Cognizant, Google Cloud expand AI pact

- This expanded partnership includes Cognizant making a significant investment in and deploying Google Workspace and Gemini Enterprise internally to boost productivity and employee experience. Externally, Cognizant will launch a new offering for clients that bundles these tools to streamline workflows like content creation and supplier communications. - Cognizant has committed to investing $1 billion in generative AI over three years and, as part of this Google Cloud pact, will train over 70,000 associates on Google's AI offerings. This is part of a broader company initiative called Synapse, which aims to upskill one million individuals globally by 2026. - To scale delivery, Cognizant is establishing a dedicated Gemini Enterprise Center of Excellence and creating Gemini Studios within its Cloud AI Innovation hubs in Bangalore, London, and Plano, Texas. This infrastructure will support the development and deployment of agentic AI solutions for enterprise clients. - The collaboration builds on a multi-year relationship, which previously saw expansions for healthcare-specific large language models in August 2023 and enhancing the software development lifecycle in March 2024. Cognizant has also been a multi-year winner of the Google Cloud Data Partner of the Year award. - For go-to-market leaders, the application of agentic AI can significantly impact strategy, with companies using AI-powered GTM seeing revenue increases of 3-15% and sales ROI improvements of 10-20%. AI is being used for predictive analytics, personalizing outreach, and automating sales development tasks, with some platforms automating up to 90% of the process. - In the HR tech space, a key market for the user, AI is transforming recruitment, onboarding, and employee engagement in India. Startups like Darwinbox and Keka are leveraging AI for talent analytics and automating HR processes, a trend accelerated by the shift to hybrid and remote work. - The Indian startup ecosystem, a primary market, now has over 98,000 registered startups employing more than 1.2 million people. However, a 2024 KPMG survey noted that 63% of these startups lack structured HR processes, creating a significant opportunity for HR tech and unified API providers. - This partnership reflects a broader industry trend where human and machine collaboration is reshaping corporate structures. As AI agents automate more tasks, HR's role is shifting from process management to designing employee experiences, a concept Cognizant terms the evolution from "HR to HX" (Human Experience).