabilities required to seed, shape and sell large deals, and our ongoing investment in the client-facing roles needed for driving growth. These efforts have helped to partially offset what remains a softer discretionary spending environment and provides new growth opportunities following last year's muted bookings growth.

我們下一個業績目標是加速營收成長。今年一月我加入 Cognizant 時就說過，大型交易是我的首要任務之一。正如我之前提到的，我們很高興看到大型交易持續保持成長勢頭，這得益於我們為提升大型交易的啟動、構建和銷售能力所做的努力，以及我們對推動增長所需的客戶服務崗位的持續投入。這些措施在某種程度上抵消了消費者可支配支出依然疲軟的影響，並在去年訂單成長乏力之後，為我們帶來了新的成長機會。

Our third performance objective is to ensure operational excellence across the company. We remain focused on simplifying our operations, including a sales and delivery structure so we can continue to become more agile and get closer to clients and their unique business challenges. In general, we are operating with fewer layers, optimizing our day-to-day operations with enhanced systems and tools and working to streamline our processes and automate information flows using AI.

我們的第三個績效目標是確保公司各部門的卓越運作。我們將持續致力於簡化營運流程，包括銷售和交付架構，以便我們能夠持續提升敏捷性，更貼近客戶及其獨特的業務挑戰。總體而言，我們正在減少營運層級，透過改進系統和工具優化日常運營，並致力於利用人工智慧簡化流程和實現資訊流自動化。

Differentiation in the tech services industry happens at the clients' side and the project level, making relationships and strong execution key. That's why I've invested so much time in meeting with over 270 clients so far this year, building trust and learning all I can about Cognizant can deliver more value to them.

技術服務產業的差異化體現在客戶層面和專案層面，因此建立良好的客戶關係和高效的執行力至關重要。正因如此，今年我投入了大量時間與超過270位客戶會面，建立信任，並盡可能多地了解Cognizant如何為他們創造更多價值。

Over the past 3 quarters, I believe Cognizant has made meaningful progress on our long-term priorities. While we have a lot of work ahead, we also have much to be proud of. This includes continuing large deals momentum, improved employee and client satisfaction scores, declining attrition, the scaling of our industry leadership with a platform-centered approach, heightened operational discipline and the launch of a grassroots innovation movement.

在過去的三個季度裡，我認為 Cognizant 在長期優先事項方面取得了顯著進展。雖然我們還有很多工作要做，但我們也有很多值得驕傲的成就。這包括：大型交易持續成長、員工和客戶滿意度提升、員工流失率下降、透過平台化策略擴大行業領先地位、營運紀律更加嚴格以及發起了一場自下而上的創新運動。

Looking ahead, we believe the soft demand environment is unlikely to see a rapid rebound. Therefore, we expect clients to continue tempering the discretionary spending as we begin the new year. Given that market reality, we remain focused on winning efficiency-led large deals aimed at cost takeout and vendor consolidation, which can offset current pressure on discretionary spending. Our focus on operating discipline and our year-to-date progress on the NextGen program gives us confidence that we can meet our expectation to deliver our 20 to 40 basis points of margin expansion next year. Jan will share more detail on NextGen in a moment.

展望未來，我們認為疲軟的需求環境不太可能迅速反彈。因此，我們預期客戶在新的一年伊始將繼續縮減可自由支配支出。鑑於此市場現實，我們將繼續專注於贏得以效率為導向的大型交易，旨在降低成本和整合供應商，以抵消當前可自由支配支出面臨的壓力。我們對營運紀律的重視以及今年迄今在NextGen專案上取得的進展，使我們有信心實現明年20至40個基點的利潤率成長目標。 Jan稍後將詳細介紹NextGen專案。

Taking a longer view with my read of business history, periods of great uncertainty and periods of change rarely coincide. Today, I believe we are in just such a period of simultaneous great uncertainty and deep-seated change. The uncertainty is being compounded by a number of intertwined domestic and international risks.

從更長遠的角度來看，縱觀商業史，巨大的不確定性時期和變革時期很少同時出現。而如今，我認為我們正處於這樣一個時期，巨大的不確定性和深刻的改變同時發生。許多相互交織的國內外風險加劇了這種不確定性。

What can become a transformative change is being driven primarily by new general-purpose technologies with immense power such as generative AI, which I believe could become as ubiquitous and consequential for business as society as the Internet did 3 decades ago. I expect this reality will leave most clients. However, focused they are on navigating uncertainty with no choice but to make some big bets if they are not to be left behind by the peers.

變革的驅動力主要來自於生成式人工智慧等具有強大力量的新型通用技術，我相信它對商業和社會的影響將如同30年前的網路一樣無所不在，影響深遠。我預計，大多數客戶將不得不專注於應對不確定性，為了不被同行甩在後面，他們別無選擇，只能進行一些大膽的嘗試。

I believe Cognizant is in a position -- in a great position to prepare them for this future, whether by helping them achieve significant savings to underwrite investments in transformation or by helping them build their own technology muscle, which can include becoming fully AI-ready.

我認為 Cognizant 處於非常有利的位置，可以幫助他們為未來做好準備，無論是幫助他們節省大量資金以支持轉型投資，還是幫助他們增強自身的技術實力，包括全面做好人工智慧的準備。

In closing, you are all aware that we recently appointed Jatin Dalal to be Cognizant's next Chief Financial Officer, and we're excited that he will be joining us in December. Since this is Jan's last earnings call with Cognizant, I want you all to know that what a powerful partner he's been to me across so many dimensions: strategic, financial, operational and cultural. He left a positive and indelible mark on our global organization, and I'm especially grateful that he agreed to stay with us until early next year to ensure smooth transition to Jatin. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jan to provide additional details on this quarter.

最後，大家都知道我們最近任命了 Jatin Dalal 為 Cognizant 的下一任財務官，我們非常高興他將於 12 月加入我們。由於這是 Jan 最後一次代表 Cognizant 出席財報電話會議，我想讓大家知道，他在策略、財務、營運和文化等諸多方面都是我強而有力的合作夥伴。他為我們的全球組織留下了積極而深遠的影響，我特別感謝他同意留任至明年年初，以確保順利過渡到 Jatin 的工作。接下來，我會把電話交給 Jan，讓他介紹本季的更多細節。

Thank you, Ravi, for the kind words. I want to thank all of our associates around the world for welcoming me into the Cognizant family 3 years ago and for making my time here such a memorable experience. It has been a pleasure working with so many great people at Cognizant and all of you on this call. I'm confident that I'm leaving the company in great hands with Jatin, who many of you know, is an accomplished CFO and an experienced IT services executive. Over the next several months, I look forward to working with Ravi the Jatin and the rest of the leadership team to ensure a smooth transition.

謝謝Ravi的讚揚。我要感謝全球所有同事，感謝你們三年前歡迎我加入Cognizant大家庭，並讓我在這裡的時光如此難忘。與Cognizant的眾多優秀人才以及在座各位共事，我感到非常榮幸。我相信，在Jatin的帶領下，公司會發展得更好。 Jatin是一位經驗豐富的財務長和IT服務主管，相信很多人都認識他。在接下來的幾個月裡，我期待與Ravi、Jatin以及其他領導團隊成員合作，確保公司順利過渡。

With that, let's turn to our third quarter results. We delivered revenue within our guidance range despite a soft discretionary spending environment and ongoing economic uncertainty. Adjusted operating margin exceeded our expectations, reflecting savings from our NextGen program and the timing of investments, which is driving some modest upside in our guidance range that I will touch on later. We were also pleased to deliver another quarter of solid bookings growth, which continue to be driven by larger longer-duration engagements.

