New partnership aims to develop industry-specific solutions built with small language models and AI agents for highly regulated industries, beginning with Life Sciences, and Banking and Capital Markets.

Cognizant announced a strategic partnership with Uniphore focused on the joint development of industry-specific AI solutions that combine small language models, AI agents and deep industry expertise. The collaboration aims to help enterprises deploy targeted, governable AI capabilities aligned to real business workflows and designed to help enterprises turn AI into a durable part of how their businesses run.

The partnership uses Uniphore’s Business AI Cloud – designed to unify enterprise data, knowledge, models and AI agents with built-in security and governance – as the foundation for building and fine-tuning small language models (SLMs), while Cognizant leads solution development, deployment and client delivery. Together, the companies aim to help enterprises codify institutional knowledge and operational context, and apply AI in ways that align with regulatory, operational and business requirements.

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As organizations look to scale AI across their operations, many find that not every use case requires large, general-purpose models. Instead, domain-specific approaches built around smaller, finely tuned models and purpose-built agents can deliver greater precision, control and efficiency, particularly in highly regulated industries.

“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 of 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.”

Under the partnership, Cognizant and Uniphore plan to co-develop an initial set of solutions for Life Sciences and Banking and Capital Markets. Each solution would combine a domain-specific SLM with prebuilt AI agents designed to support specific industry workflows – such as drug discovery and commercial effectiveness in Life Sciences, and customer onboarding and operational decisioning in Banking and Capital Markets – where accuracy, governance and domain context are critical. The solutions are intended to be repeatable and scalable, enabling faster adoption across clients and regions.

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“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.”

Cognizant and Uniphore aim to jointly bring these solutions to market, aligning around shared success and long-term adoption. The partnership is structured to support sustained collaboration across solution development, delivery and ongoing evolution, reflecting a relationship designed for execution.

While the initial focus is on Life Sciences and Banking and Capital Markets, the companies expect to extend this approach to additional industries over time. The model is designed to scale globally in environments where accuracy, privacy, and governance are essential, enabling enterprises to apply AI with greater confidence and control. Together, Cognizant and Uniphore are advancing a practical path for enterprise AI that prioritizes domain relevance, operational readiness, and measurable business outcomes such as accuracy, efficiency, and faster time to value.