From the very first day when I joined XIMB, the thought of getting a good internship that would give me an exposure to the corporate management world was something always there back in my mind. I was fortunate enough that I got selected by Cognizant Business Consulting to join their workforce as a business associate intern. I had never thought that the internship would be a life-changing experience for me. The entire journey has been an enriching learning experience and when I look back now, those two months have shaped my life both personally as well as professionally.
Now, let me take you to the D-day i.e. the induction day. One day prior to that we landed up in Chennai amidst scorching heat and perpetual sweat. I was battling with the scorching crispy summers of Chennai and soon ended up reaching to Hotel Ibis. Now, here is the main story. As soon as I reached, I got a warm welcome from the team and Cognizant took care of all the comfort that I would need at that point in time. I almost instantly had a love affair with the air conditioner and when I thought I was at the top of the world, the best was yet to come.
Next came the induction day. The venue was Hotel Crown Plaza and it was the abode for the players of my favourite IPL team, the Chennai Super Kings. Although I could have a glimpse of my favourite players only, the process that followed would stay with me as golden memories. The Cognizant onboarding team made the entire process smooth and we were lucky to be inducted with the current CEO Mr Brian Humphreys. This was followed by a series of sessions on Cognizant’s aim of digitization and we happened to interact with the brightest as well as the best leaders of the business. Post a sumptuous lunch, there were fun events including a Quiz competition organized by none other than Lloyd Saldana. I represented XIMB along with 3 other friends of mine and we won! Being a quizzer, it was a fanboy moment for me.
That very evening, Cognizant made all arrangements to send me to Kolkata where they took care of me for another 2 weeks and I began my work. My mentor happened to be an alumnus of my institution and he introduced me to all other senior leaders. The work culture was very friendly and I got all the help possible from anyone I could reach out to. I was assigned to the Banking and Financial Services domain with Anti Money Laundering as my area of the project. To be very honest, I was skeptical about the domain as I had not much prior idea about the same. But then, that’s the Cognizant way. They throw you to the unchartered waters where you will be tested and at the end the take away is pure learning. My project involved a sweet amalgamation of financial crime and finding suitable ways to tackle the game using technological innovation in place. Before the internship, I was aware of the terms like Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Data Analytics but this experience opened a new horizon of the use cases and actual ground functionalities of them. The patterns of financial laundering are changing rapidly and the avenues of cutting edge technologies are keeping pace with it. In simple words, it was like a police thief chase where I was the police armed with digital innovations finding out ways to reduce and flag Anti Money Laundering, the thief of the game. This consulting assignment made me interact with many senior leaders, industry professionals and each one of them were so cordial in explaining even the simplest and weirdest of my doubts that a mere thank you will be an understatement.
Time flew by in a flash. My stint ended with the final presentation and some valuable feedback from the industry stalwarts. Now when I look back, I believe my biggest takeaways are the work culture of the consulting world, ever-increasing thirst to learn and last but not the least, the strong relationships that will always be with me irrespective of my destiny.
Thank you Cognizant for two unforgettable months of my life which I shall cherish for years to come.
Kaushik Bhattacharjee
Class of 2020
Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar
Chat
Comments