接下來，我們來看看第三季的業績。儘管非必需消費支出疲軟，且經濟狀況持續不明朗，但我們仍實現了預期範圍內的營收。調整後的營業利潤率超出預期，這主要得益於我們「下一代計畫」（NextGen program）帶來的成本節約以及投資時機的把握，這也在一定程度上推動了我們預期範圍的擴大，稍後我會詳細闡述。此外，我們很高興地看到，訂單量又實現了穩健成長，這主要得益於規模更大、持續時間更長的項目。

Moving on to the details of the quarter. Third quarter revenue was $4.9 billion, an increase of 0.2% sequentially. Year-over-year, revenue grew 0.8%, but declined 0.2% in constant currency. Year-over-year growth includes approximately 110 basis points of contributions from our acquisitions. Similar to last quarter, our 9% quarterly bookings growth was driven primarily by larger and longer-duration deals.

接下來是本季的詳細情況。第三季營收為49億美元，季增0.2%。年比來看，營收成長0.8%，但以固定匯率計算則下降0.2%。年比成長中包含約110個基點的收購貢獻。與上季類似，本季9%的訂單成長主要得益於規模更大、期限更長的交易。

On a trailing 12-month basis, duration is up over 50% from the prior year period. At the same time, we are continuing to experience softness in the smaller short-duration contracts, driven by weak discretionary spending. This dynamic has negatively impacted our near-term revenue, but we believe will put us in a better position to accelerate revenue growth in the future when discretionary spending improves.

以過去12個月計算，合約期限較上年同期成長超過50%。同時，受可自由支配支出疲軟的影響，短期小額合約市場持續低迷。這種局面對我們的近期收入造成了負面影響，但我們相信，隨著可自由支配支出的改善，未來我們將更有利於加速收入成長。

Moving on to segment results for the third quarter where all growth rates discussed will be in year-over-year in constant currency. Within Financial Services, revenue declined 4%, reflecting the softer demand environment across regions and subindustries. This decline was partially offset by the benefit from the resale of third-party products in connection with our integrated offering strategy that Ravi mentioned earlier in his prepared remarks.

接下來是第三季各業務板塊的業績，所有討論的成長率均為固定匯率計算的年比數據。金融服務部門的收入下降了4%，反映出各地區和各細分行業的需求疲軟。這一降幅部分被第三方產品轉售帶來的收益所抵消，正如Ravi在先前的演講稿中提到的，這得益於我們整合式產品策略。

Looking ahead, we believe the market remains challenging, and we expect the macroeconomic uncertainty will again have a meaningful impact for this segment in the fourth quarter. That said, we are working hard to correct what is in our control, and I believe we can make meaningful progress under the new subindustry go-to-market approach and leadership.

展望未來，我們認為市場仍然充滿挑戰，宏觀經濟的不確定性預計將在第四季度再次對該細分市場產生重大影響。儘管如此，我們正努力糾正我們所能做的因素，我相信在新細分市場策略和領導層的帶領下，我們能夠取得顯著進展。

Health Sciences revenue declined 1%. Growth was negatively impacted by a large renewal that we signed earlier this year with a payer customer, which resulted in a lower revenue run rate but meaningfully improved profitability. In addition, several of our larger customers have been impacted by their own company-specific and end market challenges, which has in turn led to softer discretionary spending.

健康科學業務收入下降了1%。成長受到今年稍早與一家支付方客戶簽署的大額續約合約的負面影響，導致收入增速放緩，但獲利能力顯著提升。此外，我們的一些大型客戶也受到各自公司和終端市場挑戰的影響，進而導致可自由支配支出減少。

Products and Resources revenue grew less than 1%, reflecting the benefit from recently completed acquisitions, strong performance from utility clients driven by their grid modernization investments and growth among automotive clients in Europe. Growth in these areas was partially offset by pressure in manufacturing.

產品與資源業務收入成長不足1%，主要得益於近期完成的收購、公用事業客戶因電網現代化投資而取得的強勁業績，以及歐洲汽車客戶的成長。這些領域的成長部分被製造業的壓力所抵銷。

Communications, Media and Technology revenue increased 7%, reflecting the benefit from recently completed acquisitions and the ramp of new contract awards. This includes the expansion of current engagement with our largest customers in this portfolio, who are launching innovative vertical solutions and leveraging our expertise in these areas to rapidly scale globally.

通訊、媒體和技術業務收入成長7%，主要得益於近期完成的收購以及新合約的簽訂。這包括擴大與該業務組合中最大客戶的現有合作，這些客戶正在推出創新的垂直行業解決方案，並利用我們在這些領域的專業知識在全球範圍內快速擴張。

Continuing with year-over-year revenue growth in constant currency from a geographic perspective in Q3, North America revenue was down less than 1%, driven by declines within our Financial Services and Health Sciences portfolios. This was partially offset by growth in CMT and Products and Resources.

從地理角度來看，第三季以固定匯率計算，公司營收持續維持年增。北美地區營收下降不到1%，主要受金融服務和健康科學業務下滑的影響。 CMT和產品與資源業務的成長部分抵消了這一影響。

Our global growth markets or GGM, which include all revenue outside of North America, grew approximately 1%. Growth was led by Europe, which grew 3%, and included strong growth within CMT, Life Sciences customers within our Health Sciences segment and Products and Resources. Finally, the resale of third-party products contributed 120 basis points to our overall revenue growth in Q3, the majority of which was in the Financial Services segment.

我們的全球成長市場（GGM，涵蓋北美以外的所有收入）成長約1%。其中，歐洲市場成長最為顯著，達到3%，這主要得益於CMT業務、健康科學板塊下的生命科學客戶以及產品與資源業務的強勁成長。此外，第三方產品的轉售為我們第三季的整體營收成長貢獻了120個基點，其中大部分來自金融服務部門。

Now moving on to margins. During the quarter, we incurred approximately $72 million of costs related to our NextGen program. This negatively impacted our GAAP operating margin by approximately 150 basis points. Excluding this impact, adjusted operating margin was 15.5%. Similar to last quarter, our adjusted operating margin included the negative impact from increased compensation costs attributable to our 2 merit cycles over the last 12 months. This was partially offset by savings from our NextGen program and tailwinds from the depreciation of the Indian rupee.

接下來談談利潤率。本季度，我們因「下一代員工計畫」（NextGen program）產生了約7,200萬美元的成本。這使我們的GAAP營業利潤率下降了約150個基點。剔除此項影響後，調整後的營業利益率為15.5%。與上季類似，我們的調整後營業利潤率包含了過去12個月兩次績效考核週期帶來的薪資成本增加的負面影響。這部分影響被「下一代員工計畫」的節省以及印度盧比貶值帶來的利多因素部分抵消。

Our GAAP tax rate in the quarter was 26.8%. Adjusted tax rate in the quarter was 25.7%. Q3 diluted GAAP EPS was $1.04, and Q3 adjusted EPS was $1.16. Now turning to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with cash and short-term investments of $2.4 billion, or net cash of $1.7 billion. DSO of 77 days increased 2 days sequentially and 3 days year-over-year.

本季GAAP稅率為26.8%，調整後稅率為25.7%。第三季GAAP攤薄後每股收益為1.04美元，調整後每股收益為1.16美元。接下來看一下資產負債表。本季末，公司持有現金及短期投資24億美元，淨現金為17億美元。應收帳款週轉天數為77天，季增2天，較去年同期增加3天。

Free cash flow in Q3 was $755 million, which brings year-to-date free cash flow to approximately $1.4 billion. For the full year, we continue to expect free cash flow to represent approximately 90% of net income. During the quarter, we repurchased 4 million shares for $300 million under our share repurchase program and returned $147 million to shareholders through our regular dividend. Year-to-date, we have repurchased approximately 11 million shares for about $700 million. At quarter end, we had $2.1 billion remaining under our share repurchase authorization.

