NTT DATA partners Cursor to speed AI software modernisation

NTT DATA has entered a strategic partnership with Cursor, bringing the company's AI coding tools into NTT DATA's global software engineering and delivery model.

NTT DATA will use the technology in its own operations before extending it to client work. The aim is to speed the modernisation of legacy systems, support cloud and AI transformation programmes, and improve consistency across delivery environments.

The arrangement places AI agents inside the engineering layer NTT DATA teams use to design, build, review, refactor and modernise software. Cursor's platform works across multiple models and is designed to give developers codebase-wide context within their usual environments.

For NTT DATA, the move is part of a broader effort to build what it describes as the integration, orchestration and infrastructure needed to make AI usable in large organisations. The company operates in more than 40 markets and serves many of the world's largest enterprises, giving the partnership broad potential reach.

Many large companies have experimented with AI tools, but deployment at scale has often stalled because of constraints around data, networks, security and operational controls. NTT DATA's approach with Cursor focuses on embedding those controls into the software development process rather than treating AI adoption as a separate pilot.

Governance features in Cursor Enterprise were a key factor in the decision, including organisation-wide privacy mode, single sign-on, centralised administration, granular controls over AI agents, and audit-ready policy enforcement.

Those features are intended to address a common concern among large businesses: how to introduce AI into engineering teams without losing visibility into who is using it, what data is being handled, and whether internal policies are being followed. In practice, AI-assisted coding must fit existing security and compliance structures as closely as it fits developer workflows.

NTT DATA is initially deploying Cursor Enterprise to priority engineering teams and expects to expand usage as adoption grows. It also plans to establish a Cursor Centre of Excellence to share practices across its global business and industry groups.

Given NTT DATA's scale, the internal deployment is likely to serve as a test case for clients considering similar approaches. The company intends to apply lessons from its own rollout to help customers adopt AI in software engineering and modernisation work.

That internal-first model has become increasingly common among large technology services groups. By deploying new tools in their own delivery operations, they aim to create a reference model for clients while measuring the effect on productivity, governance and consistency.

Abhijit Dubey, Chief Executive Officer and Chief AI Officer at NTT DATA, framed the partnership as part of a broader shift in how large organisations build and run software.

"Enterprise modernization is no longer just about moving systems to the cloud-it is about reimagining how software is built and operated in the age of AI," said Abhijit Dubey, Chief Executive Officer and Chief AI Officer, NTT DATA. "Through our partnership with Cursor, we will use AI in the core of our engineering and delivery model, enabling us to modernize faster, improve consistency at scale and deliver greater value to clients. By applying these capabilities inside our own business first, we can help organizations adopt AI with greater confidence, governance and measurable impact."

Cursor, which supplies AI coding software to engineering teams, said the partnership reflects growing demand from large organisations seeking to move beyond experimentation and embed AI in core development processes. The company has built its business around tools that help engineers write, review and maintain code with support from AI models.

For providers such as Cursor, partnerships with global services firms offer a route into large enterprises that may be reluctant to buy directly without implementation support, governance structures and integration into existing delivery methods. For services companies such as NTT DATA, the benefit lies in pairing external tools with their own consulting, application and infrastructure operations.

Jordan Topoleski, Chief Operating Officer at Cursor, said the partnership shows how AI is being integrated into complex software work at scale.

"NTT DATA is putting AI at the core of how engineers modernize complex systems," said Jordan Topoleski, Chief Operating Officer, Cursor. "By pairing Cursor agents with enterprise-grade governance and structured enablement, NTT DATA is proving how AI changes the way software gets built and delivered at global scale, and we are proud to support their teams as they bring it to enterprises worldwide."

NTT DATA says it is a USD $30 billion business and technology services company that serves 75% of the Fortune Global 100. Its parent group invests more than USD $3 billion a year in research and development.