Cognizant finds enterprises prefer custom AI builder services

Cognizant released research that reported organizations pursuing Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption preferred IT services firms described as “AI Builder” firms to deliver enterprise value, a choice the study said reflected a priority for custom solutions and flexible engagement models when selecting AI partners.

The research found respondents reported gaps between their AI ambitions and current capabilities and identified regulatory and compliance concerns, difficulty demonstrating return on investment, shortages in talent, and inadequate data readiness as primary barriers; the study also recorded that 84% maintained formal AI budgets and 52% invested $10 million or more annually on AI initiatives.

Survey results placed greater weight on providers that could design and build custom, full-stack AI solutions and embed AI into business operations and value chains, while generic off-the-shelf offerings, lack of industry-specific expertise, inability to integrate with existing technology stacks, and inadequate support and maintenance were cited as reasons to reject providers.

The quantitative portion of the research surveyed 600 AI decision makers in November 2025 and the qualitative portion interviewed 38 business and technology leaders in October 2025 across the United States, Germany, Singapore and Australia; the study reported that respondents rated IT services firms like AI builders above Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers, cloud providers, AI model companies, AI startups and management consultancies, with IT services firms holding a 23% trust advantage over management consultancies in AI adoption.

“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. “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.” said a Vice President in the UK banking sector. “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.” said a US-based insurance industry CIO.

The study found that 91% expected AI budgets to grow in the next two years and that 50% anticipated double-digit increases over that period.