第三季自由現金流為7.55億美元，使年初至今的自由現金流達到約14億美元。我們預計全年自由現金流仍將佔淨利的約90%。本季度，我們根據股票回購計畫回購了400萬股，總額達3億美元，並透過常規股息向股東返還了1.47億美元。年初至今，我們已回購約1,100萬股，總額約7億美元。截至季末，我們的股票回購授權額度還剩21億美元。

Turning to our forward outlook. For the fourth quarter, we expect revenue in the range of $4.69 billion to $4.82 billion, representing a year-over-year decline of 3.1% to 0.3% or a decline of 4% to 1.2% in constant currency. Our guidance assumes currency will have a benefit of approximately 90 basis points as well as an inorganic contribution of approximately 100 basis points. Our Q4 revenue guidance range is wider than our historical practice, reflecting a heightened level of uncertainty regarding client discretionary spending and recent pace of decision-making heading into the end of the year.

接下來談談我們的未來展望。我們預計第四季營收將在46.9億美元至48.2億美元之間，年減3.1%至0.3%，以固定匯率計算則下降4%至1.2%。我們的預測是基於匯率因素將帶來約90個基點的收益，以及約100個基點的非內生性成長貢獻。我們第四季的營收預測範圍較以往更為寬泛，這反映出客戶可自由支配支出以及近期決策速度在年底前存在更大的不確定性。

For the full year, we expect revenue will be in the range of $19.3 billion to $19.4 billion, which is down approximately 0.7% to flat, both as reported and in constant currency, as we do not expect a material impact from foreign exchange rates. This compares to our prior guidance range of $19.2 billion to $19.6 billion or negative 1% to plus 1% growth in constant currency. We still expect inorganic contribution to be approximately 100 basis points.

我們預計全年營收將在193億美元至194億美元之間，年減約0.7%或與去年同期持平（以報告匯率和固定匯率計算），因為我們預期匯率波動不會產生重大影響。先前我們的預期為192億美元至196億美元，以固定匯率計算則為年減1%至年增1%。我們仍預期非內生性成長貢獻約為100個基點。

Our NextGen program remains on track, and our assumptions for cost savings are unchanged from last quarter. I'm also pleased to share that we are further reducing our expectations for NextGen costs. We now expect to incur $300 million in total charges versus $350 million previously, with $200 million this year versus $250 million previously.

我們的下一代能源計畫進展順利，成本節約預期與上季持平。同時，我很高興地宣布，我們進一步下調了對下一代能源計畫成本的預期。目前，我們預期總支出為3億美元，低於先前的3.5億美元；其中，今年的支出為2億美元，低於先前的2.5億美元。

The reduction is a result of lower real estate cost as we are now -- as we now expect to incur about $100 million related to the net consolidation of office space in 2023 versus $150 million previously. This reflects lower expected third-party costs associated with the real estate exits. As we have spoken about previously, we still intend to reinvest the majority of the NextGen savings and growth opportunities in 2024 and beyond.

此次削減是由於我們目前的房地產成本降低——我們預計2023年辦公空間淨整合的相關費用約為1億美元，而此前預計為1.5億美元。這反映了與房地產退出相關的第三方成本預期降低。正如我們之前所述，我們仍然計劃將NextGen計畫節省的大部分資金和成長機會再投資於2024年及以後。

Moving on to adjusted operating margin. We are modestly increasing our guidance to 14.7%, which is the high end of our prior range. As a reminder, our Q4 operating margin is typically seasonally lower than Q3 levels. We still anticipate 2023 interest income of approximately $115 million and an adjusted tax rate of approximately 24% and versus the range of 23% to 24% previously provided.

接下來是調整後的營業利益率。我們將預期略微上調至14.7%，這是先前預期範圍的上限。需要注意的是，我們的第四季營業利潤率通常會低於第三季水準。我們仍預期2023年利息收入約為1.15億美元，調整後的稅率約為24%，高於先前給出的23%至24%的預期範圍。

In addition, we now expect to deploy approximately $1 billion on share repurchases in 2023 versus our prior expectations of approximately $800 million, which assumes an additional $300 million of share repurchases in the fourth quarter. In total, we expect to return approximately $1.6 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends in 2023. Our guidance for shares outstanding is unchanged at approximately 506 million.

此外，我們現在預計2023年將投入約10億美元用於股票回購，高於先前約8億美元的預期（先前預期已包含第四季額外3億美元的股票回購）。總計，我們預計2023年將透過股票回購和分紅向股東返還約16億美元。我們對流通股數量的預期維持不變，約5.06億股。

This leads to our full year adjusted earnings per share guidance of $4.39 in to $4.42 versus $4.25 and $4.48 previously, reflecting our updated expectations for revenue and adjusted operating margin.

因此，我們將全年調整後每股收益預期從先前的 4.25 美元和 4.48 美元上調至 4.39 美元至 4.42 美元，反映了我們對營收和調整後營業利潤率的最新預期。

With that, we will open the call for your questions.

接下來，我們將開放提問環節。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Bryan Bergin with TD Cowen.

（操作說明）我們的第一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Bryan Bergin。

So I appreciate you offering the early commentary on the 2024 margin expansion potential. I just want to clarify first that, that's off the base of that 14.7% raised adjusted margin here. And then understanding the environment's quite dynamic. But based on what you're seeing in bookings activity and deal duration and backlog behavior and pipeline, can you share any thoughts or guardrails for 2024 growth now as well?

感謝您對2024年利潤率擴張潛力的早期評論。首先我想澄清一下，這是基於目前14.7%的調整後利潤率成長。其次，我也理解當前環境瞬息萬變。但根據您觀察到的訂單活動、交易時間、積壓訂單狀況和銷售管道，您能否也分享一下對2024年成長的看法或預測？

Yes. So Bryan, I'll catch the easy one first. Yes, the reaffirmation of our intent to expand our margins by 20 to 40 basis points is up midpoint of our expectation or our point of landing at 14.7%, so that's a good assumption. For the bookings momentum, Ravi might be giving you a little bit of color around what we're seeing in the markets.

是的。布萊恩，我先回答簡單的問題。是的，我們重申將利潤率提高20到40個基點的計劃，這比我們預期的14.7%的目標值略高，所以這個假設是合理的。至於預訂勢頭，拉維可能會為你詳細解讀我們目前在市場上觀察到的情況。

Yes. So Bryan, I've been saying this for the last 2 quarters and this quarter as well. Our deal momentum and our bookings momentum is very strong. We are continuing to see good traction. I've spoken about 2 swim lanes. There is a swim lane on transformation-led deals and I've spoken about cost efficiency, vendor consolidation, efficiency-led kind of deals.

是的。布萊恩，過去兩個季度以及這個季度我一直在強調這一點。我們的交易勢頭和預訂勢頭都非常強勁。我們持續看到良好的發展動能。我之前提到過兩條不同的發展路徑。一條是轉型驅動型交易，另一條是成本效益、供應商整合、效率驅動型交易。

We see more in this category versus the transformation, but we also see this category underwriting the savings to the transformation. So a lot of times -- remember, one of the things I spoke on my -- in my initial remarks is this is a period of uncertainty and change coming together. So clients are navigating the 2. There is change, significant change ahead of us. And clients are wondering who funds the CapEx cycle. So the ability to take cost out and underwrite the savings to the transformation, I think, is a great template and I think we are well positioned for that.

我們看到，這類投資比轉型投資更多，但我們也看到這類投資為轉型投資節省了成本。所以很多時候——記住，我在開場白中提到過——這是一個充滿不確定性和改變的時期。客戶正在應對這兩方面。我們面前存在著巨大的變革。客戶也在思考誰來為資本支出週期提供資金。因此，我認為，削減成本並為轉型投資節省成本的能力是一個很好的模板，我認為我們在這方面已經做好了充分的準備。

What happens in the short run, though, is the discretionary spend has really fallen over the last 3 quarters. I mean, it's been very, very soft. So the deals we have won in the first and the second quarter, we have to backfill that as well as you know that large deals actually come with a gestation period to get to the peak levels of their potential.

