Cognizant and Microsoft expand global partnership

Cognizant and Microsoft have announced an expanded partnership with the goal of making Microsoft’s generative AI and Copilots available to millions of users, to transform enterprise business operations, enhance employee experiences and accelerate cross-industry innovation.

Cognizant, a leader in digital transformation services, operates at the intersection of industry and technology, and in conjunction with Microsoft's advanced generative AI and Copilots, the combined strength of this partnership has the potential to deliver substantial innovation for enterprise customers, contributing to the projected $1 trillion[1] that AI is expected to inject into U.S. GDP over the next ten years. This partnership also has the potential to significantly accelerate AI adoption and innovation in India. AI is expected to add USD 450–500 billion to India's GDP by 2025, accounting for 10% of the country's USD 5 trillion GDP target. [2]

As part of the partnership, Cognizant purchased 25,000 M365 Copilot seats for Cognizant associates, along with 500 Sales Copilot seats and 500 Services Copilot seats to enhance productivity, streamline workflows and transform customer experiences. In addition, Cognizant will work to deploy M365 Copilot to users within their global 500 clients and across 11 industries. Through Cognizant’s Synapse skilling program, 35,000 Cognizant developers have been trained on Github Copilot, with an additional 40,000 developers slated to receive training.

“Generative AI can be a game-changer for virtually every business in every industry, opening up new possibilities for innovation, efficiency and growth,” said Ravi Kumar S, CEO, Cognizant. “That’s why we are investing $1 billion in generative AI over the next three years and leading the development of new research to explore its potential for our clients, their employees and end customers. We’re committed to helping them harness the power of generative AI at scale, and Microsoft Copilot is a proven tool that can bring transformative gains, unlocking talent and potential in ways we can only imagine.”

“Generative AI is transforming business operations, and we are thrilled that Cognizant is leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot to enhance employee experiences, and deliver new value for customers,” said Judson Althoff, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer, Microsoft. ” In collaboration with Microsoft, Cognizant will use their transformative capabilities and industry expertise to drive enterprise AI adoption, for a million customers.”

Driving industry-specific transformation is a key goal of partnership, focused on helping businesses reimagine operations in sectors that have not seen significant disruption in decades. For example, a recent research report from Cognizant and Oxford Economics, New Work, New World, found that generative AI could automate up to one-third of tasks for emergency physicians, which could help address staffing challenges, improve service quality and allow doctors to focus on patients’ health. Generative AI can speed up procedure approval times from days to just minutes, eliminating delays and facilitating positive patient outcomes. Cognizant is already leveraging Microsoft Generative AI technology with its TriZetto platform, to help payers and providers reduce hidden costs and enable better patient outcomes for millions of Americans.

To take advantage of these opportunities, Cognizant and Microsoft will collaborate to deliver industry-specific solutions, using Copilot Studio, a platform that allows users to create and customise their own industry-and-business-function specific Copilots, leveraging generative AI large language models, business applications and enterprise data. Beyond the healthcare industry, Cognizant and Microsoft will prioritise applications across industries such as retail and consumer goods, financial services, life sciences, manufacturing, communications and media.

Examples of several use cases under development include work Cognizant is doing with:

A media company to develop a generative AI-based solution for translation and localisation of video content, using Microsoft technology to provide accurate subtitles, dubbing and cultural adaptation;

A manufacturing firm to improve its remote engineering diagnostics, using generative AI to assist field technicians in identifying, analyzing and resolving maintenance issues on their core products.

An education services provider to redesign and execute its operating model, using generative AI to create and deliver personalised digital content that adapts to the preferences and needs of teachers and students.

A communications provider to enhance its customer experience and operational efficiency, using generative AI to streamline and automate its core business processes across sales, service delivery and assurance.

Cognizant’s recently announced Advanced AI Lab will support these efforts, with a focus on advancing the science and practice of AI through innovation and development of intellectual property and AI-enablement technologies. Additionally, the company’s network of AI Innovation Studios in London, New York, San Francisco, Dallas, and Bengaluru, which are being equipped to showcase Microsoft generative AI technology, will serve as a forum for clients to co-innovate and build innovative industry solutions.

Cognizant is a member of Microsoft’s Responsible AI Council and is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards for responsible and ethical AI, focusing on safety, security, privacy, transparency and inclusion. To ensure that the adoption of generative AI is managed responsibly and in a way that cultivates trust, skilling programs, such as Cognizant’s Synapse, will play a key role in preparing the modern workforce to thrive in the age of enterprise AI, and help reduce friction in changing roles as the technology changes the nature of work.