Cognizant the latest to establish a new tech hub in Adelaide

As the latest in a series of such announcements, global technology services and consulting firm Cognizant is set to establish a new tech hub in Adelaide.

South Australia has once again been chosen by a major professional services firm as the location for a new technology hub, with Cognizant to establish a global delivery centre in Adelaide which will host 1,600 digital professionals and graduates within five years. The move follows that of Accenture, PwC, and Deloitte among others in recently selecting the city as the site for their new tech centres, with thousands of jobs being created.

According to the US-headquartered firm, the delivery centre will specialise in emergent technologies such as cloud computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data analytics, with a focus on transformations, innovation and the application of digital technologies to support clients with their decarbonisation efforts in the move towards sustainability.

“The pandemic has led our clients to rethink their business models, prioritise digital, and seek onshore service delivery,” said Cognizant ANZ CEO Jane Livesey, who was formerly the technology lead at both Accenture and PwC. “Our new delivery centre will expand Cognizant’s expertise in cloud, internet of things, and artificial intelligence to help our clients to adapt to new market conditions, sharpen their competitiveness, and meet their sustainability goals.”

Cognizant said the centre will be staffed by both experienced digital professionals and graduates, including local talent and those lured from interstate and overseas, with recruitment already underway for positions such as data engineers and experts in Salesforce and the AWS cloud platform. The hub will be located in the Adelaide CBD, expanding on the firm’s Melbourne and Sydney offices.

The firm has been assisted by the Global Talent Attraction Taskforce, set up by the Australian Government to attract top-tier businesses and individuals. “I’m delighted to welcome Cognizant to South Australia as it opens its first Australian delivery centre,” said state premier Steven Marshall.

“South Australia’s global reputation for world-class AI, data analytics and machine learning are once again attracting some of the world’s largest companies to our state. 1,600 South Australians who are looking for a career in the digital space will have jobs thanks to Cognizant’s confidence in our state.”

Altogether, some 5,000 new jobs have been promised in the state over the past twelve months from a handful of professional services firms alone. Recently, Deloitte launched its first Australian Centre for Innovation and Technology in Adelaide, a move which followed PwC’s establishment of a local onshore delivery centre, as well as the aerospace and defence-focused hub set up by Accenture which will add 2,000 jobs over the next five years.

“Being based in Adelaide will help us to fulfil our purpose to build a high quality, market leading digital transformation capability,” Livesey said. “South Australia has been at the forefront of championing sustainable industry. The green Adelaide movement which works towards a vision of a cooler, greener, and climate-resilient South Australia has been top of mind, as it aligns nicely with Cognizant’s sustainability and internet of things offerings.”