(TCS) has said that as high as 80 per cent of its new hires will be talents with digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) skills going forward.
In an interview with PTI, the company’s chief operating officer Arathi Subramanian said, “Of the 4,500 that we have added in Q2, I would say safely 25 to 30 per cent are pure AI and total about 80 per cent is new age.”
When Subramanian was asked if the proportion of hired based on AI skills will remain the same going forward, she said that it will and that the talent required is available in the Indian market.
When asked if this is an advantage for freshers over mid-career professionals, since their AI nativity as well as relatively lower costs would be advantageous, she Subramnian said this is an advantage for people willing to “unlearn and learn”.
“If a mid-level engineer is willing to learn, it gives a huge advantage because he or she understands what is the technology landscape, what is the domain,” K Krithivasan, the company’s chief executive and managing director, said while pointing out that a junior engineer might not be able to understand the same.
TCS will continue to invest in “niche talent” going forward as well, as per Krithivasan, who also said that mergers and acquisitions and partnerships will be other areas of investments.
What is TCS’ share of AI-led work in overall revenue?
The PTI report reveals that the share of AI-led work in TCS’ overall revenue grew to 10 per cent in the recently concluded September quarter.
India’s largest IT services company said a growth in the share of AI revenues will help it expand its profit margins, which remain below its aspirational levels.
As per Krithvasan, the trend of of growth in AI revenues will also help from a profitability perspective.
“As these (AI) deals increase in volume, you would see that there will be margin (benefit),” PTI quoted him as saying.
Subramanian said customers are signing up for an AI deal in a small vertical, and expanding then asking for an expansion of the same work in other areas as well once the efficacy of the spending gets established.
To a question on what is the proportion of AI in new deal signings and how much of the USD 9.6 billion in total contract value of Q2 is AI, Krithivasan said the company is very conservative while classifying a deal as a an AI one, but added that there is some aspect of AI in virtually all the work that it is doing at present.
When asked if two recent deal wins on Porsche and Best Buy, where a contract is accompanied with absorbing the clients’ staff into TCS, portends to challenges in the market, Krithivasan replied in the negative.
“These two are opportunities where our customers come to us and we have discussions on how we help them transform themselves and make them AI first,” he said.
With PTI inputs