CTSHCognizant Technology Solutions Corporation

“The program is expected to deliver savings in 2026 of approximately $200 million to $300 million with a full year benefit in 2027. We anticipate approximately 2/3 of the savings generated by Project LEAP will be directly reinvested to support future growth across integrated offerings, AI capabilities and partnership and roughly 1/3 toward upscaling our workforce”

“1 line of mainframe code used to cost $10 to refactor to new age, say, new edge software it now costs $150. So we have a unique opportunity to unlock. And this opportunity didn't exist before because fiber knowledge was missing, there was cost, financial cost to modernize, and they were legacy skills were missing. Now all of that is out of the window.”

“unlike in the past, where pricing was determined by the unit price, which is billings equivalent. The race now is about the number of units and how well we could deliver with lower number of units for the same output for the same outcome. And that is based on how much productivity you can derive out of AI usage in your software development cycle. So we feel very confident because 40% of our software development cycle is assisted by AI.”

“A great example of our platform strategy at work is with one of the nation's largest health companies where we now underwrite the integrity of their claims process. Our AI solution automates the validation of over 54 million provider contract updates annually, directly reducing revenue leakage and solving a problem that was previously intractable at scale.”

“Our differentiated approach to autonomous software is rooted in engineering-led productivity powered by leading strategic partnerships like Entropic Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft [indiscernible] and copilot Davin and open AI codecs. This approach has enabled nearly 40% of our code to be AI assisted.”

“For a leading European telecom operator, Cognizant delivered an AI-powered Oracle cloud ERP transformation, unifying finance, procurement and supply chain on a single cloud-native platform, achieving 25% faster time to market and 40% faster deployment through agentic AI and automation.”

“We hired around 20,000 freshers in 2025 and plan to hire a greater number in 2026, providing a strong pipeline of future talent aligned to how work is evolving and shaping a broader pyramid with a shorter path to expertise.”

“Consistent with the shift, we delivered 2.5% and 5% increases in trailing 12-month revenue and adjusted operating margin per employee, respectively.”

“To date, we have well over 5,000 AI engagements across 3 vectors, up from approximately 4,000 exiting December.”

“To fuel the shift, we have launched an integrated AI skilling stack for our entire organization. It begins with our AI Builder career program, which maps every role at Cognizant to a future-ready AI family, job family with defined pathways and targeted learning plans aligned to how [indiscernible] evolving. This is powered by Cognizant and SkillSpring, our new AI native learning platform designed to redefine learning in the AI era and cultivate AI-ready talent at scale for our associates and our clients”

“For example, we are working on a highly complex true blue field as for HANA transformation at a global scale, focused on modernizing the enterprise core for the North American global pharma leader. What really sets this project apart is our use of a customized AI accelerator that automates both business and IT data validation, replacing a fragmented manual process with a scalable audit ready and a robust solution significantly cutting validation time and effort.”

“Token metering is a reality, both at a project level and at an individual level. We have token metering for fixed price programs as well as for time and material. For fixed price programs, we have the opportunity to reduce the cost and keep the margin with us. For new deals we do this kind of links back to the first question, we actually have the opportunity to outpace the productivity we give to our clients and therefore, keep it with us.”

“One of the rate cards. I am establishing, which is a template we're taking it to the street is A0 is completely human effort. A1 is effort, which is done by humans verified by AI. A2 is effort effort delivered by AI, verified by humans. A3 is autonomous digital labor. Now when clients do this, you could meet the capacity they have bought from a frontier motor company like Anthropic or open AI directly.”

“in health care, for example, we are developing agentic solutions that accelerate and improve the accuracy of prior authorizations to support better patient outcomes. Additionally, we are building on our TriZetto product portfolio in a strategic partnership with Palantir to advance an outcomes-based intelligence platform that embeds AI-driven decisioning directly into health care operations.”

“we just announced a definitive agreement to acquire [ Atria ], a global IT managed services provider and a specialist in AI infrastructure build-out with deep expertise in managing data center infrastructure, enterprise networks and digital workplace technology. Upon closing, we believe [indiscernible] will add a critical layer to our AI Builder technology stack.”

“with data engineering for a leading U.S. health care client, we deployed an AI-based data validation system to optimize the distribution of pharmaceutical shipments. The solution uses predictive models to validate data before dispatch reducing downstream errors in the logistics chain and improving reliability across its operations.”