但短期來看，過去三個季度可自由支配支出確實大幅下降。我的意思是，市場非常疲軟。因此，我們在第一季和第二季贏得的交易，也需要彌補這些缺口，因為您也知道，大型交易實際上需要一個發展期才能達到最大潛力。

So we are hopeful that the large deal momentum continues. It continues over the next year. And of course, the deals we won this year will contribute more to the next year. What I don't know is what happens to discretionary spend. I mean, the environment is very soft. So we'll have to wait and see how the discretionary happens, but I'm very optimistic about how the large deal momentum is, especially on cost takeout, vendor consolidation efficiency-led deals that we are seeing across the spectrum. And I think we are winning well.

所以我們希望大宗交易的勢頭能夠延續下去，並在未來一年繼續保持。當然，我們今年達成的交易也會對明年的業績做出更大的貢獻。我不確定的是可自由支配支出會如何變化。我的意思是，目前的市場環境非常疲軟。所以我們需要拭目以待，看看可自由支配支出會如何發展。但我對大宗交易的勢頭非常樂觀，尤其是在成本削減、供應商整合以及以效率提升為導向的交易方面，我們看到這些交易涵蓋了各個領域。我認為我們在這方面取得了不錯的成績。

You can see the bookings momentum this year. So the one which is unknown is discretionary. That's the piece we are not sure of. Hopefully, as these deals -- as the cost takeouts continue, if they kind of trigger CapEx cycles for transformation, hopefully, that happens. And if that happens, we are going to catch it early on.

你可以看到今年的預訂勢頭強勁。所以唯一未知的是可自由支配支出。這是我們不確定的部分。希望隨著這些交易——隨著成本削減的持續進行——如果它們能觸發轉型所需的資本支出週期，那麼這種情況就會發生。如果這種情況發生，我們將能夠及早把握住機會。

Okay. Understood. And then a follow-up here, just on the resale piece of the third-party products. I think you mentioned 120 bps in the quarter, how does that compare to maybe the average over the last 4 to 6 quarters? And are you assuming resale amounts in the forward outlook?

好的，明白了。接下來我想問第三方產品的轉售部分。您提到本季是120個基點，這和過去4到6季的平均值相比如何？您在預測未來時是否考慮了轉售額？

Yes. So Bryan, I had spoken about a strategy of large deals with all -- in all swim lanes, all the way from productivity to people takeover to software-led to efficiency-led. And I've spoken about it, that our participation is going to be in all of them. Now sometimes what happens in these situations is you have upstream software coming in and you have downstream services coming in.

是的。布萊恩，我之前說過，我們的策略是在所有領域——從生產力提升到人員接管，再到軟體驅動和效率提升——都進行大規模交易。我說過，我們將參與所有這些領域。現在，在這些情況下，有時會出現上游軟體和下游服務同時存取的情況。

And it's the timing. I mean, for software upstream, there is significant downstream services, which is attached to it. So we've had 60 basis points before in the year that we have added in this quarter. But what you really have to look at is the timing of these deals. Now in quarter 2, we announced a strategic partnership with ServiceNow for $1 billion, a joint partnership. And we have offering, which actually has a bundle of software, reusable assets and services attached to it, and it is a managed services model. And that's the opportunity we are pursuing. And as the large deals come, you're always going to see the timing. In one particular quarter you could have software, in a particular quarter, you could have services downstream. So it's -- that's the process of how you see this.

關鍵在於時機。我的意思是，對於上游軟體而言，它背後往往蘊藏著大量的下游服務。今年早些時候，我們本季就新增了60個基點的業績。但真正需要關注的是這些交易的時機。第二季度，我們宣布與ServiceNow達成價值10億美元的策略合作，這是一個聯合合作項目。我們推出了一項包含軟體、可重複使用資產和服務的捆綁產品，採用的是託管服務模式。這就是我們正在尋求的機會。隨著大型交易的出現，時機總是至關重要的。在某個季度，你可能達成了軟體交易，而在另一個季度，你可能達成了下游服務交易。這就是看待這個問題的流程。

Sometimes there are people takeover, sometimes there is asset takeover, sometimes there is productivity upfront and effort upfront, sometimes you have transition upfront and you have services on the downstream. So it's hard to pick which quarter you're going to see this. But the nature of large deals gives you that flow, if I may, in terms of how they get constructed quarter-on-quarter.

有時候是人員收購，有時候是資產收購，有時候是前期生產力提升和前期投入，有時是前期過渡期，下游服務也隨之而來。所以很難預測這種情況會在哪個季度出現。但大型交易的本質決定了它們每季的組成方式都會有所不同。

Our next question comes from the line of Ashwin Shirvaikar with Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Ashwin Shirvaikar。

I would say, just before I start, Jan, yes, if this is going to be your last earnings call, thank you for all the work and effort over the years. The question is probably since you come to Cognizant, you made a number of changes. You talked about large deal infrastructure. It seems to be in a good place. But how would you rate Cognizant's ability to win and be competitive in the discretionary work that isn't there now, but you will need to be competitive in there when it does come back because that, it seems to me, is going to be the difference next year between, say, low single digits and mid-single digits?

在正式開始之前，我想先說一句，Jan，如果這將是你最後一次參加財報電話會議，那麼感謝你多年來的辛勤付出。問題可能是，自從你加入Cognizant以來，你做了一些改變。你談到了大型交易的基礎建設。目前看來，這方面進展順利。但是，你如何評價Cognizant在那些目前還不存在但未來需要保持競爭力的非強制性業務方面的能力？因為在我看來，這很可能決定明年的業績成長是低個位數還是中個位數。

Yes, I'll give a little bit of an answer, but I think Ravi will be adding much more color to this. The overall position that we have in -- with our clients, I think, has really meaningfully improved over the last 3 or 4 quarters. We have -- in the Net Promoter Scores that Ravi was reporting on is kind of really the statistical leverage of this coming in at a historic high. But we can just see from the comments and the number of escalations is another one. We haven't talked in the call about it, but obviously, that has been in parallel coming down. So the service quality has been better. That's partially fueled by low attrition rates.

是的，我會簡單回答一下，但我認為Ravi會補充更多細節。我認為，過去三、四個季度以來，我們與客戶的整體關係確實有了顯著改善。 Ravi提到的淨推薦值（NPS）達到了歷史新高，這在很大程度上反映了我們業務的提升。此外，從顧客評論和升級次數來看，情況也類似。雖然我們在電話會議中沒有談到這一點，但顯然，升級次數一直在下降。因此，服務品質有所提升。這部分得益於較低的客戶流失率。

So the overall relationships that we have with our clients have really very meaningfully improved. And I think we have embraced kind of a philosophy of meeting the client where the client has needs. And right now, the needs are more on the structural cost improvement and productivity type, vendor consolidation type deals, and discretionary spending has taken the back row.

因此，我們與客戶的整體關係確實有了顯著改善。我認為我們已經秉持了一種以客戶需求為導向的理念。目前，客戶的需求更集中在結構性成本控制和生產力提升、供應商整合等方面，而可自由支配的支出則退居其次。

We want to be there for our clients when that discretionary spend comes and the transformative deals are popping up and going part of it. So we're going to be having deep relationships with our clients and the high focus on client relationships and I feel we should be ready for that to do so. Ravi?

我們希望在客戶進行可自由支配支出、出現變革性交易時，能夠提供他們支援。因此，我們將與客戶建立深厚的合作關係，並高度重視客戶關係，我認為我們應該為此做好準備。拉維？

Yes. So thank you, Jan. I think very well said. So Ashwin, thank you for the question. You're absolutely right. This is -- the large deals muscle is consistently improved over the last 3 quarters. This is something which did not exist before. I came in, in January and built that muscle and I'm very confident that we can sustain it. We've sustained it for 3 quarters, and we're very confident we can do that for the future.

