HFS PODCASTS

In this insightful conversation, Phil Fersht, CEO and Chief Analyst at HFS Research, sits down with Angan Guha, CEO & MD at Birlasoft and a global tech and services industry veteran. With over 30 years at Wipro and now leading a fast-growing mid-sized IT firm, Angan shares his unique perspectives on leadership, global capability centers (GCCs), the evolving role of Indian IT, and how GenAI is reshaping the workforce.

From navigating geopolitical shifts and economic uncertainty to preparing talent for the AI-driven future, this discussion is packed with practical wisdom, career advice for the next generation, and reflections on what it takes to differentiate and thrive in a rapidly changing industry.

A must-watch for anyone interested in digital transformation, talent strategy, and the next wave of innovation in tech services.

Financial stability for health plans remains a priority as transformation and healthcare model evolutions take place around the world. In this episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Rohan Kulkarni, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, engages in a thought-provoking discussion with Kim Dalla Torre, Global and Americas Health Leader at EY.

Key discussion points include:

• The imperative for service providers to engage with the largest and fastest-growing segment in the industry.
• The increasing role of self-insured employers
• A re-evaluation of value-based care and emerging business models
• The workforce crisis and the pressing need for systemic transformation.

David Cushman, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, sits down with Alan Flower, Executive Vice President – CTO & Global Head, AI & Cloud Native Labs at HCLTech, to explore how HCLTech is driving real return on investment (ROI) from Generative AI at scale.

Key highlights from the discussion include:

• Clients now understand the use cases and focus on becoming AI-native enterprises by re-engineering their business models around AI.
• HCL developed an AI Clinical Advisor for a major U.S. healthcare provider. It saved 3 minutes per 20-minute consultation, translating to $50M/year in labor cost savings.
• Agentic AI introduces new HR/organizational complexities, including who "manages" AI agents and how to measure or assign responsibility for their performance.

A Spotlight on Innovation: Penske’s AI-Driven Transformation with Hitachi Digital Services - Penske, in collaboration with Hitachi Digital Services, is setting a new benchmark for the future of fleet management through AI-led innovation. This strategic partnership has focused on enhancing vehicle uptime, operational efficiency, and customer experience by transforming maintenance practices from reactive to predictive.

Penske and Hitachi Digital Services co-developed cutting-edge, AI-powered fleet solutions that have already demonstrated significant impact. These solutions have prevented over 90,000 breakdowns and enabled more than 117,000 efficient repairs. This transformation has reduced operational disruptions and delivered measurable business value, highlighting the power of AI in real-world applications.

David Cushman, HFS Executive Research Leader, sits down with Paul Roehrig, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Ascendion, to discuss how to time your move on enterprise AI, why software development is the ideal starting point, and how AI is freeing us to rethink work after decades of production-line thinking.

Key discussion highlights include:

• When and how to time your move on enterprise AI
• Why software is the pivot point to start accelerating AI adoption
• How AI creates the opportunity to break free from outdated ways of thinking and working

In this exclusive videocast, Phil Fersht, CEO and Chief Analyst at HFS Research, speaks with Venu Lambu, CEO (Designate) at LTIMindtree, in a candid and forward-looking conversation about the future of enterprise transformation in the AI era.

Venu shares his vision for leading LTIMindtree through a strategic inflection point—where AI, enterprise productivity, and outcome-driven thinking are reshaping the services landscape. He introduces a two-playbook strategy: integrating AI into traditional IT services, and reimagining business processes to unlock enterprise-wide productivity.

Together, they explore how organizations can move beyond cost-centric models to become truly relevant transformation partners.

Key topics discussed:

• Evolving from legacy IT to enterprise-wide, AI-driven productivity
• Shifting from revenue share to client relevance
• Building risk appetite to embrace transformative AI
• Redefining the role of service providers in the automation age
• Navigating economic and geopolitical uncertainty with resilience

Watch now to hear how LTIMindtree is redefining the enterprise services model for the AI-powered future.

In this edition of Unfiltered Stories, HFS's Don Ryan speaks with KPMG leaders Ron Walker and Thomas Davies about the essential components for successfully deploying managed services at scale. They discuss the differences between traditional outsourcing and managed services, highlighting the importance of technology, expertise, and collaboration. The conversation emphasizes the transformative potential of managed services, particularly in sectors such as finance and cybersecurity, and the crucial role of AI in enhancing service delivery. They also examine the distinctive aspects of KPMG's approach, which include their advisory capabilities and a focus on stakeholder alignment and change management.

