The next five years would come from digital. Barely a year later, the IT service provider’s digital revenue is already at $2.2 billion and Chandra is upbeat. “It has been another great year. Our industry is at an inflection point overall because technology, particularly digital, is gaining centre stage and is making a big impact on every other industry,” he says.
Digital has indeed been a game-changer for the $15.5 billion IT service provider, agrees Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst and CEO, Greyhound Research. “TCS embraced cloud much ahead of its competitors and it is the only company that is actually generating healthy revenue out of it, which is creditable.” Digital and cloud, explains Gogia, are low-margin and high-volume businesses and most companies, even the likes of Microsoft and IBM, that have moved to offering digital and cloud-based solutions are struggling.
While Krishnan is referring to long-term sustainability, Gogia of Greyhound says that, even in the short term, the biggest challenge TCS will face is how to re-skill its three lakh plus workforce in order to offer cutting-edge digital and cloud solutions. “They are investing a lot on re-skilling, but re-skilling such a huge workforce that has traditional IT skills is not going to be easy.”
Gogia agrees with Krishnan’s view that competition is also embracing digital and cloud skills aggressively, and while TCS does have the first mover advantage, sustaining the lead may not be all that easy. “TCS does have a futuristic vision, but they can’t be complacent. TCS has to prove its mettle in software, where the likes of Infosys are making consistent investments.”
Source: Business Today India