The launch of the Cognizant Malaysia marks a new milestone for Malaysia’ digital landscape. Cognizant’s choice of expanding in Malaysia will empower more businesses to tech up and reimagine their processes as they transform their operations to stay ahead in this fast-changing world.
Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said Cognizant Malaysia began as a small team of 32 employees in 2014, growing into a workforce of over 2,000 that delivered cutting-edge digital solutions throughout the region.
Zafrul highlighted that Malaysia’s highly developed ICT infrastructure, including high-speed internet connectivity and a well-developed telecommunications network provides a conducive environment for digital innovation and growth.
Secondly, the country boasts a large pool of tech talent, with graduates majoring in key subjects such as computer science, electrical engineering, and data science. Malaysia’s skilled and diverse workforce makes it an alluring destination for companies seeking to enhance its digital capabilities and regional footprint.
Malaysia’s robust intellectual property protection framework and rule of law also assure investors like Cognizant that their innovations and investments will be safeguarded and protected.
“In short, Cognizant’s growing presence is a testament to Malaysia’s ease of doing business, strong economic fundamentals that support MITI’s pro-industry, pro-trade and pro-investment stand. It is also an affirmation that Malaysia is a competitive investment destination in the region, and of Greater KL’s ability to attract leading global companies looking to expand their regional foothold. These are, indeed, the result of the Government’s continued efforts to create a conducive landscape for businesses to thrive in Malaysia,” said Zafrul.
He added that the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP 2030) will seek to enhance all these advantages, and better position Malaysia and Greater KL as the gateway to Asia.
“We are also looking to further improve the ease of doing business for investors, both foreign and domestic. All these, and more, will be unveiled in our NIMP 2030 towards the end of 2023,” he said.
Beyond its spill-over to Malaysia’s technology sector, Zafrul said Cognizant also empowers next-generation talent, women in tech and diversity, while deeply emphasising on environmental, social and governance and sustainability in everything they do.
Cognizant’s emphasis on continuous learning is a key factor to its success and competitive advantage. There are upskilling and reskilling programmes for its existing employees, with employees in Malaysia benefitting from more than 64,000 hours of learning in 2022. Further on, the company’s highly prioritised campus graduate programme since 2016 has hired over 150 graduates in Malaysia.
The Cognizant Malaysia’s Regional Hub is home to:
i. Cognizant Malaysia’s Innovation Experience Lab, the first Innovation Experience Lab in ASEAN
ii. Cognizant-AWS Centre of Excellence
iii. Quality Engineering and Assurance Centre of Excellence and;
iv. Offshore Delivery Centre
Cognizant Malaysia targets to create 5,000 new jobs by 2026, to be filled by Malaysians. These are highly-skilled, highly paid jobs. Then there is the development of an Innovation Experience Lab in Malaysia which will be designed for their regional and global clients to experience Cognizant’s technologies and solutions.
A dedicated Centre of Excellence will also be set-up in Malaysia for cloud platform technologies with AWS, which will drive cloud transformation in Malaysia and the rest of the region.