The key points discussed include:

• Managed services are gaining traction across most enterprise functions and applications.
• Managed services provide a pathway to automation and widespread AI usage.
• Managed services are foundational to many transformational initiatives.

How are enterprises leveraging AI, analytics, data platforms, and automation to drive real business impact? In this exclusive conversation, Chetan Manjarekar, SVP and Global Head of Digital with Eviden, an Atos Group Company, joins HFS Research to break down the latest trends, challenges, and innovations shaping the generative enterprise. From customer experience to data readiness and co-innovation, discover how Eviden leads the charge in digital transformation.

The key points discussed include:

• AI & automation are reshaping enterprise transformation: GenAI and automation are now central to digital transformation, but success depends on aligning technology investments with clear business outcomes.
• Customer, employee, and partner experience are interlinked priorities: 75% of enterprises prioritize customer experience, but organizations are now equally focused on improving employee and partner experiences to drive holistic transformation.
• Data readiness is the biggest AI adoption challenge: 74% of organizations struggle with fragmented, inconsistent, and unstructured data, limiting AI’s full potential. Eviden tackles this with its Data Readiness Assessment Framework to improve governance and accessibility.
• AI investments are surpassing traditional analytics: A major shift is happening; AI spending is set to grow from 19% to 31% in two years, overtaking analytics. AI is increasingly embedded in enterprise applications, automation, and smart platforms.
• Co-innovation & responsible AI will define industry leaders: Eviden emphasizes co-innovation with customers and partners to develop industry-specific AI solutions. Responsible AI, data governance, and security are critical for sustainable success.

Watch now to explore key insights and what’s next for AI-powered business evolution!

Join HFS Practice Leader Ashish Chaturvedi and C TWO CEO Erik Lien as they unpack the critical business imperatives behind intelligent automation orchestration. Discover how effective orchestration can significantly boost bot utilization, simplify governance, and drive measurable ROI. Explore insights on transitioning from siloed RPA to unified AI-driven automation, managing autonomous AI agents, ensuring compliance, and leveraging advanced analytics to optimize automation strategies.

The key points discussed include:

• Maximizing automation ROI: Intelligent orchestration increases bot utilization by over 50%, reduces manual overhead by 75%, and resolves up to 90% of support issues.
• Breaking automation silos: Effective orchestration integrates fragmented automation initiatives, moving enterprises beyond isolated RPA deployments to comprehensive intelligent automation platforms.
• Governance and compliance: Orchestration provides essential governance, auditability, and error handling, ensuring compliance with evolving regulatory frameworks like the EU AI Act.
• Managing autonomous AI agents: Advanced orchestration manages deterministic bots and autonomous AI agents seamlessly, ensuring control, prioritization, and efficiency at an item level.
• Future automation landscape: The convergence of automation, AI, analytics, and optimization through orchestration platforms is key to achieving higher efficiency, governance, and business-driven insights.

Ted Shelton, Chief Operations Officer at Palo Alto-based Inflection AI, sits down with HFS Executive Research Leader David Cushman to discuss how Agentic is changing the pace of enterprise AI adoption.

Key themes explored:

• The waves of agentic AI adoption—and how they’ll reshape the enterprise
• Why observability and reversibility are non-negotiable in agentic deployments
• How leaders can harness AI’s cognitive surplus to unlock new business value

Agentic AI is here—and it’s moving fast. Enterprise leaders must take control, demand visibility, and build systems they can trust and refine.

How are enterprises navigating the AI-driven era? In this videocast, HFS Research and Infosys BPM explore the challenges and opportunities of Generative AI, enterprise transformation, and the shift to Generative Business Services (GBS). Featuring insights from industry leaders, we discuss the culture shift, data readiness, AI adoption hurdles, and the move from pilot paralysis to real-world impact.

The key points discussed include:

• Generative AI and its role in enterprise strategy
• One-Office Mindset: Overcoming organizational silos
• Data readiness and AI adoption challenges
• The evolution from Global Business Services (GBS) to Generative Business Services
• AI talent and skill gaps in the digital transformation journey

Explore the key insights from the HFS Horizons AADA Quadfecta study with WNS, a Horizon 3 leader. In this videocast, industry experts discuss how AI, Automation, Data Platforms, and Analytics are transforming enterprises and driving smarter, more agile operations. Discover how WNS is leveraging AI-powered innovations, hyper-automation, and data-driven strategies to stay ahead in this rapidly evolving space. Tune in to learn about emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the future of digital transformation.

