Cognizant a global technology powerhouse, has achieved recognition as a Leader in the 2025 Information Services Group (ISG) Provider Lens™ Telecom, Media, and Entertainment Industry Services Report. This prestigious acknowledgment from ISG (Nasdaq: III), a premier global technology research and advisory firm, underscores Cognizant’s comprehensive capabilities in addressing critical industry challenges and meeting evolving enterprise requirements across the telecommunications, media, and entertainment sectors.
The ISG Provider Lens™ evaluation framework identifies Leaders as organizations demonstrating comprehensive product and service portfolios, commanding market presence, and maintaining established competitive positioning. According to ISG’s assessment criteria, Leaders exhibit strong potential for business acquisition while representing innovative excellence and sustained competitive stability in their respective markets.
Strategy and Enablement Services Excellence
Comprehensive Advisory Framework
The Strategy and Enablement Services quadrant evaluates providers delivering strategic consultation and enablement capabilities to telecommunications companies, with emphasis on transformation initiatives, mergers and acquisitions strategy, and comprehensive business strategies spanning procurement through sales operations. Among 41 companies assessed in this comprehensive study, 31 qualified for evaluation in this quadrant, with only 11 achieving Leader status.
GenAI-Driven Innovation Leadership
“Cognizant leads North America’s TME strategy space by delivering GenAI-driven data cleanrooms and ad-sales modernization, anchored in Neuro® AI-driven advisory and TM Forum-aligned modernization framework for compliant business outcomes,” stated Yash Jethani, Lead Analyst at ISG. The report emphasizes that Cognizant’s strategy and enablement practice seamlessly integrates advisory services with data frameworks and GenAI capabilities, combining deep telecommunications, media, and entertainment expertise to guide clients through AI strategy development, ecosystem governance implementation, and network-to-cloud transformation initiatives.
Telecom Managed and Next-Generation IT Services
Advanced Operational Excellence
Within the Telecom Managed and Next-Gen IT Services quadrant, ISG evaluates providers offering cutting-edge IT solutions, process outsourcing, and engineering services specifically designed for communication service providers (CSPs). Qualifying providers deliver comprehensive end-to-end managed and proactive IT and business services to telecommunications customers, seamlessly integrating GenAI, agentic AI, analytics, and workflow orchestration into core telecom IT processes while demonstrating measurable return on investment.
AIOps-Driven Transformation
ISG’s Lead Analyst, Yash Jethani, emphasizes that “Cognizant stands out in North America’s telecom managed services through AIOps-driven automation and 5G operational readiness, enabling predictive, self-healing networks for major CSPs.” Cognizant’s service portfolio includes AI-automated, cloud-native telecom managed services delivered through proprietary platforms including Cloud360™, SmartOps, and NetOps.ai™, optimizing OSS/BSS operations, network automation capabilities, and SLA delivery for North American telecommunications operators.
Regulatory Compliance and Sustainability
To enable telecommunications companies in meeting FCC and ISO standards while ensuring compliance with EU NIS2 and GDPR regulations, Cognizant integrates comprehensive data privacy protection and sustainability initiatives into its managed service frameworks. This integration includes carbon-intelligent infrastructure deployment and automated compliance verification processes, positioning clients for long-term regulatory success.
Media and Entertainment Managed Services Leadership
Comprehensive M&E Capabilities
The Media and Entertainment Managed and Next-Gen IT Services quadrant assesses providers offering managed and advanced IT solutions, cloud services, and engineering capabilities to media and entertainment enterprises, encompassing broadcasters, OTT platforms, sports brands, content distributors, and publishers. Providers undergo rigorous evaluation on their strategy-to-execution capabilities and domain expertise.
AI-Powered Content Solutions
ISG’s research revealed that “Cognizant leads North America’s media managed services space with AI-powered content, adtech and rights automation, blending cloud scalability with domain-rich delivery.” The report particularly highlights Cognizant’s strategic partnerships with AWS and Azure, which enable elastic scaling capabilities during live events and seamless on-demand delivery across millions of concurrent users, ensuring optimal performance during peak demand periods.
Industry Recognition and Strategic Vision
“We are honored to be recognized by ISG as a leader in Telecom, Media and Entertainment, Managed and Next Gen IT services,” stated Anurag Sinha, Senior Vice President and Head of Communications, Media, and Technology (CMT) for Americas at Cognizant. “This recognition highlights our dedication to leadership at the convergence of technology and industry expertise. By leveraging an AI-driven strategy alongside deep domain knowledge, we aim to enable clients to transform their operating models thus supporting them to improve customer experiences and enhance business value.”
This comprehensive recognition across multiple quadrants demonstrates Cognizant’s sustained commitment to innovation, client success, and industry leadership in the rapidly evolving telecommunications, media, and entertainment technology landscape.
