Cognizant, Uniphore team on sector-specific AI tools
Cognizant has struck a partnership with Uniphore to develop industry-specific AI products aimed at regulated sectors, with initial work focused on life sciences and banking and capital markets.
The companies said they will build solutions around small language models and AI agents. They positioned the approach as an alternative to relying on large, general-purpose models for every enterprise use case.
Model approach
Uniphore will provide its Business AI Cloud as the base layer for the work. The companies described the platform as a system that brings together enterprise data, knowledge, models and AI agents. They also said it includes security and governance features.
Cognizant will lead solution development and deployment, and it will manage delivery to clients. The partners said they plan to fine-tune small language models within Uniphore's platform and pair them with agents that map to specific workflows.
The companies framed the work around the operational constraints of highly regulated industries. They highlighted requirements such as accuracy, governance and domain context. They also pointed to the role of institutional knowledge in day-to-day decision-making.
Ravi Kumar S, Chief Executive Officer of Cognizant, said clients want systems built around their operating context.
"Our clients are looking for AI that is designed around their business and incorporates the critical operational context required to deliver business outcomes - and value - from AI," said Ravi Kumar S, Chief Executive Officer, Cognizant. "By combining domain-specific SLMs developed with Uniphore's Business AI Cloud with AI agents managed through Cognizant's platforms, this partnership seeks to incorporate our industry expertise into solutions that are practical, governable and ready to operate at scale," added Kumar.
The partnership reflects a wider shift in enterprise AI deployments. Many organisations have tested generative AI through pilots and proofs of concept. Regulated sectors often face additional hurdles related to model behaviour, audit requirements, privacy controls, and data access management.
In that context, smaller models tuned for specific tasks can offer a more constrained operating profile. The companies said they plan to build solutions that fit defined workflows rather than broad conversational use. They also described an approach based on repeatable packages that can be deployed across regions and clients.
Initial sectors
The first set of planned products will target life sciences and banking and capital markets. The companies said each solution will combine a domain-specific model with prebuilt AI agents designed for industry tasks.
For life sciences, they cited drug discovery and commercial effectiveness as example workflows. For banking and capital markets, they cited customer onboarding and operational decisioning. The companies said these areas place a premium on governance and domain context.
The partners also linked the work to the handling of enterprise knowledge. They said the solutions aim to codify institutional knowledge and operational context into model behaviour and agent actions. They positioned this as a way to align AI use with regulatory and operational requirements.
Umesh Sachdev, CEO and Co-Founder of Uniphore, said large companies are looking for systems tied to core workflows.
"The world's largest companies are ready for AI that delivers real business impact. That requires systems purpose-built for their most critical workflows, says Umesh Sachdev, CEO and co-founder of Uniphore. "Partnering with Cognizant enables us to combine Uniphore's Business AI platform, embedded across the business stack, with deep industry expertise to deliver secure, scalable solutions designed for real-world enterprise execution," said Sachdev.
Go-to-market
The companies said they will take the initial set of solutions to market jointly and align around shared success and adoption over time. They also described a structure aimed at ongoing collaboration across development, delivery and evolution of the offerings.
Beyond the first two sectors, Cognizant and Uniphore said they expect to extend the approach to additional industries over time, particularly in markets where accuracy, privacy and governance requirements shape technology deployment.