The key takeaway from the discussion includes:

• WNS's Recognition as a Leader in AADA Quadfecta WNS emerged as a Horizon 3 leader in the HFS AADA Quadfecta study, which assessed 27 providers across AI, Automation, Data Platforms, and Analytics.
• This recognition underscores WNS's strong capabilities in delivering transformative solutions for enterprises.
• The Rising Importance of AI in Enterprise Investments AI spending is rapidly increasing, projected to grow from less than 20% to nearly one-third of total AADA investments in the next two years.
• WNS is strategically responding with initiatives such as its AI Utilities Hub and AI Labs, which focus on integrating AI across automation, analytics, and data platforms. Building a Strong Data Foundation for AI Success A robust "data spine" is critical for leveraging AI and automation effectively.
• WNS helps clients build unified data architectures and real-time data fabrics to improve governance, quality, and orchestration, delivering significant cost savings and operational efficiency.
• Convergence of AI, Automation, and Human Intelligence Automation has evolved from RPA to intelligent automation, driven by AI capabilities such as NLP and machine learning. WNS’s AI + HI (Human Intelligence) model ensures AI handles routine tasks while humans focus on strategic decision-making, optimizing both cost and effectiveness.
• The Future of Digital Transformation with Agentic AI Agentic AI is redefining process automation by enabling self-learning AI agents to break down complex workflows and enhance decision-making.
• WNS is leveraging this approach in industries like logistics to drive business transformation and align with HFS’s Services Vision 2030 for outcome-driven, productized service delivery.

Want to dive deeper into the transformative potential of AI, Automation, Data Platforms, and Analytics? Watch the full discussion to explore key insights from the HFS AADA Quadfecta study and discover how WNS is approaching this exciting space.

The use of low-code has grown significantly and has been boosted by GenAI tools. These tools allow companies to work with partners to accelerate software development and rapidly bring new solutions to market. In this episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Joel Martin, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, talks with SP Singh, SVP, Service Offering Head at Infosys.

Find out how Infosys enables its customers to accelerate the SDLC with low-code and GenAI frameworks.

In this edition, HFS Elena Christopher and Cognizant's Nageswar Cherukupalli, Meena Athinathan, and Manan Gauba discuss the findings of HFS' Horizons report "The Best Service Providers for Commercial Banks, 2025." They discuss the top trends in commercial banking, including macroeconomic impacts, the unique nature of CX in commercial banking, the trends toward build AND buy, and how Cognizant is approaching these challenges with its clients.

You will learn:

• The nuances of how commercial banks can cater to the needs of a range of commercial customers, from SMBs to corporates.
• How personalization, connectivity, security, and trust are essential to successful CX in the commercial banking domain.
• The essential role of ecosystem partners and the rise of service providers as ecosystem orchestrators.

Eclypses, an HFS Hot Tech, has radically reimagined how to secure data in transit without the IT overhead and complex staff training. Its MTE solution is cloud-native and is being adopted by leading companies as a game-changing tech. In this episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Joel Martin, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, is in conversation with David Gomes, Chief Executive Officer at Eclypses.

Topics covered include:

• Eclypses takes a different approach to cybersecurity by focusing on data protection rather than just preventing breaches.
• The Secure MTE Relay technology encrypts data on the application layer, ensuring they cannot extract valuable information even if bad actors gain access.
• Ease of deployment is a key feature, with many customers implementing the technology in under 60 minutes.
• Eclypses is data agnostic, meaning it can protect various types of data, including sensitive information and credentials.
• The technology addresses eight of the top ten API vulnerabilities identified by OWASP.
• Eclypses has built a partner ecosystem to effectively enhance its market presence and mitigate risks.
• The company is focused on regulated industries, such as healthcare and finance, where data security is paramount.
• Eclypses’ cryptographic library is built on NIST-approved algorithms, making it quantum-resistant.
• Cloud-native technology can be deployed on platforms like AWS and Azure.
• Customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many success stories reported.

Data is a firm's most valuable asset, so it must be protected. With its MTE technologies, Eclypses offers a cloud-native solution that is easy to deploy and offers immediate benefits.

In this conversation, Rohan Kulkarni, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, and John Squeo, Sr. Vice President, Healthcare Providers at CitiusTech, discuss the findings of the HFS Horizons HCP Service Providers 2024 study. They highlight healthcare systems' challenges, particularly financial pressures and the need for holistic care. They also explored the evolving role of technology in healthcare, emphasizing the importance of interoperability and personalized care to improve patient outcomes.

