TCS asks employees to use AI even if it means cannibalising revenue streams

TCS CEO K Krithivasan says associates should adopt AI proactively and offer AI-first solutions to clients, even if it cannibalises existing revenue streams

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services company, wants employees to proactively use artificial intelligence (AI) even if it means “cannibalising revenue streams”, nudging them at a time when the industry is worried about the technology’s impact on billing models and jobs.

 

“We are not afraid this technology will take away our livelihood. We believe it is going to open up more [opportunities], so you enjoy the benefits the more you do and not by resisting the change,” said K Krithivasan, chief executive officer and managing director of TCS.

 

“We are telling associates that if you find that you can do something faster, better, cheaper with AI, you should probably go and tell your customers, even if it cannibalises revenue,” he said during a panel discussion at the 34th Nasscom Technology Leadership Forum in Mumbai, referring to a term the company sometime uses for its employees.

 

TCS, in its second quarter results for FY26, announced that it aims to be the world’s largest AI-led technology services company.

 

Krithivasan said achieving that goal requires widespread AI fluency across the organisation. “Creating AI fluency, ensuring that our associates are not scared of this technology. All our associates are given sufficient access for them to play around with it.”

 

He added that the transformation must begin at the top. “The most important point is how do you train the senior management. What we find is our associates at junior level are more comfortable and proficient in technology. As people go to senior level, they hear a lot of technology but they do not dirty their hands. We are insisting that every senior folk has to build something.”

 

Asked about incentivising employees, Krithivasan said, “We don’t have to really incentivise because everybody wants to learn this tech. We need to tell them that one, I am giving them enough opportunity to learn, two I am encouraging them to ensure that the solution you provide to your customer is AI first, as I said — even if it means that we are cannibalising the delivery. We are helping them to be staying correct in this new world.”