Cognizant aims to triple New Zealand workforce by 2026

New Zealand is quickly establishing itself as the latest global consulting hot-spot, with international consultancy Cognizant declaring it will triple its local headcount by 2026.

Global consulting and technology services firm Cognizant has become the latest consultancy to announce plans to make a major move on New Zealand following Boston Consulting Group and NRI’s recent forays into the country, with the promise of tripling its local workforce over the next couple of years under newly appointed NZ country managing director Simone Moors.

The news comes shortly after Cognizant posted global revenues of $19.4 billion (up 7% on the year previous) as the firm pushes towards the $20 billion mark.

Cognizant’s growth plans for New Zealand follow the consultancy’s first investment in New Zealand in 2021 via the purchase of Australian-headquartered digital consultancy Servian, which added around 500 professionals between both countries including approximately 150 in New Zealand. Now the firm says that it intends to push that number out to 500 or so by 2026, and has hired former CoreLogic country manager Moors to oversee the expansion.

“New Zealand is a market ripe for growth,” Moors stated. “I’m excited to kick-start my journey with Cognizant, helping to realise the company’s global vision of ‘Intuition Engineered’ for our market. New Zealand businesses are innovative and looking at how they transform into future-ready, modern businesses. I look forward to combining our advanced global capabilities and reach with our existing and local expertise to enable their transformation journey.”

Moors’ appointment follows a recent re-shuffle in the consultancy’s Australian and Asia Pacific senior leadership line-up, and more broadly at the global level. Rob Marchiori was installed as Australian CEO at the beginning of the year, taking over from former PwC and Accenture executive Jane Livesey who moved into the APAC top role after just two two years at the firm.

Globally, former Infosys president and veteran Ravi Kumar S took over as CEO in January.

“I am thrilled that Simone is joining the team and confident that the investment Cognizant made in Servian will continue to flourish under her guidance,” Livesey said of Moors appointment, with Moors also having held senior positions at NTT, Vodafone and AMP across a three-decade career. “Simone will lead the New Zealand business to new heights by introducing everything that Cognizant has to offer and driving investment in the local community and workforce.”

As part of its expansion announcement, Cognizant cited The Economist’s projection of double-digit growth in New Zealand’s IT spend over the course of the year, with the firm following in the path of several fellow global consultancies declaring New Zealand a hot market, despite fears of a slowdown in Australia.

BCG relaunched its local business last year after a 13-year absence, while ASG, freshly rebranded as NRI, is planning to add around 500 jobs over the next three years. HKA and Slalom also recently moved into the Kiwi market.