Guest Commentary: A new standard for secure, modern and integrated radio operations

CGI is one of the world’s largest IT and business consulting firms, bringing more than five decades of experience across sectors such as aerospace, financial services, government, telecommunications and media. This knowledge gives CGI a distinctive advantage in the radio sector. The company pairs a deep understanding of audio production and playout workflows with enterprise-grade capabilities in cybersecurity, AI integration, accessibility, cloud-enabled delivery, managed services and organizational transformation. These extended services strengthen the reliability and scalability of radio environments and enable broadcasters to modernize their technology and processes simultaneously, ensuring that operational innovation is supported by resilient infrastructure and sustainable organizational adoption.

Cybersecurity has become a defining challenge for radio organizations as targeted cyberthreats increase. Disruptions to playout, compromised systems and unplanned downtime can severely impact public service delivery. CGI applies protective measures proven in highly regulated sectors, combining continuous monitoring, resilient architecture design, proactive threat identification and tailored incident response. These capabilities reinforce daily continuity and reduce the risk of operational interruption.

AI is already reshaping radio production workflows, and CGI integrates these capabilities in practical and measurable ways. An example is its work on AI-supported audio production. Automated speech-to-text enables rapid navigation through long recordings, generates keyword metadata and supports speaker recognition. CGI says its AI-assisted archive search also accelerates content reuse. Editors can jump quickly from transcript to waveform, cut material efficiently and assemble broadcast-ready audio at speed. These features accelerate production, support multiplatform publishing and allow editorial teams to focus on creativity and decision-making.

Little room for operational disruption

Radio operations increasingly rely on diverse specialist systems, and CGI ensures that broadcasters retain the freedom to adopt best-in-class tools. By integrating multiple service providers, CGI avoids vendor lock-in and reduces the technical fragility associated with legacy infrastructure.

Successful transformation depends heavily on people. This is especially true in radio, where continuous live output leaves little room for operational disruption. CGI has delivered major transformation programs for a range of national and regional broadcasters, where radio remains a vital public service and downtime is unacceptable. In these environments, CGI’s structured change-management approach ensures new systems are adopted safely, confidently and with minimal interruption to daily output.

Regulation is also shaping the future of radio. New accessibility requirements, including the European Accessibility Act and national regulations such as Germany’s State Media Treaty (MStV), mandate accessible content and platforms for all audiences. CGI supports radio organizations by enabling automated captioning for visual-radio outputs and online audio content, audio description support where required, accessible digital platform design, keyboard-navigation-compliant interfaces and simplified-language adaptations. With expertise drawn from broader regulated sectors, CGI helps broadcasters embed accessibility as a consistent and efficient part of production, widening audience reach while ensuring compliance.

Through this combination of radio-specific software, proven integration capabilities and enterprise-class consulting expertise, CGI provides radio broadcasters with a secure, agile and future-ready foundation for continuous innovation and operational excellence.

The author is the vice president of media solutions at CGI.

This story originally appeared in the RedTech special edition, Solutioneers 2025/2026. You can read or download this edition for free here.

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