As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape workplaces across industries, concerns about machines replacing human jobs remain widespread. However, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) believes the future of work will be driven by collaboration between humans and AI rather than outright replacement.
Speaking during the company’s first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday, Aarthi Subramanian, Executive Director, President and Chief Operating Officer of TCS, said enterprises are rapidly embracing AI to enhance productivity, improve operational resilience and accelerate business execution.
Agentic AI Becomes A Key Focus For Businesses
Subramanian noted that Agentic AI has emerged as one of the biggest topics in customer discussions this year, with organisations increasingly deploying AI agents to work alongside employees instead of replacing them.
“Agentic AI has rapidly dominated customer conversations this year,” she said.
According to her, businesses are combining agentic AI capabilities with contextual AI agents to improve operational efficiency while reducing time to market.
“Enterprises are combining Agentic capability from their existing tool investment with contextual agents for improving productivity and resilience while accelerating time to market as well,” Subramanian said.
AI Agents Deliver Faster IT Operations
Highlighting a real-world implementation, Subramanian shared how a major retail client has transformed its IT operations using AI agents.
The retailer has deployed 70 AI agents to manage more than 60 infrastructure and application workflows, integrating seamlessly with the customer’s IT Service Management (ITSM) tools.
The AI-powered system now performs continuous 24×7 monitoring, significantly reducing the need for manual oversight.
“For a large retailer, 70 agents are orchestrating IT Ops across more than 60 infrastructure and application workflows integrating with the customer’s ITSM tools. Continuous 24×7 monitoring and 24×7 operations has shifted from largely human monitoring to AI-led monitoring. The transformation has resulted in 30% faster remediation and 80% fewer incidents,” she said.
The company said such deployments allow employees to focus on higher-value and more strategic work, while AI handles repetitive monitoring and operational tasks.
AI Continues To Shape TCS Hiring Strategy
Beyond client projects, TCS revealed that artificial intelligence is also influencing its internal hiring and workforce development strategy.
The company said it continues to prioritise campus recruitment for AI talent while investing heavily in upskilling existing employees to meet the growing demand for AI-led projects.
However, TCS management cautioned that AI-related business differs significantly from conventional long-term IT outsourcing contracts.
“AI deals are not like long-term deals. They have to be won every quarter,” the management said, pointing to the rapidly evolving and highly competitive nature of the AI services market.
Demand For Responsible AI Continues To Grow
TCS also highlighted that revenue from AI services has been steadily rising as enterprises expand their investments in artificial intelligence.
At the same time, clients are placing increasing importance on AI governance, focusing on responsible deployment, regulatory compliance and risk management to ensure trustworthy adoption of the technology.
According to the company, organisations are increasingly embracing a “Human + AI” operating model, where AI augments human capabilities rather than replacing workers.
The approach enables businesses to execute tasks faster, improve decision-making and enhance overall operational efficiency while keeping people at the centre of enterprise transformation.