Why Cognizant (CTSH) Is Buying Servian

By Amit Chowdhry • Jan 11, 2021
  • Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) recently announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Servian. These are the details.

Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) recently announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Servian — which is a Sydney, Australia-based privately-held enterprise transformation consultancy specializing in data analytics, artificial intelligence, digital services, experience design, and cloud. Servian is Cognizant’s tenth digital-focused acquisition announced since January 2020, which highlights Cognizant’s strategy to accelerate capabilities and growth in priority areas of data and artificial intelligence, digital engineering, cloud, and Internet of Things across the globe.

The acquisition of Servian will significantly expand Cognizant’s integrated end-to-end digital transformation capabilities in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) to help clients move to the cloud, build digital products and services, unlock value from data, modernize enterprise applications, and achieve operational excellence. Cognizant’s 1,200+ professionals in Australia serve more than 110 clients, including top Australian banks, insurers, retailers, and communications companies. And in the last few years, the company has consistently strengthened its in-country cloud, product engineering, platform, Salesforce, and Workday capabilities to expand its digital business in Australia.

Launched in 2008, Servian has worked with more than 190 major companies in ANZ in the banking, telecommunications, insurance, retail, and government sectors, including eight of ANZ’s 15 largest companies. And upon the close of the acquisition — Servian’s more than 500 technology and consulting professionals, based primarily in Australia and New Zealand — will join Cognizant, doubling the size of Cognizant’s cloud and data team in ANZ.

Servian brings expertise in all major digital technologies and it has partnerships with the largest names in the industry, including Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Salesforce, Snowflake, Oracle, HashiCorp, Talend, Informatica, and Red Hat. 

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory clearance and other closing conditions. The financial details were not disclosed.

KEY QUOTES:

“Enterprises in Australia and New Zealand are at an inflection point in their digital adoption. Cognizant’s extensive digital expertise combined with Servian’s strengths as the premier technology partner in the region will open up the full power of digital transformation for our Australasian clients. We look forward to welcoming Servian’s talented digital-native professionals to Cognizant.”

— Jane Livesey, CEO, Cognizant Australia and New Zealand

“Enabling clients to leverage their data assets for accelerating business transformation and driving competitive advantage is at the heart of our success. We share Cognizant’s passion for innovation powered by digital technologies. With Cognizant’s deep industry expertise and global scale, we will be able to apply our strengths in strategic advisory, engineering delivery, and managed services across an even broader spectrum of challenges and opportunities presented by the digital economy.”

— Tony Nicol, Founder and CEO, Servian