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Category: IT Outsourcing / IT Services
From Physical to Digital Labor: Will Salesforce’s AgentForce 2.0 replace traditional jobs and outsourcing?
Salesforce’s AgentForce 2.0 signals a new era of digital labor, redefining how enterprises manage productivity, outsourcing, and internal workforce models. By integrating AI-driven Digital Workforce Equivalents (DWEs) into its platform, Salesforce positions itself as a cornerstone of the agentic AI revolution, challenging traditional IT and outsourcing paradigms. We believe this release signals a clear path toward the services industry’s shift toward Services-as-Software.Read More
Global Capability Centers (GCCs)… The direction Indian IT must take to pivot from cost to value
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
Cognizant’s $1.3B Belcan Bet: A high-stakes move to disrupt the IT services stalemate with hybrid engineering, IT, OT, and BT capability
Cognizant's bold $1.3B acquisition of Belcan isn't just a headline grabber; it’s a game-changer in an IT services market that's hitting a plateau. Cognizant now becomes a formidable player in the engineering services industry with domain and technical expertise. The firm now needs is to cross the integration milestone seamlessly to build on this considerable momentum.Read More
Thierry was good in Theory but perhaps not as Palliatable as Pallia
After the failed experiment to make Wipro like a Big 4/Accenture-like firm, Wipro is going back to its Indian-centric 80-year heritage to deliver cost-efficiency, but with capabilities to support transformations, Cloud and GenAI. However, the firm has to play catch-up during the toughest time facing Indian-heritage outsourcing, and Pallia needs to weather more challenging quarters, impatient shareholders, and unrealistic expectations. Thierry hasn't left a great legacy to build on...Read More
Anatomy of a flail. Wipro’s acquisition of Capco three years in…
As we examine what Wipro has achieved in the three years since the acquisition, we regretfully opine that things have not gone well. There has been limited exponential impact from combining the two entities and 'strategy-led execution deals' have not materialized.Read More
India’s bloated IT services firms must learn from their startups to avoid GenAI meltdown
Having just spent a lovely week in India leading an HFS special event in Mumbai, followed by speaking at the Nasscom Technology Leadership Forum, I was overwhelmed with concern that so many leaders in India's services industry really have no concept of what is going to hit them. Indian support services could lose a million positions over the next couple of years as LLMs rapidly change how routine IT testing and coding work are delivered.Read More
Are the Big 4 about to get their lunch eaten by GenAI?
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
HFS is intrepid… apparently
Leading marketing strategy firm Antics has positioned HFS Research as "Intrepid" in a recent analysis of the leading tech analyst firms. Read More
The Truth might just help you win…
In 2024, I will push my team even harder to be brave and speak the truth in this world of bullish*t marketing, relentless hype, blatant lies, and swirl of nonsense. We have more than doubled HFS since 2019, so there is one lesson to take away from this: Truth sells!Read More
Services firms are out of runway. They must forget Labor Arbitrage and conform to Technology Arbitrage
The fundamental value creation lever in the legacy Labor Arbitrage era has been the centralization of people in a global delivery model. The fundamental value lever in the Technology Arbitrage era is all about architecting and orchestrating the rapidly changing technology ecosystem in line with the client’s business model. It’s past time for the IT and BPO Services industry to jump to a new S-curve driven by Technology Arbitrage if they wish to get back to another season of hockey stick growth.Read More