“clients have started to see that they are not able to optimize the digital efforts. So some clients are coming back and saying, you know what, why don't you take care of the human and the digital effort. You open the tap on compute, you open the tap on Ms. and you deliver the service, and we don't want to manage the economics.”

“we are beginning to see the emergence of AI infused rate cards where pricing reflects a blended model of human effort and digital effort with several clients, we are exposing tokenized rate cards that prices work along a continuum from fully human-led discovery to hybrid to increasingly autonomous agenetic delivery.”

“We're also applying context engineering at a top wealth management firm with an advanced proof of concept where AI agents are being designed to work alongside financial advisers handling routine interactions and back office tasks so that financial advisers can focus on client-facing activities.”

“Cognizant platforms play a critical role in scaling these productivity [ grains ] by accelerating software development with Flow source, reverse engineering legacy code using agent-based capabilities through Sky grade and automating incident management with neuro IT operations.”

“with Daimler Truck, we will use Cognizant WorkNEXT to transform and modernize its global workplace services. Our multiyear partnership aims to leverage artificial intelligence and automation to enhance workplace operations across their global factories and offices.”

“We have infused AI into our rate cards. So when we are up for a consolidation opportunity, we seem to be in the winner part because we are able to share the productivity and also keep it for ourselves.”

“Fueling our platform strategies, our award-winning AI Labs, which was awarded 3 new patents, bringing its total number of patents to 65 in the U.S. and the 88 globally.”

“Financial services is at double-digit growth, very, very excited about it. Not only are they doing Vector 1, they're innovating new products, new services.”

“Examples include the recent launch of autonomous customer engagement with Google to support outcome-based human AI workforce models across industries”

“Cognizant has already embarked on this transition, which demands four significant shifts that redefine the role of IT services firms. First, we are evolving towards owning the full stack of capabilities required to design holistic bespoke AI systems from a system integrator to an AI build. Second, we are reimagining our talent moving away from the traditional pyramid towards interdisciplinary teams that operate at the intersection of domain operations and technology. Third, we are shifting our economics from labor base to outcome-based models that align our success directly with our clients.”

“we have a mental -- a frame of what our future operating model looks like, and I'm pretty confident that operating model is we are on the journey to get to the operating model, LEAP is to make sure that we get there fast. It's our opportunity to resize our pyramid with a broader parameter. That's why we're hiring more school graduates, more early careers. And short on the height of the pyramid so that you get to expertise much faster.”

“We're also sensing a broad structural shift as AI moves beyond digital workflows to governing physical systems and environments and infrastructure. This is accelerating the convergence of physical AI agent AI and governed enterprise intelligence enabling autonomous operations across sectors. Cognizant is investing in the architecture platforms, partner ecosystem and industrial domain expertise for physical AI.”

“we launched the Cognizant innovation network, a new corporate investment arm that will back early-stage AI start-ups. We plan to initially focus on investments in AI, data, cybersecurity and cloud technologies and portfolio companies will gain direct access to Cognizant's deep industrial expertise and its enterprise client base, creating a powerful ecosystem for mutual growth.”

“we are initiating a new program called Project LEAP. This program is designed to accelerate our transformation to the operating model of the future by funding investments in our AI capabilities and partnerships, integrated offerings and platforms, reshaping productivity and upskilling our workforce.”

“Our AI builder stack is the connectivity tissue that translates our strategy into measurable client outcomes. It combines our proprietary methodologies and the science of context engineering with a curated ecosystem of strategic partners and our own differentiated platforms and IP.”

“As we integrate enterprise AI into enterprise landscapes, platforms provide the foundation to move AI from proof-of-concept into production at enterprise scale, managing the full agent life cycle with neuro AI engineering and context engineering.”

“We continue to see emerging client demand in areas such as predictive supply chains, agent commerce and hyper personalization. Use cases where AI has the opportunity to create real differentiation.”

“We have seen increasing demand for our AI and analytics services. driven by AI readiness and innovation budgets.”

“AI adoption is driving demand for engineering, modernization and platform services.”

“The industry's first principles were born out of an enterprise reality. Technology was so transformational and complex that companies needed help with optimizing the use of technology to meet their business objectives. IT services companies emerged to solve these problems at scale and over time, helped create many of the greatest business architectures over the last 50 years. With AI, the fundamentals are shifting.”

“I believe our work to become the world's permanent AI builder is resonating, demonstrated by our first quarter performance.”