Information Technology and Digital Transformation Services: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Accenture continued to lead the Information Technology and Digital Transformation Services category with 41.3% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, down from 48.0% in July 2026. IBM Consulting held the second position at 37.4% in September 2026, narrowing the gap between the two leaders from 9.9 points in July to 3.9 points in September.

The largest cumulative coverage decline between July and September 2026 was Cognizant, whose valid recommendation coverage fell 8.2 percentage points from 32.3% in July 2026 to 24.1% in September 2026, though most of that movement occurred in August. Accenture recorded the next largest decline, down 6.7 points from 48.0% to 41.3% over the same period, followed by Deloitte, down 5.7 points from 40.0% to 34.3%. No brand recorded a significant increase over the three-month series.

Despite the cumulative declines, September 2026 was a quiet month for the category. Within normal month-to-month variation, no brand moved beyond its normal range between August and September 2026. This continues a two-month decline streak for Accenture, Cognizant, and Deloitte, each of which posted lower valid recommendation coverage in every month from July through September 2026.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations per month and produced 586 qualified benchmark observations in September 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation in the month: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Information Technology and Digital Transformation Services

Research Scope and Qualification

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. See AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned at all, regardless of sentiment or recommendation status.
• Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations where the brand receives a valid, attributable recommendation.
• Top-three rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand appears among the top three recommended options.
• Rank-one rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand is the first or only recommendation.
• Net sentiment is the balance of positive over negative mentions among observed mentions.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Month-over-month, none of the August-to-September changes exceeded the threshold for a significant single-month movement. Within that otherwise quiet month, Deloitte, Accenture, and IBM Consulting each recorded their largest single-month decline of the three-month series: Deloitte's valid recommendation coverage fell 4.6 percentage points and Accenture's fell 3.7 points from August to September, while IBM Consulting slipped 1.8 points following a one-month rise in August. Capgemini and Cognizant saw presence rates rise between July and September 2026 even as their valid recommendation coverage fell, showing that visible mentions did not translate into more recommendations.

Largest Decline: Cognizant

Cognizant recorded the largest cumulative decline over the three-month series, with valid recommendation coverage falling from 32.3% in July 2026 to 24.1% in September 2026. Most of the drop occurred in August, when coverage fell from 32.3% to 24.3%, and it declined again slightly in September. Despite the coverage decline, Cognizant's presence rate held steady, and its rank-one rate rose from 0.2% in July 2026 to 0.5% in September 2026.

Additional Decline: Deloitte

Deloitte saw valid recommendation coverage fall from 40.0% in July 2026 to 34.3% in September 2026. The decline was accompanied by drops in both top-three placement and rank-one placement, with the rank-one rate falling from 3.8% to 0.9% over the series. Deloitte's presence rate rose from 77.8% to 81.9% over the same period.

Category Leader: Accenture

Accenture remained the benchmark leader with 41.3% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, ahead of IBM Consulting at 37.4%. Despite its continued lead, Accenture declined in every month of the series, with top-three rate falling from 46.5% in July 2026 to 38.2% in September 2026, and rank-one rate falling from 40.6% to 33.5% over the same period.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Beyond coverage, the leaders show distinct placement patterns. Among the two top brands, Accenture dominates first-position recommendations, appearing first in 33.5% of qualified observations in September 2026, while IBM Consulting appeared first in only 1.5% of observations. Deloitte, the third-ranked brand by coverage, appeared first in 0.9% of observations in September 2026.

Similar coverage rates can hide very different first-position rates, as seen between Accenture and IBM Consulting in September 2026.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified benchmark observations fell within the Brand Recommendation class, meaning queries sought brand recommendations for information technology and digital transformation services.

The current public series measures Brand Recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, or private and sponsored channels. Causality cannot be established from a metric movement alone.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index is an independent, neutral measurement of how often brands are recommended across major AI chat and search surfaces for category-level discovery questions.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

Get a Company-Level Authority Index

The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index goes deeper into a specific brand. The public percentage cannot identify the prompts, competitors, or sources causing the result. See Get my free AI Company Index.