First, What is Agentic AI?
Think beyond today's AI assistants or chatbots that respond to specific prompts. Agentic AI refers to systems that can autonomously plan, reason, and execute complex, multi-step tasks to achieve a goal with minimal human supervision. Instead of just generating
code or text, an 'agent' can be tasked with an objective, like 'resolve a customer's billing issue' or 'optimise a supply chain'. The AI agent then independently breaks down the problem, gathers data, interacts with other systems, makes decisions, and takes action to complete the entire workflow. This moves AI from being a tool that assists humans to a digital team member that executes entire processes.
A $200 Billion Market Shake-Up
In a recent report, BCG lays out a dual reality for technology service providers: massive disruption paired with a significant growth opportunity. The firm projects that while agentic AI will drive efficiencies that reduce demand for some traditional services, it will ultimately expand the total market. BCG's analysis shows agentic AI could unlock up to $200 billion in net new value pools for the tech services industry within the next five years. This growth is expected to come from new demands and the expansion of work that can be outsourced as agentic tools mature. However, this expansion isn't guaranteed for everyone; it will require service providers to fundamentally adapt.
The Winners: Services in High Demand
The growth will be concentrated in new areas that support the agentic revolution. BCG's analysis shows that the primary value pools will be in building, deploying, and running agentic solutions. This includes a rising demand for high-value strategic work like use case design, agent workflow engineering, and infrastructure modernization. Companies will need experts to integrate these sophisticated AI agents with core enterprise systems like ERP and CRM platforms. Furthermore, as AI takes on more complex tasks, the need for robust human oversight, governance, and risk management will create another stream of essential services that clients will pay for.
The Losers: Services Facing Pressure
The efficiency of agentic AI means that many traditional, high-volume services will face significant pressure. BCG notes that agentic systems are already driving 'material reductions' in effort for workflows where human judgment is minimal. This includes services like Level 1 and Level 2 IT incident management, routine software testing, and basic code maintenance. In customer service, for example, AI agents are increasingly capable of handling inquiries from start to finish without human intervention. These commoditized tasks are where service providers will see demand and pricing shrink, forcing them to move up the value chain to survive.
The Shift for India's IT Giants
This market transformation holds profound implications for India's world - leading IT services sector. The old model , built on labour arbitrage for routine tasks , is directly in the path of disruption . The report highlights a critical gap : at typical tech services firms , only 10 - 15 % of the AI - tagged workforce focuses on 'Applied AI ' —the actual building and deployment of solutions . At AI - native firms , that figure is over 90 % . The challenge is not a lack of talent , but a need for a 'talent decision ' . BCG argues that firms must aggressively upskill their existing workforce , transitioning roles like data engineers and full - stack developers into new , AI - centric positions like 'semantic engineer ' or 'AI Ops engineer ' . The race is on to pivot from providing human - led execution to architecting AI - led outcomes.