是的。謝謝你，Jan。我覺得你說得很好。 Ashwin，謝謝你的提問。你說得完全正確。過去三個季度，我們的大宗交易能力持續提升。這是以前所沒有的。我一月上任後，著手建立起這方面的能力，我非常有信心我們能夠維持下去。我們已經保持了三個季度，而且我們非常有信心未來也能做到這一點。

And we have actually now invested on institutional infrastructure to support it all the way from productivity to automation infrastructure to the classical levers, which you apply in managed services and cost takeout kind of deals. We did have good muscle on discretionary before. I mean, the transformation infrastructure of the company is strong.

實際上，我們現在已經投資於機構基礎設施，以支援從生產力到自動化基礎設施，再到傳統槓桿（例如在託管服務和成本削減交易中應用的槓桿）的全方位發展。我們之前在自主決策方面就擁有強大的實力。我的意思是，公司的轉型基礎設施非常完善。

As the spend comes back, I'm very confident that because we have good engagement with our clients, we are also going to naturally be the providers for discretionary spend. You could, in some ways, use the strength of our current deal momentum to support the discretionary -- the historic discretionary muscle of the company.

隨著消費支出回升，我非常有信心，憑藉我們與客戶的良好關係，我們自然也會成為客戶可自由支配支出的主要提供者。在某種程度上，我們可以利用目前強勁的交易勢頭來支持可自由支配支出——這正是公司歷來在可自由支配支出領域的優勢所在。

Now I think Jan raised an important point, which I think is very, very important. We ran the Net Promoter Score survey this year, and we have historic high scores. And there are 3 or 4 things which have come out of that. Our attrition rates have gone down. They've gone down and they're trending downwards, even into the next quarter.

現在我覺得Jan提出了一個非常重要的觀點，我認為這一點非常非常重要。我們今年進行了淨推薦值（NPS）調查，結果創下了歷史新高。調查結果顯示有三、四點值得關注。首先，我們的員工流動率下降了。而且，即使到了下一個季度，流失率仍然呈現下降趨勢。

Our employee satisfaction scores are at an all-time high. Our client satisfaction scores are at an all-time high. Customers are engaging with us much more over a variety of swim lanes, which means when the discretionary comes back, each of these swim lanes is going to contribute back to that -- back to the strength of those relationships, so.

我們的員工滿意度分數達到了歷史新高。我們的客戶滿意度分數也達到了歷史新高。客戶透過各種管道與我們互動更多，這意味著當人們的自主支配權恢復時，這些管道都將有助於鞏固和加強彼此之間的關係。

In fact, there's one thing which really registered with me on the Net Promoter Score survey, which is about our customers saying Cognizant is back in some form. I'm paraphrasing it, Cognizant is back or the mojo is back. I think that is the momentum, which will allow us to get back the discretionary spend as and when our customers start to spending it.

事實上，在淨推薦值調查中，有一點讓我印象特別深刻，那就是我們的客戶表示 Cognizant 以某種形式回歸了。我稍作概括，就是 Cognizant 回來了，或者說，我們重新煥發了活力。我認為這就是我們重拾信心的動力，一旦客戶開始消費，就能重新贏得他們的可支配支出。

So I think we have set this foundation, a very strong foundation. The 2 things which our clients have spoken about, as I said, Cognizant is back. The second is we have a much more stable leadership, good execution, agile responses and much lower -- significantly much lower turnover of employees. And these would actually rub off on the discretionary as it comes back.

所以我認為我們已經打下了堅實的基礎。正如我所說，客戶提到的兩點是：首先，Cognizant 已經重回巔峰。其次，我們擁有更穩定的領導階層、高效的執行力、敏捷的回應能力，以及顯著降低的員工流動率。這些優勢實際上也會對可自由支配所得的恢復有正面作用。

Good to hear. The second question, again, it's a good job on the margin performance. The question I have is on the deals that you are signing, you mentioned that there is now need to be flexible in terms of structuring, in terms of bringing various partners together and so on and so forth. Does any of what you are doing today to get new deals affect how you think of future margin potential?

很高興聽到這個消息。第二個問題，再次強調，利潤率表現很棒。我想問的是關於您正在簽署的交易，您提到現在需要在結構方面保持靈活性，例如整合不同的合作夥伴等等。您目前為了達成新交易所做的任何努力，是否會影響您對未來利潤率潛力的看法？

Yes. So when we sign up the deals, obviously, they are in a competitive environment, and we apply a disciplined approach to those deals in order to keep a balance of growth and continued margin expansion. And it played out this quarter, Ashwin, really, to the benefit of the margin because we had anticipated some investments a little bit stronger than we actually needed in this quarter on, for example, investments into larger deals with maybe initially lower margins and we didn't meet those investments.

是的。所以，當我們簽署交易協議時，顯然是在競爭激烈的環境中，我們會採取嚴謹的態度來處理這些交易，以保持成長和利潤率持續提升之間的平衡。阿什溫，本季的情況確實如此，利潤率因此受益，因為我們原本預計本季度的一些投資會比實際需要的要多一些，例如，一些規模較大、初期利潤率可能較低的交易，但我們最終並沒有進行這些投資。

So I think this view that we have about very carefully layering our large deal portfolio and supporting it with disciplined approach on nonbillable and administrative cost controls is playing out. And I think we're entering that year, next year with that confidence that, that balance is intact.

所以我認為，我們一直以來秉持的這種謹慎地構建大型交易組合，並以嚴格的非計費成本和管理成本控制方法加以支撐的理念，正在發揮作用。我相信，在新的一年裡，我們依然能夠維持這種平衡。

And I think I mentioned it in our prior call, in the large deal, expected business profile that we do have deals that we expect to exhibit lower margin profile. But we also have deals that have very meaningfully -- actually, renewals of historic deals that have very meaningfully improved our gross margin profile in the renegotiation. So in the net profile, the impact has been actually more muted, and that may not continue all into the future. But for now, it has been a very balanced outcome, I would say.

我想我在之前的電話會議中提到過，在大宗交易的預期業務概況中，我們確實有一些交易預計利潤率會降低。但我們也有一些交易——實際上是一些歷史性交易的續約——在重新談判中顯著提高了我們的毛利率。因此，從整體來看，影響實際上比較溫和，這種情況未來可能不會持續下去。但就目前而言，我認為結果非常平衡。

So Ashwin, we are -- the first thing we just changed is we are participating on deals across the swim lanes I just spoke about, and we are competitive enough, and we have built the institutional infrastructure to support execution and actually better our performance to the metrics which we commit when we win those deals.

所以阿什溫，我們——我們剛剛改變的第一件事就是，我們正在參與我剛才提到的各個領域的交易，我們有足夠的競爭力，並且我們已經建立了支持執行的機構基礎設施，並且實際上提高了我們在贏得這些交易時所承諾的指標的績效。

So we have to keep strengthening that. This is always a work in progress. We have to continue to stay competitive, and we have to continue to price them to win and deliver them to margins as I call it. And we continue to keep our competitiveness by strengthening our productivity tools and our automation tools and our AI tools.

所以我們必須不斷加強這方面的能力。這始終是一個持續改進的過程。我們必須保持競爭力，必須繼續制定具有競爭力的價格，並以我所說的利潤率交付產品。我們透過不斷加強生產力工具、自動化工具和人工智慧工具來保持競爭力。

So this is an ongoing process and you have to keep changing the baseline because as you want to be competitive, you have to continue to keep working on the productivity levers. Unlike in the past, where these productivity levers were labor-oriented or, I would say, they were classical, now they are technology oriented. And hence, we have a unique opportunity to create some nonlinearity. In the past, we did not participate in those deals. Now we are participating and winning them, so the confidence has been really high.

所以這是一個持續的過程，你必須不斷調整基準，因為要保持競爭力，就必須持續改善生產力槓桿。過去，這些生產力槓桿主要以勞動力為導向，或者說，是傳統的模式，而現在它們以技術為導向。因此，我們擁有創造非線性成長的獨特機會。過去，我們沒有參與這類交易。現在我們不僅參與其中，而且還贏得了這些交易，所以我們信心十足。

Our next question comes from the line of Jason Kupferberg with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的傑森·庫柏伯格。

This is Tyler DuPont on for Jason. I wanted to ask about the demand environment you're seeing as we start -- as we look into the end of 2023 and as we start to look into even the beginning of 2024. When looking at the updated revenue guidance being narrowed, I'm just curious what incremental trends you've seen over the past couple of months, whether that's changes in win rates, ramp times or softness, whether that's a particular service offering, vertical, geography, anything like that, that may be driving the additional cautious stance.

