Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation

Company recognized for fostering a supportive workplace for early-career employees

TEANECK, N.J., March 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) announced today that it has been named one of America's Greatest Workplaces for Entry Level 2026 by Newsweek and Plant-A Insights Group. The award is grounded in national survey findings, extensive research and data assessing how effectively companies create supportive, growth-focused environments for employees beginning their careers.

"Cognizant is honored to be recognized by Newsweek as one of America's Greatest Workplaces for Entry Level 2026," said Kathy Diaz, Chief People Officer, Cognizant. "This award reflects our commitment to creating an environment where early‑career talent can build the skills, confidence and career experience they need to succeed in the age of AI. Through our student and new graduate programs and hiring commitments, we provide clear pathways to enter the workforce, gain hands-on experience and build the skills that will propel them for long-term career growth."

Cognizant operates an award-winning workforce development program that supports early career individuals as they transition into full-time employment. This model is designed to invest in students early and often while creating durable career pathways for U.S. workers. Cognizant is hiring 2,000 entry-level associates across North America by the end of 2026, and programs like the Fusion internship and Synapse skilling initiative further support early career development across the country.

The America's Greatest Workplaces for Entry Level 2026 recognition is the result of a comprehensive assessment by Newsweek and Plant-A Insights Group, drawing on publicly available data, desk research, interviews with entry-level professionals and a large-scale nationwide survey of entry-level employees at U.S. companies. The study evaluated employers across categories most meaningful to early-career professionals, including work-life balance and corporate culture to career progression. With more than 610,000 company reviews collected in 2025 and 75,000 interviews from previous studies, the survey ranks among the largest independent evaluations of the entry-level workforce in the United States. 

"In a rapidly evolving job market, today's young professionals are prioritizing purpose and professional development over a simple paycheck. Recognizing the organizations that go above and beyond to cultivate this next generation of talent, Newsweek and Plant-A Insights are proud to unveil America's Best Workplaces for Entry Level 2026. This year's list serves as a benchmark for excellence, identifying the top U.S. employers dedicated to launching the careers of the next generation with integrity and support," said Jennifer Cunningham, Editor-in-Chief, Newsweek.

For more information on Cognizant's commitment to associates' careers and wellbeing, visit Cognizant Careers.

About Cognizant

Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is an AI builder and technology services provider, building the bridge between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization's unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, realize tangible returns and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at www.cognizant.com or @cognizant.

For more information, contact:

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SOURCE Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation

TEANECK, N.J., March 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH) released new research showing that companies pursuing AI adoption overwhelmingly prefer IT services firms - such as "AI Builder" firms, a new services model defined by designing and building custom, full stack AI solutions - to deliver real enterprise value from AI.

The research, based on a quantitative study of 600 AI decision makers and qualitative interviews with 38 senior executives, finds that organizations rank custom solutions and flexible engagement models as the most important factor when selecting an AI partner, ahead of pricing and time to value. Pricing and proven AI case studies remain important, but rank below capabilities that enable AI to be embedded directly into business operations and value chains.

At the same time, enterprises cite generic, off-the-shelf AI solutions as a leading reason to reject an AI provider, along with lack of industry-specific expertise, inability to integrate into existing technology stacks, and inadequate support and maintenance. According to the research, the top three challenges organizations face in enterprise AI adoption are regulatory and compliance concerns, difficulty demonstrating return on investment and lack of clear AI strategy and vision.

"AI success is not about deploying isolated models—it's about engineering intelligence into the enterprise with purpose-built solutions," said Ravi Kumar S, CEO of Cognizant. "The most trusted path to an AI future is working with an AI Builder—one that brings deep industry context, systems engineering expertise, and operational accountability. At Cognizant, we focus on building the bridge from AI experimentation to measurable enterprise value."

Key findings from the study include:

Enterprises face a "messy middle" in scaling AI: AI builders can create the bridge to enterprise value -- solving complex, real-world problems:

• 63% of enterprises report moderate-to-large gaps between their AI ambitions and current capabilities.
• The biggest barriers to scaling AI are operational and organizational:
  • 33% cite regulatory and compliance challenges
  • 31% struggle to demonstrate ROI
  • 27% report shortages in talent
  • 27% report inadequate data readiness

AI investment is long term, not experimental: Enterprises are committing sustained capital to AI, signaling long-term infrastructure building rather than speculative investment:

• 84% of enterprises maintain formal AI budgets
• 91% expect AI budgets to grow in the next two years
• 50% anticipate double-digit increases in AI budgets over the next two years
• 52% are already investing $10M or more annually on AI initiatives

AI is augmenting human workforces, not replacing them: Enterprise leaders are not forecasting workforce collapse, they're forecasting redesign of workflows for human-AI collaboration.

• Across 13 enterprise functions, the highest expected level of full automation is only 20% (in sales)
• Even in customer service, where 76% of leaders expect workflows to become AI-dominant, only 9% believe they will be fully automated.

In qualitative interviews conducted as part of the research, enterprise leaders said "out‑of‑the‑box" AI is inadequate; they want tailored solutions AI builders can develop and tune.

A Vice President in the UK banking sector shared, "A lot of vendors come in thinking that the off-the-shelf solutions they have would fit our needs, but often enough they find that that's not the case. And it takes them a number of years, more than they planned, and a lot of money, both from us … to get those software working. And these are not just AI software."

A US-based insurance industry CIO stated, "It depends on where I'm inserting this particular ingredient in our value. And so sometimes I want a builder and an engineer, sometimes I want an integrator, sometimes I want an activator. Because they're playing more of a coordinating function—a weaving, stitching-together function."

Together, these research insights underscore a clear shift in enterprise expectations: from experimenting with AI tools to partnering with AI Builders that can design, build, integrate, and operate AI systems at scale— in alignment with client governance, security, and risk‑management frameworks and with lasting business impact.

These findings align with recent remarks by Babak Hodjat, Chief AI Officer at Cognizant, who noted that enterprises are far from being able to rely on AI "out of the box." In interviews with Fortune and Reuters, Hodjat emphasized that while agentic and generative AI systems are advancing rapidly, organizations still need significant help engineering, integrating, governing, and operating these systems in ways that support client safety, reliability and governance requirements within complex enterprise environments.

AI decision makers rated IT services firms like AI builders highest in their ability to assist with their AI adoption (ahead of SaaS providers, cloud providers, AI model companies, AI startups and management consultancies). The research also finds that IT services firms are trusted across the AI adoption lifecycle—especially in ongoing management of AI-enabled systems, but also in AI strategy, custom AI solution development, increasing organizational productivity and scaling AI across the enterprise. IT services firms have a 23% trust advantage over management consultancies in AI adoption. While management consultancies benefit from strong brand recognition, they are seen as less credible in hands-on AI implementation.

About the Research

Cognizant's research findings are based on quantitative research conducted in November 2025 with 600 AI decision makers, and qualitative interviews conducted in October 2025 with 38 business and technology leaders in the United States, Germany, Singapore and Australia with AI decision making responsibility. The full report can be found here: How ai is reshaping business & empowering workforces | Cognizant

About Cognizant

Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is an AI builder and technology services provider, building the bridge between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization's unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, realize tangible returns and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at www.cognizant.com or @cognizant.

For more information, contact:

U.S.

Name: Gabrielle Gugliocciello

Email: gabrielle.gugliocciello@cognizant.com 

Europe / APAC

Name: Sarah Douglas

Email: sarah.douglas@cognizant.com 

India

Name: Vipin Nair

Email: Vipin.Nair@cognizant.com

SOURCE Cognizant