Cognizant, the BPO provider, has signed a five-year agreement with AstraZeneca to provide application maintenance services to the company’s global enterprise in research, clinical development, and sales and marketing. The agreement will further expand Cognizant’s long-standing relationship with the pharmaceutical major.

Under the expanded agreement, Cognizant will work with AstraZeneca’s Global Shared Services organization and implement end–to-end application maintenance services. Cognizant will provide these services by leveraging its global delivery network, talent pool and best practices. This is expected to ensure a predictable service model, reduce the overall cost of IT ownership, and deliver year-over-year efficiency improvements.

“Our strategic partnerships will enable us to streamline operations efficiency, raise standards and deliver world-class services. The selection of Cognizant will allow us to leverage their global operations to meet the needs of our business and increase our focus on our core business -- to make the most meaningful difference to patient health through great medicines,” commented Richard Williams, Global CIO at AstraZeneca.