這裡是泰勒·杜邦，代傑森提問。我想問您目前對2023年底乃至2024年初的需求環境有何看法。鑑於最新的營收預期有所收窄，我很好奇您在過去幾個月中觀察到了哪些新的趨勢，例如成交率、啟動時間或疲軟程度的變化，以及是否是某個特定服務、行業、地域或其他因素導致了您更加謹慎的態度。

I think the cautiousness is related to the uncertainty around the discretionary spend. I think everybody in the market is facing it, including us. What we are certain is our deal momentum and our large deals and our bookings continues to be very vibrant. What we do not know, especially in a seasonally slow quarter, quarter 4 is always a seasonally slow quarter because of furloughs as well.

我認為這種謹慎態度與可自由支配支出的不確定性有關。我認為市場上的每個人都面臨著這種不確定性，包括我們自己。我們確定的是，我們的交易勢頭強勁，大額交易和預訂量依然非常活躍。但我們不確定的是，尤其是在通常的淡季，第四季度由於員工休假等原因，往往是淡季。

What we are unable to predict is how much of the discretionary gets impacted and how much of our large deal momentum will get neutralized by this. And to that extent, we felt it was only fair that we keep a risk -- we keep the risk adjusted to what we believe could be soft in quarter 4.

我們無法預測的是，有多少可自由支配的支出會受到影響，以及我們的大宗交易動能會因此被抵銷多少。因此，我們認為保留一定的風險是合理的——我們根據對第四季度可能疲軟的預期調整了風險。

Okay. That's very helpful. And then, I guess, just to kind of go even just a little bit deeper into visibility into 2024 budgeting decisions. I know it's still early and you don't give guidance on '24 or anything yet. But just given the current rather choppy macro environment that we're seeing and have seen, can you just speak to sort of the conversations you're having with clients regarding '24 budgets, sort of how does that visibility compare with this time last year? And is there more certainty in certain verticals than others? Or just any clarity there would be very appreciated.

好的，這很有幫助。接下來，我想更深入地了解2024年預算決策的可見度。我知道現在還為時過早，你們目前還沒有對2024年給出任何指導意見。但鑑於我們目前看到的以及已經看到的相當不穩定的宏觀經濟環境，您能否談談您與客戶就2024年預算進行的討論，與去年同期相比，目前的可見性如何？某些垂直領域的確定性是否高於其他領域？或者，任何相關的說明都將不勝感激。

Yes, I'll jump in for -- number one, I think we actually kind of gave a lot of -- half of the P&L we already disclosed because we're really committing to our 40 to 20 basis points of margin expansion. And so now the revenue range, going forward, will be subject to our guidance call in 3 months. But if you -- what we know today is, as Ravi said, that I think, gradually, the economic uncertainty has increased and discretionary spending has softened throughout the last 3 quarters. So we have seen that trend not stopping yet.

是的，我來補充一點——首先，我認為我們實際上已經披露了損益表的大部分內容——大約一半，因為我們確實致力於實現40到20個基點的利潤率成長目標。因此，未來的營收範圍將取決於我們三個月後的業績指引電話會議。但是，正如拉維所說，我們目前了解到的情況是，我認為，在過去的三個季度裡，經濟不確定性逐漸增加，可自由支配支出下降。因此，我們看到這種趨勢尚未停止。

And part of our lack of knowledge, if it's stopping in the fourth quarter, or if it's going to turn around early in the year or later in the year is really not known to us to be quite honest as well. And clients will be forming their budgets and their IT budget at the same time as we are developing our own budget. So this is kind of always a simultaneous process.

坦白說，我們並不完全了解情況，例如疫情是否會在第四季度結束，或者是否會在年初或年末好轉。客戶在製定預算和IT預算的同時，我們也在製定自己的預算。所以這始終是一個同步進行的過程。

What has improved for us is obviously the visibility of the longer-term deals that are now in our portfolio and that they will be contributing and scaling in '24, so that gives us a little bit of a planning safety. And then we have to just kind of really make assumptions on -- and you can do that for your own self.

對我們來說，最明顯的改善是，我們投資組合中那些長期交易的可見性提高了，它們將在2024年持續貢獻收益並擴大規模，這給我們提供了一定的規劃保障。然後，我們只需要做一些假設──你也可以自己做這些假設。

It's like, are you bullish on the discretionary spend and economic development on next year, or are you the same, or more bearish. And I think that will then determine the revenue outcome for next year to do so. I think that's really what we will go under. We haven't finished that process and -- but in February, beginning of February, we'll commit to that.

這就像是在問，你對明年的可自由支配支出和經濟發展持樂觀態度嗎？還是和以前一樣樂觀，或是更悲觀？我認為這將最終決定明年的財政收入。我認為這才是我們真正需要關注的。我們還沒有完成這項工作，但在二月初，我們會做出最終決定。

Our next question comes from the line of Tien-Tsin Huang with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的黃天進。

I just want to drill in, maybe for Jan, the TCV versus ACV and how to consider that in the short term the next couple of quarters. I know the book-to-bill is quite high at 1.4. But in terms of translation, with this mix shift toward larger deal, how would you guide us there between ACV and TCV?

我想深入探討一下，或許可以針對一月份的情況，TCV 與 ACV 的區別，以及在未來幾季短期內如何考慮這個問題。我知道訂單出貨比高達 1.4。但就換算而言，隨著交易結構向大單傾斜，您會如何引導我們理解 ACV 和 TCV 之間的關係？

Thank you, Tien-Tsin, for that. The -- I gave, in my remarks, this duration comment. And I think we had, in previous calls and historically, disclosed that our average duration was roughly around 2 years and now our duration in the bookings is about 3 years, so it's a meaningful increase. And obviously, then ACV, the annual revenue expectations for this is down. And that's actually -- on top, you have also that mix shift.

謝謝田進先生的解答。我在發言中也提到了合約期限的問題。我認為我們在之前的電話會議以及歷史數據中都披露過，我們的平均合約期限大約是兩年，而現在預訂合約的期限大約是三年，這是一個顯著的增長。顯然，年度合約價值（ACV）的預期有所下降。此外，還有產品組合的變化。

The larger deals need some scaling. So they have -- the ACV is not completely symmetrical because in the first year, you're building up the infrastructure and you're starting transferring assets and do your thing, what you need to do to get ready. So some of the ACV of the larger deals is delayed and will come in '24.

規模較大的交易需要一定的規模調整。因此，它們的年度現金價值（ACV）並非完全對稱，因為在第一年，你需要建造基礎設施，開始轉移資產，並做好一切準備。所以，部分大型交易的年度現金價值會延到2024年才能到帳。

And at the same time, we have a decline of deals below $5 million of TCV, which are typically deals that always translate in here to revenue. So those things together are basically a 90% explanation of what you see in our revenue trend actuals in the last few quarters. And I'm anticipating unless the discretionary spend is coming back, roaring that, that won't change.

同時，低於500萬美元總合約價值的交易數量有所下降，而這些交易通常都能轉化為實際收入。因此，這些因素加在一起，基本上可以解釋過去幾季實際收入趨勢中90%的變化。我預計，除非可自由支配支出出現強勁反彈，否則這種情況不會改變。

Now so the -- we're entering the year with all these moving parts, probably in a position that is not too different from last year in terms of visibility of revenue going forward, so. And mysteriously, it balances out because some of our larger deals now maturing and scaling, having a little bit better contribution to next year.

