Saurabh Gupta
President, Research and Advisory Services

Saurabh Gupta is President, Research and Advisory Services at HFS. He sets the strategic research focus and agenda for HFS Research, understanding and predicting the needs of the industry and ensuring that HFS maintains its position as the strongest impact thought leader for business operations and services research. He oversees HFS’ global research function, managing the global team of analysts and operations across the US, Europe, and Asia.

He is a recognized thought leader, and he’s passionate about solving business problems and bringing big ideas to life. With more than two decades of experience across client, provider, advisory, and analyst roles, he brings a uniquely realistic and wide-ranging perspective to our industry’s challenges and opportunities. He has authored more than 200 research reports; he is a frequent speaker and regularly quoted in industry publications. He is well-known for spotting disruptive technology trends like blockchain, Web3, metaverse, cloud, AI, and automation and predicting their implications for different stakeholders through frameworks like the OneOffice™ and OneEcosystem™.

Before joining HFS, Saurabh led strategy for Genpact’s CFO and transformation services, helped shape the business services strategy for AbbVie, managed Everest Group’s global BPS practice, and worked as a techno-functional consultant at Infosys.

Saurabh is a Mechanical Engineer from Delhi College of Engineering and holds an MBA from IIT Bombay. He lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter. He is a fan of Indian cricket and European soccer.

  • Two very different worlds, one based on humans and the other on technology, are becoming one blended, scalable solution we...Read More

  • Enterprise Blockchain is Not Dead

    October 20, 2024 | ,

    Blockchain isn’t dead. The technology has evolved, grown tougher, and found its niche in critical industries. This is more than just a simple opinion – as our HFS Pulse data reveals, the vast majority of enterprises still using blockchain today plan to increase their spending in the next two years – they wouldn’t do that without experiencing real value. In addition, the intersection of AI and blockchain holds incredible potential, particularly in addressing one of society’s biggest challenges: trustRead More

  • 2030 HFS Services Technology Vision: The Future of Services is No Services

    October 10, 2024 | ,

    By 2030, we will be engaging with services primarily through technology, minimizing human intervention and maximizing efficiency.  In fact, services will barely even be services anymoreRead More

  • Global Capability Centers (GCCs)… The direction Indian IT must take to pivot from cost to value

    August 14, 2024 | ,

    While tech and BPO service providers have grappled with flagging enterprise demand and other market pressures, GCCs have thrived, with HFS estimating 2000 expected to be in full operation in 2025.  So, are these GCCs genuinely the new face of Indian IT? And can they sustain their success and lead the Indian charge in global technology services?Read More

  • GenAI or Die

    We've finally reached the point in our careers when we need to learn new and more ingenious ways of doing things. No more papering over the cracks, no more passing the problems onto someone else to fix. YOU are the problem that now needs fixing. Generative AI is your secret weapon. It tears down barriers, fuels innovation, and keeps you ahead of the curve. Adapt or perish – the choice is yours.Read More

  • Businesses are in an arms race to create low-touch collaborative supply chains

    In the HFS Horizons: Supply Chain Services 2024 study, 18 supply chain services providers are analyzed and profiled. Seven of these providers are identified as leaders in Horizon 3, focusing on ecosystem collaboration. Seven are identified as innovators in Horizon 2, excelling in cross-functional alignment, and four are identified as disruptors, primarily working on function-level transformation.  Read More

  • From People to Tech arbitrage: Can we really survive this Great Services Transition?

    We are in the S-Curve evolution from People to Technology Arbitrage, that the Generative Enterprise demands. This is truly the Great Services Transition, where the entire financial construct of services relationships is being reinvented to capitalize on the complex new ecosystem of AI platform players, hyperscalers, data integration products, automation tools, LLM builders, and so on. Enterprises must address their debts in these four areas which have likely collected over the last 30+ years: People debt, Process debt, Data debt and Technical debt.Read More

  • GBS (Global Business Services) is dead. Long live GBS (Generative Business Services)

    March 16, 2024 | ,

    For more than two decades, Global Business Services (GBS), the centralized service delivery model leveraging a mix of internal shared services and/or 3rd party outsourcing, has been a tried and tested modus operandi for large enterprises to save costs, drive process discipline and improve compliance.However, with the rapid advent of real generative AI capability, the current GBS model is dated, fails to deliver much (if any) value beyond cost and efficiency and has struggled to create viable career opportunities for ambitious talent.  Let’s face it, GBS is still stuck squarely in the back office and fails to provide a career track for the best and brightest to pivot their firms into the generative AI era.Read More

  • Are the Big 4 about to get their lunch eaten by GenAI?

    January 29, 2024 | ,

    Up until November 30th, 2022, the Big 4 consultants dined on the ineptitude of large enterprises to move bad processes into the cloud, while the Indian heritage outsourcers fed on the tasty scraps of supplying armies of low-wage talent at scale to keep these hulking institutions somehow functioning. Nothing has disrupted the cozy status quo of big enterprise technology transformations more than GenAI.  It has been a true leveler across the industry where suddenly everyone is operating on a level playing field, trying to convince the world they have a better GenAI story than their competitors. Our industry has been equalized, and a new set of winners are going to emerge...Read More

  • Not even God can save DXC!

    December 21, 2023 | ,

    DXC Technology's latest play is to bring Raul Fernandez off the bench as the new interim chief and move on from a difficult four years under Mike Salvino, who's passing the torch. But when you look at the challenges facing this firm, you might just come to the conclusion that not even God can turn this one around.Let's not kid ourselves; this isn't your usual passing of the baton – it's more like handing off a ticking time bomb. The company's market value is literally running on fumes and barely a third of its revenue numbers. And that's not just a hiccup – it's a full-blown identity crisis.Read More