TEANECK, N.J., June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH), a leading provider of consulting, technology, and business process outsourcing services, today announced it has entered into a three-year agreement with the MIT Center for Digital Business (CDB) to fund research on the impacts of new technologies in the communications, information, media and entertainment (CIME) industries. The research program will focus on "Trends in Technology, Work, and Leadership Development in the CIME Sector: Emergence of the Social Workplace."

Dr. Andrew McAfee, Principal Research Scientist and author of Enterprise 2.0, is the Principal Investigator of the research team, along with Dr. Erik Brynjolfsson, Director of the MIT Center for Digital Business, and Dr. George Westerman, Research Scientist. All three are experts in the strategic potential of information technology and the organizational aspects of technology innovation.

"Companies in the CIME sector, by their very nature as content creators and distributors, have been permanently transformed by digitization and the advent of powerful new communication tools, bringing deep changes to processes, products, revenue models, pricing, internal organization, and customer relationships. Our work with MIT will help our CIME clients understand the emerging social workplace by providing frameworks and insights to address these new competitive challenges," said Francisco D'Souza, President and CEO of Cognizant.

"Business leaders in the CIME industries have faced tremendous uncertainty in the face of industry-shaping technologies and have been lacking a playbook to guide their strategies. This program will conduct comprehensive research on the transformative effects of social networks, virtualization, collaboration, and other technologies in the CIME industries, enabling them to more effectively produce their products, serve their customers, and compete with other companies," said Dr. Andrew McAfee, Associate Director, MIT Center for Digital Business (http://ebusiness.mit.edu/).

About Cognizant

Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world's leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 50 delivery centers worldwide and approximately 111,000 employees as of March 31, 2011, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes statements which may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general economic conditions and the factors discussed in our most recent Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cognizant undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE Cognizant