IT services in the era of enterprise AI: Five big opportunities for growth

AI will help IT experts do more, on a bigger scale and across a wider canvas, than ever before. A look at the five big opportunities it presents

India’s technology industry built its global position by doing something many thought it couldn’t —taking powerful new technologies and making them work, reliably and accountably, inside the world’s most demanding institutions. Some say artificial intelligence (AI) poses a fundamental threat to that model. But I think that far from being a mortal threat, AI is the most significant opportunity yet for enterprise IT. 

In late 2024, artificial intelligence reached what looked like an ominous milestone for India’s IT services sector. Agentic AI suddenly seemed capable of the main tasks our industry is built around — writing code, testing software, running technology operations. 

India’s Nifty IT index fell more than a third. Globally, shares in technology services and platform companies — from Accenture to SAP to Salesforce — plummeted. 

And yet, margins have held. Revenues are up. The deal pipeline is stronger than ever. 

So what’s going on? I believe the disparity stems from a misconception surrounding the relationship between AI and IT services. 

No one can deny that AI tools reduce the need for human input in the building and maintenance of software. Self-managing AI systems do not need ‘servicing’ in the traditional sense. 

However, AI does more than subtract the need for human effort. It also dramatically expands what is possible. When steam engines made coal more efficient, we did not use less coal — we used more, because it unlocked new uses and opportunities. AI will help IT experts do more, on a bigger scale, and across a wider canvas, than ever before.

 

As the cost of intelligence falls, many more processes, decisions and interactions — in many more industries — will become candidates for AI-driven transformation. 

Globally, three-quarters of enterprises expect spending on technology to increase over the next two years, largely thanks to AI. Our market is widening as organisations once unserved by IT services require our expertise for the first time. The global enterprise IT industry, currently worth around $1.6 trillion, is forecast to hit $3 trillion within the next decade — effectively doubling. 

There are, I believe, at least five big opportunities. 

The first is updating the primary technological functions that large businesses rely on. Many businesses are still working with fallible and outdated systems — old infrastructure, fragmented data, weak cybersecurity. Overhauling these essential functions is the starting point for enterprise AI, and will create substantial efficiency savings. Savings will allow businesses to reinvest in even better systems. The result is more spending on technology, not less. 

The second is in using AI to reimagine how businesses operate. Getting the most out of AI will demand a redesign of how work gets done, end to end, from supply chains to customer journeys. This demands a deep understanding of companies and sectors — IT services has that understanding. 

The third is managing and overseeing AI within organisations. Unlike traditional software, AI agents don’t stay where they are. They learn, act, drift off course and can even deteriorate over time. Getting them set up within an enterprise, training them on its specific context, monitoring performance, governing compliance and managing cost at scale will be a big challenge for enterprise in the AI era — and a big opportunity for established IT services firms. If maintaining applications was the defining annuity of the last era, governing intelligence will be the defining annuity of the next. 

The fourth is sovereign AI. As use of AI by governments increases, so will the need for states to own and control their own AI technology, meaning more demand for sovereign cloud and data infrastructure. Governments will also need help connecting AI to existing IT systems, and with making sure the right compliance and oversight systems are in place. Such work is long-term and complex and demands the kind of expertise and trust that only the most experienced firms can offer. 

Finally, physical AI. Today, AI primarily exists in the world of software and computers, but soon it will make inroads into the physical world — stores, factories, warehouses, energy networks, vehicles and supply chains. This will require experts and businesses who know how to link IT, AI, and physical equipment and infrastructure.

 

None of these opportunities can be captured simply by giving organisations access to AI technology. Enterprises need to organise their data, and integrate it into unwieldy IT systems that have evolved over decades. No one knows more about the computer systems of large organisations than the IT services firms that have spent years maintaining software, managing change and learning the exceptions that never appear in architecture diagrams. 

Of course, the AI talent gap between established firms and new challengers can be closed. But established firms still have the edge on what matters most: Trust. That trust derives from deep regulatory knowledge, strong client relationships and decades delivering infrastructure projects across borders. All will be of profound importance in the era of enterprise AI. 

The industry is already moving. Software engineering is reorganising around human-and-agent teams. AI agents are becoming a new category of workers within IT services firms themselves — not tools, but members of the delivery workforce. Soon, the number of agents operating inside an IT services firm may well match the number of human employees. 

New roles are emerging: Agent engineers who build and fine-tune agents; architects who determine how humans and agents divide tasks; AI governance specialists who keep agents compliant and accountable; AI transformation advisors who help enterprises navigate workflow reimagination; solution designers who translate business problems into agentic solution architectures; and AI assurance partners who help clients govern their own AI deployments. Every role demands a varied combination of deep technical skill and enough domain knowledge to make AI trustworthy. That combination, at the scale global enterprises require, is precisely what this industry is building. 

Indian IT companies did not earn their position by being the cheapest option. They earned it by being the most adaptable and trusted. The age of enterprise intelligence is the next chapter of that story. For an industry that has spent decades delivering at scale inside the institutions where the world actually runs, it is not a disruption to absorb. It is the defining opportunity ahead. 

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The writer is chairman, Tata Sons