The narrative around AI often sparks fears of job losses, particularly in the tech services sector. But a report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) offers a different perspective, suggesting a new wave of AI is set to create fresh opportunities.
First, What Is Agentic AI?
Before
diving into its impact, it's crucial to understand what makes 'agentic AI' different from the chatbots and generative AI tools we've become familiar with. Think of generative AI, like ChatGPT, as a tool that responds to a specific prompt. You ask it to write an email, and it does. Agentic AI goes a step further. It refers to AI systems that can understand a broader goal, create a plan with multiple steps, use various tools, and execute that plan autonomously with minimal human supervision. An AI 'agent' isn't just a passive assistant; it's an active, goal-oriented system. For example, instead of asking it to 'draft an email to a customer,' you could give an AI agent the goal to 'reduce customer churn'. The agent might then analyze CRM data to identify at-risk customers, draft personalized outreach emails, schedule follow-up calls, and track engagement, all without step-by-step commands. It's the shift from AI as a reactive tool to AI as a proactive coworker.
The Old Model vs. The New Opportunity
For decades, the business model for Indian tech services giants has been built on providing skilled human capital to execute tasks defined by clients—writing code, managing infrastructure, or handling customer support tickets. Agentic AI directly challenges this model by automating many of these routine, rules-based tasks. However, the BCG report highlights that this disruption also creates a massive opportunity. While AI efficiencies might reduce revenue from existing services by around $200 billion, it's expected to simultaneously create $300-$400 billion in new demand, leaving a net new market opportunity of up to $200 billion by 2030. This new work isn't about simply doing the same things cheaper. It's about moving up the value chain from execution to strategy and orchestration. The demand is shifting from needing armies of coders to needing experts who can design, build, deploy, and govern complex agentic AI systems for clients.
What Does 'New Work' Actually Look Like?
The new roles created by agentic AI require a blend of technical skill and business acumen. Instead of just writing code, the jobs of the future in tech services will include titles like 'AI Orchestrator,' 'AI Trainer,' or 'AI Governance Specialist'. An 'AI Orchestrator' would be responsible for designing and managing teams of AI agents to solve complex business problems, like optimizing a supply chain or personalizing a marketing campaign. This involves defining the high-level goal, selecting the right agents, and ensuring they collaborate effectively. Another emerging area is 'Applied AI,' which focuses on building and running these agentic solutions in a live production environment. According to BCG, this is where AI-native firms currently excel, with 90-95% of their AI workforce in this area, compared to just 10-15% at traditional tech services firms. The new work also includes modernizing clients' data infrastructure and building the 'context pipelines' that feed agents the enterprise-specific knowledge they need to function effectively.
The Strategic Imperative for Indian IT
For India's multi trillion dollar tech services industry, this is a pivotal moment. The country's demographic dividend and large pool of engineering talent remain significant assets, but a strategic pivot is necessary. The demand for AI engineers in India is already surging, with one report noting a 260% year on year growth in demand for agentic AI engineers in 2026. The challenge, as BCG notes, is not a lack of talent but the ability to rapidly identify, upskill, and deploy the existing workforce for these new, higher value roles. Companies must move from being providers of human led execution to becoming strategic partners in AI led transformation. This involves a fundamental shift in mindset—from fulfilling service level agreements for specific tasks to taking ownership of business outcomes. The firms that succeed will be those that invest heavily in training, redesign their delivery models around human agent collaboration, and develop new commercial models that reflect the value of strategic AI orchestration, not just billable hours. This is less a technology upgrade and more an organizational reinvention.
