BANGALORE, INDIA: Cognizant, a provider of global consulting, technology and business process services, announced today the opening of its delivery center in Budapest, Hungary.

The new center will support Cognizant’s European customers with near-shore services in a similar time zone, leverage techno-functional and multilingual capabilities available in the region to service the IT and BPO needs of Global 2000 companies, said a press release.

This would provide a base with deep local insights for Cognizant to service customers in Central and Eastern Europe. Cognizant’s association with Budapest commenced earlier this year with Clinical Data Management (CDM) services to AstraZeneca, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, widely recognized for its life-changing medicines, it said.

The centre also provides application development and maintenance services to a leading consumer products goods manufacturer, and system architecture and quality assurance services to a re-insurance firm.

Eric Terhaerdt, VP of AstraZeneca’s Clinical US operations said: “We’re pleased to be working with Cognizant, whose data management operations in Budapest will ensure our global teams can share best practice and help us to continue to achieve the highest quality clinical data results.”

“Our delivery center in Hungary is part of our endeavor to offer clients strong local relationship management with robust global services capabilities,” said Francisco D’Souza, president and CEO of Cognizant.

Eastern Europe is a fast growing IT destination today due to increased demand from European companies for shared-service centers that can operate in European languages, the release said.

Good connectivity and ease of travel demanded by new global sourcing functions requiring more interaction, favorable government policies and procedures, cultural compatibility with Western Europe, and positive long-term economic, political and social outlook add to its potential.

In addition to cost advantages, sound IT and telecom infrastructure, the region offers a rich pool of employable talent with strong proficiency in German and English, and good domain skills, especially in the Life Sciences, Financial Services and Manufacturing industries, the release added.