所以，我們帶著各種不確定因素進入新的一年，就未來收入的可見性而言，我們目前的處境可能與去年相差無幾。但奇怪的是，情況最終會趨於平衡，因為我們的一些大型交易正在逐步成熟和擴大規模，對明年的貢獻將略有提升。

And then we'll -- as I said in my prior answer, we'll have our estimate to make on how short-term demand is going to be developing. So the net of it is that factors within the setup have changed compared to the beginning of '23, but in '24, we are kind of approximately in a similar position to stock.

然後，正如我在先前的回答中所說，我們將對短期需求的發展趨勢做出預測。總而言之，與2023年初相比，市場格局中的各種因素已經發生了變化，但到了2024年，我們的股票市場狀況大致與之前類似。

Just to add to that, what Jan said, because we didn't have large deals in the previous year, what -- the slope it had of this year in terms of realizing this year did not happen. What's going to happen for next year, though, is you're going to have tail velocity of deals we won this year, which will accrue revenues next year.

補充一下，就像Jan說的那樣，因為我們去年沒有達成大單，所以今年的成長勢頭並沒有像預期那樣強勁。不過，明年我們今年拿下的訂單會逐漸轉化為實際收益，這些收益將在明年持續產生。

And then -- and that's a change because we have consistently done it from quarter 1, quarter 2, now quarter 3. We have done -- the percentage of our large deals has gone up. And the percentage of new in these large deals has also gone up, so that's a positive change. The question -- the unknown piece is the discretionary spend.

然後——這是一個變化，因為我們從第一季、第二季到現在的第三季一直都是這樣做的——我們的大額交易佔比上升了。而這些大額交易中新增客戶的比例也上升了，這是一個正面的改變。問題在於──未知因素是可自由支配支出。

Our next question comes from the line of Keith Bachman with BMO Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Keith Bachman。

I wanted to follow up on that set of comments. And as you think about next year, you've talked a lot about the large deal program ramping and contributing to revenue growth and mentioned that discretionary is still a headwind. Can you give us a sense of proportionality of how much discretionary is of either revenues, bookings, any kind of metric and how that's changed today from what it is at the beginning year?

我想就您剛才的評論做個後續跟進。展望明年，您多次提到大型交易項目將逐步推進並促進收入成長，同時也提到非必需消費仍然是一個不利因素。您能否簡要說明非必需消費在收入、訂單量或其他任何指標中所佔的比例，以及與年初相比，目前的比例發生了哪些變化？

Because it seems to me, as we start to think about growth, that percentage of low duration deals, if you will, or discretionary spend is at a level such it would be less of a headwind next year as you anniversary the March quarter when it first impacted Cognizant and many others.

在我看來，當我們開始考慮成長時，短期交易（或可自由支配支出）的比例已經達到了一個水平，因此明年隨著3月份季度首次對Cognizant和其他許多公司造成影響，它將不再構成太大的阻力。

It's a difficult question to answer now on how it's going to be next year. I mean, the swim lane of large deals we are doing and then that is 30% of bookings. The swim lane of large deals we're doing, always the savings of those large deals, some of the smarter clients are not necessarily taking it to savings, but they are actually underwriting it for transformation, which means if some of them can trigger the CapEx cycles, then you're going to see some of that discretionary coming back because the savings you do on productivity will allow you to trigger the CapEx cycle.

現在很難回答明年會怎樣。我的意思是，我們正在進行的大宗交易佔總預訂量的30%。這些大宗交易帶來的收益，一些更精明的客戶不一定是為了節省成本，而是將其用於轉型。這意味著，如果他們中的一些人能夠啟動資本支出週期，那麼你會看到一些可自由支配的資金回流，因為提高生產力所節省的成本將使你能夠啟動資本支出週期。

I mean, I spoke about 150-plus AI -- preliminary early AI engagements. The reality is if they have to scale up, you need the CapEx. The CapEx will either come because our clients have, themselves, navigated the uncertainty and got the CapEx covered, or they would use some of the savings from the cost cutting and the cost takeout they have done related to technology to leverage it into discretionary.

我的意思是，我之前談到了150多個人工智慧專案——都是初步的早期人工智慧合作專案。現實情況是，如果他們需要擴大規模，就需要資本支出。這些資本支出要么是因為我們的客戶已經自行應對了不確定性並解決了相關問題，要么是因為他們可以利用之前在技術方面削減成本節省下來的資金，將其轉化為可自由支配的資源。

I mean, many of my clients today, I've met 270 of them this year. They're not saying they want to take their IT budgets down. What they're really saying is, can you do more for less. And can you actually divert the savings to the transformation they're looking forward to, and they're very, very anxious about the transformation because we are all living in this period of change.

我的意思是，我今年已經見過270位客戶了。他們並沒有說要削減IT預算。他們真正想問的是，能否用更少的錢做更多的事情？能否把節省下來的錢真正投入到他們期待已久的轉型中？他們對轉型非常焦慮，因為我們都生活在一個改變的時代。

The issue is -- what I do not know is whether the economic and the overall environment, which is really a headwind, is that going to change significantly next year? That's something that's hard to predict now. But if that uncertainty continues, you're obviously not going to see the discretionary spend coming back. But if you see that triggering positively, then you're going to see the savings of these cost takeout initiatives to move into transformation and that will trigger another cycle of spend, which in turn, hopefully, will trigger revenue cycles for our clients, which will then hopefully create a virtuous positive cycle.

問題在於——我不知道的是，經濟和整體環境（這確實是一大阻力）明年是否會有顯著變化？現在很難預測。但如果這種不確定性持續下去，顯然不會有可自由支配支出回升的情況。但如果這種情況能夠積極觸發，那麼透過削減成本、推動轉型而節省下來的資金將會轉化為消費，進而帶動新一輪的支出，而這反過來又有望為我們的客戶帶來收入成長，最終形成一個良性循環。

So it's a tricky one to answer. You need a trigger for the CapEx cycles of discretionary. And all the discretionary spend, as Jan mentioned, these are all deals between $0 to $10 million. They all get they all get realized within the same year because these are small deals. So it's a very unusual time, a time of uncertainty and a time of change coming simultaneously. So the cost takeout deals potentially can fund them, and that's the point I'm making. And if they don't, then there are other triggers of CapEx cycles which have to fund them.

所以這個問題很難回答。你需要一個觸發可自由支配資本支出週期的因素。正如Jan所提到的，所有可自由支配的支出都是金額在0到1000萬美元之間的交易。由於這些交易金額較小，它們都在同一年內完成。因此，這是一個非常特殊的時期，充滿不確定性，同時也是變革的時期。成本削減交易或許可以為這些支出提供資金，這正是我要表達的觀點。如果這些交易不足以提供資金，那麼就需要透過其他觸發資本支出週期的因素來提供資金。

Okay. Okay. Jan, I wanted to also thank you for all the work you've done over the last couple of years. And then direct to question, as you think about the 20 to 40 basis point range for margin improvement next year. I know you don't want to give metrics associated with revenue, but just, how do you think about the upper end versus the lower end?

好的，好的。簡，我也想感謝你過去幾年所做的一切工作。然後直接問個問題，你認為明年利潤率提升20到40個基點比較適合。我知道你不想透露與營收相關的具體指標，但是，你覺得上限和下限分別是多少呢？

In other words, is it as simple as discretionary comes back and that has greater OpEx leverage? Or is there anything else, puts and takes that we should be thinking about? And particularly, you did mention that the large deal ramps can and indeed, in many cases, have lower margin profiles. Just any puts and takes that you want us to think about as it relates to the 20 to 40 basis points range.

換句話說，是否只是可自由支配資金的恢復，從而帶來更大的營運支出槓桿效應？還是有其他需要考慮的因素？特別是，您提到大額交易的利潤成長可能（而且在許多情況下）會導致利潤率下降。關於這20到40個基點的利潤率波動，您希望我們考慮哪些因素？

Look, we're entering the year with the NextGen initiative executing well and according to our plans. And we're going to have what were -- some impact in the third quarter, but really not full run rate impact yet. And so we will have a lot of momentum on NextGen next year. So we offered the savings opportunity for '24 to -- for '25 to REIT, in real estate, $100 million savings.

