‘IT sector will lead digital transformation wave’

The Indian information technology services sector has evolved over the last two decades from being a provider of talent and capabilities to partnering with clients in driving critical business decisions and digital transformation, top IT executives said. “Client expectation has changed over the years from driving operational efficiencies and cutting costs,” Thierry Delaporte, chief executive officer and managing director, Wipro Ltd, said on Thursday at a panel discussion at Nasscom Technology and Leadership Forum 2021. Covid-19 has accelerated digital transformation across industries and Indian IT services companies have the advantage to lead this wave in helping clients adopt cloud and digital, according to the executives. “People, passion and innovation are the among the biggest differentiators,” said C. Vijayakumar, president and CEO, HCL Technologies Ltd. “As a lot of us work for multiple industry segments, our ability to bring cross-industry expertize is also unique.” Riding on the demand for digital and cloud, IT services companies are also ramping up their large deals portfolio to accelerate revenue growth and more of such deals or contracts are expected as businesses gradually bounce back to pre-covid levels. “We have the advantage in terms of capabilities in digital and cloud as well as skill-sets of the people,” said Salil Parekh, chief executive and managing director, Infosys Ltd. Wipro recently signed a contract with German retailer Metro AG for an estimated $1 billion for over nine years, to drive Metro’s digital transformation agenda.