In another major boost for Vilnius’ flourishing shared services sector, Cognizant, a world leader in business and technology services, has announced it is setting up operations in the Lithuanian capital. The US-based Fortune 300 company, which is listed on the NASDAQ-100, will use its Vilnius office to support clients in the Nordic market and in other European countries.
As one of the fastest growing companies in the US, and with approximately 220,000 employees worldwide, Cognizant has long-term strategic plans for growth in Vilnius. It will use its Lithuania office to provide high quality IT and business process management services to existing and new customers. Over the next five years, the company plans to substantially increase staff levels in its offices in Europe by creating 4,000 new positions, some of which will be in Vilnius.
At a recent meeting with representatives of Vilnius city municipality and Invest Lithuania, Cognizant outlined how they plan to share their expertise, technologies and social programmes in order to further strengthen the IT sector in Lithuania. “Its employees have extensive experience and competences, which they intend to impart to specialists in services centres in Lithuania,” explains Justinas Pagirys, director of the Investment Development Department of Invest Lithuania. “We hope that this will allow the cluster of service centres in Vilnius to grow even faster.”
For Vilnius’ Mayor, Remigijus Šimašius, Cognizant’s commitment to developing the local communities where they are based makes them an especially valuable investor in the city. “We are pleased that a company which is not only interested in business development, but which also wants to get involved in the life of the city and to contribute to its overall development, is setting up in Vilnius. The partnership between the city of Vilnius and Cognizant will not only create jobs and open up new opportunities for skilled graduates in IT and business, but will also lead to the implementation of socially responsible projects. These will encourage young people to get acquainted with technologies and the digital world, and will also teach schoolchildren how to analyse data and how to program. They will engage with the whole community”, said Mr Šimašius.
Cognizant is setting up its Vilnius office through a long-term strategic partnership agreement it recently signed with the Norwegian financial services company, Storebrand. As part of the agreement, Storebrand Group sold a 66% share in its Lithuanian services centre, UAB Storebrand Baltic, to Cognizant. The partnership is aimed at strengthening Cognizant’s provision of services to customers in the Nordic countries as well as other European markets.