你看，我們以NextGen計劃順利推進進入新的一年，一切都在按計劃進行。第三季我們會取得一些成效，但尚未達到預期的全面效果。因此，明年NextGen計劃將擁有強勁的發展勢頭。我們為房地產投資信託基金（REIT）在2024年至2025年期間提供了節省1億美元的機會。

And you all have your own assumptions on our head count reduction program, easy to be calculated, and that's a lot of efficiency that we can book on our side. I anticipate the revenue momentum is obviously the mix factor for us that will shift. And in that revenue growth factor that determines the scale of our SG&A development and other elements, it's kind of probably a big factor.

你們對我們的裁員計畫都有各自的假設，這些假設很容易計算，而且這確實能為我們帶來很大的效率提升。我預期營收成長動能顯然會成為影響我們業績的關鍵因素。而營收成長將決定我們銷售、管理及行政費用和其他要素的規模，這可能是一個非常重要的因素。

And the second one I would give to you is the style and the execution of our large deal scaling. With larger deals, there is a little bit of risk factor just by the nature of their scope involved. And if we are executing well and the deals don't develop problems, that will help us to be very solid in our margin expectation. And if we run into some problems, maybe we'll need to invest a little bit more cost. So those will be the 2 major factors, I think, that we're going to be considering as we give our margin range and the substantiation of it.

第二點我想跟大家分享的是我們大型交易規模化的方式和執行。大型交易本身就存在一定的風險，這是由其規模決定的。如果我們執行得當，交易沒有出現問題，就能確保我們的利潤率預期非常穩健。如果遇到一些問題，我們可能需要投入更多資金。我認為，在給出利潤率範圍及其依據時，我們將主要考慮這兩個因素。

Yes. So also just to add to what Jan said, the NextGen program really kicked off at the end of quarter 1. We had impact in quarter 2 and quarter 3. It will have a full year impact next year. I mean, the savings will accrue next year. And of course, the real estate savings come at the back end as well.

是的。另外，補充Jan的說法，NextGen計畫實際上是在第一季末啟動的。我們在第二季和第三季都看到了成效。明年它將產生全年的影響。我的意思是，節省的費用將在明年開始累積。當然，房地產方面的節省也會在後製出現。

So we have -- now we have -- we are going to look at incorporating that into our workings as we work out the next year next year margins. And that's one of the reasons why we reiterated that the 20 to 40 basis points we set early in this year. We probably have -- we wanted to reinforce that message that we can get that margin expansion, which we earlier committed in the year.

所以，我們現在——我們——將把這一點納入到我們制定明年利潤率的計劃中。這也是我們重申年初設定的20到40個基點目標的原因之一。我們可能會—我們想再次強調，我們可以實現年初承諾的利潤率擴張目標。

Our final question of the night will come from the line of Jamie Friedman with Susquehanna.

今晚的最後一個問題將來自薩斯奎哈納大學的傑米·弗里德曼。

I was wondering if you could share some high-level observations, really, about in-sourcing trends. Is that any different than usual? Do you see acceleration? Or deceleration? And do you see that as friend or foe?

我想請您分享一些關於內部資源整合趨勢的宏觀觀察。今年的趨勢與往年有何不同？您認為這種趨勢是加速發展還是放緩？您認為這是利好還是不利？

That's great question. I see that as a friend. In fact, I stated that if you carefully observe my initial comments, even before you asked this question, I had stated that if technology is strategic to our clients. And remember, technology was an enabler for our clients.

這是一個很好的問題。我視你為朋友。事實上，如果你仔細閱讀我最初的發言，甚至在你提出這個問題之前，我就已經說過，科技對我們的客戶具有戰略意義。記住，科技是為我們的客戶提供的助力。

Now it is strategic to them because is deeply embedded into their products. It is integral to the differentiation in the market. Every industry is a tech industry. We have to help our clients build their own technology muscle. And to help our clients build their own technology muscle, I think Cognizant is probably best suited to do so. Our entrepreneurial spirit, our flexible operating model, our co-creation attitude and our co-creation culture.

現在，這已成為他們的策略要務，因為它已深深融入他們的產品之中，成為市場差異化的關鍵所在。每個行業都是科技業。我們必須幫助客戶增強自身的技術實力。而要幫助客戶增強技術實力，我認為 Cognizant 或許是最適合的選擇。我們擁有創業精神、靈活的營運模式、共創的態度和共創文化。

We think, as companies build their own technology muscle, we will lend our human capital, and I stated this in my remarks, that we would even lend this value chain of human capital, which is not just the people to support their transformation, but potentially lending our training infrastructure, our learning infrastructure, our ability to actually help them build their own captives if they want to, or global capability centers. And I think that is sticky because once you do so, you can even lend your automation infrastructure, AI infrastructure and actually take them through that maturity curve. So it's much more sticky than before. So I see this as an unique opportunity for Cognizant, and we want to double down on this offering.

我們認為，隨著企業不斷增強自身的技術實力，我們將提供人力資本支援。正如我在演講中提到的，我們甚至會提供整個人力資本價值鏈，這不僅包括支持他們轉型的人員，還包括我們的培訓基礎設施、學習基礎設施，以及幫助他們建立自有研發中心或全球能力中心的能力（如果他們需要的話）。我認為這具有很強的黏性，因為一旦我們這樣做，我們甚至可以提供自動化基礎設施、人工智慧基礎設施，並幫助他們順利完成成熟過程。因此，這種黏性比以往任何時候都更強。所以我認為這對Cognizant來說是一個獨特的機遇，我們希望加強提供這項服務。

And then you emphasized in your prepared remarks and it did not go unnoticed the sequential increase in the head count. And you're one of the few companies, at least that I'm aware of, that's growing their head count. So my question about that is are you anticipating, I would assume, increased utilization and realization from that head count? Because the commitment to the head count is what we think of as a leading indicator -- so -- but where are you planning to deploy those people? And what gives you the confidence to be growing them right now?

然後，您在事先準備好的演講稿中特別強調了員工人數的持續成長，這也引起了大家的注意。據我所知，貴公司是少數幾家仍在增加員工人數的公司之一。所以我的問題是，您是否預期員工人數的增加會帶來更高的使用率和效益？因為我們認為員工人數的成長是重要的先行指標－那麼，您計劃將這些員工部署到哪些職位？是什麼讓您有信心現在就增加員工人數？

After very many quarters, we had sequential positive head count growth. Of course, it is a tiny number, but it is reflective of the momentum of -- the commercial momentum of large deals and bookings. It is reflective of the needs for the future and it is reflective of the needs of the near future. So I'm very, very -- I'm very confident that if we continue on the deal booking momentum, we will have to increase our head count to fulfill and satisfy those programs. So it's encouraging -- it's a very encouraging indicator about how well our commercial momentum is shaping up.

經過多個季度的持續成長，我們的員工人數終於實現了環比正成長。當然，這個數字雖然不大，但它反映了大型交易和預訂的商業勢頭。它也反映了未來和近期的需求。因此，我非常有信心，如果我們能保持目前的交易預訂勢頭，我們將不得不增加員工人數以滿足這些項目的需求。所以，這是一個令人鼓舞的跡象，表明我們的商業勢頭正在穩步發展。

We have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. And I would like to turn the floor back over to management for closing comments.

我們的問答環節到此結束。現在我想把發言權交還給管理階層，請他們做總結陳詞。

Great. Thank you all very much for joining. We look forward to catching up next quarter.

太好了。非常感謝各位的參與。我們期待下個季度再見。

Thank you. This concludes today's Cognizant Technology Solutions Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的 Cognizant Technology Solutions 2023 年第三季財報電話會議到此結束。您可以掛斷電話了。感謝您的參與。