You will learn:

• Financial pressures take center stage for health systems and hospitals that inform their buying behaviors.
• Service provider capabilities and attitudes shift toward the possibilities as they get bolder.
• Despite progress, opportunities continue to be missed to address the triple aim of care.

rhino.ai delivers services-as-software solutions that combine IT, app development, and business requirements to deliver platform agnostic IT and business outcomes. In this episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Joel Martin, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, is in conversation with Himanshu Arora, Chief Operating Officer at rhino.ai

Topics covered include:

• Legacy Technology Debt and AI Transition
• Revolutionizing Software Development with Universal Application Notation (UAN) and the Universal Application Notation (UAN) Benefits
• Platform's Unique Features and Scalability
• Ava's Integration and App Modernization
• Improving Application Design and Naming
• Exploring AI Integration and Collaboration

Don't buy GenAI tools that only improve software development and SDLC productivity, look for solutions that solve business outcomes.

In this conversation, Reetika Fleming, Executive Research Leader at HFS, talks with Abhijit Shroff, Head of Product Growth at Soroco, about how interaction data can be used in large enterprises to achieve a number of business and technology transformation goals and how Soroco's Scout product is evolving along with advancements in AI and data, expanding its use cases with strategic clients.

You will learn:

• Interaction data is essential for understanding how businesses operate. However, many organizations need to pay more attention to its value.
• AI models can transform complex and noisy interaction data into actionable insights.
• Generative AI can document processes in a way that is easy for humans to understand.
• By comprehending user interactions, organizations can optimize software usage.
• Disconnection debt may cause inefficiencies in various processes.
• Organizations must measure the ROI of generative AI, ensuring that data drives new technology adoption.

Interaction data provides behavioural aspects of how teams interact with software to drive business operations at scale across a large enterprise and help them optimize them.

In this conversation, Reetika Fleming, Executive Research Leader at HFS, speaks with Vijay Pahuja, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Insurance at Sutherland. They discuss how Sutherland brings a fresh, data-driven approach to transforming legacy insurance systems.

Key takeaways include:

• Sutherland is positioning itself as a challenger in the insurance sector.
• While legacy technology often poses challenges for insurers, a business-led approach can help unlock the value of these older systems.
• Sutherland's unique market position focuses on outcome-based engagements and highlights the industry's potential for significant change due to cultural shifts and technological advancements.

In this conversation, Abhijit Dubey, CEO of NTT DATA, discusses the company’s global consolidation strategy, uniting its capabilities outside Japan to create a single, full-stack IT services provider. He highlights how this consolidation enhances innovation, sustainability, and client value while addressing the challenges of balancing cost optimization with cutting-edge transformation, the impact of generative AI, and the evolving talent landscape in the industry.

You will learn:

• Global Consolidation: NTT DATA unified global operations to strengthen innovation and client services.
• Innovation and Sustainability: The company invests 30% of its profits in sustainable, energy-efficient technologies.
• Generative AI Focus: Significant investments in generative AI, including developing tsuzumi, a lightweight AI model.
• Skills Arbitrage: A shift toward specialized skills as the key differentiator in IT services.
• Talent Challenges: Addressing the industry's need for continuous upskilling and talent retention.

Join us for an exclusive Fireside Chat featuring HFS Research CEO and Chief Analyst Phil Fersht, who speaks with Kevin Campbell, CEO of Syniti. They discuss the essential role of strong data foundations in today’s enterprises, explore the growing shift toward a software-centric approach in service delivery, and discuss the strategic alignment and future potential of Syniti as it joins the Capgemini family.

Don’t miss this compelling discussion.

A dive into how SnapLogic's industry-leading generative AI tools for application integration development tools. HFS Executive Research Leader Joel Martin in conversation with Manish Rai, VP of Product Marketing at SnapLogic.

In this videocast, you will learn how generative AI and APIs can accelerate application modernization and data integration.

According to a recent survey conducted by HFS in collaboration with Syniti, it was revealed that one-third of executives feel that less than half of their organization's data is usable, indicating a significant gap in readiness for GenAI. The encouraging news is that data management firms like Syniti are poised to assist enterprises in establishing the necessary infrastructure to dismantle data silos and provide reliable, actionable, and transformed data to power GenAI models.

Beyond just achieving better results, the significance of laying a solid data foundation extends to the scalability and outcomes-driven nature of GenAI deployment. We aim to delve deeper into how a robust data foundation is crucial for making GenAI solutions scalable and results-oriented.

Tech Mahindra emerged as a Horizon 3 Market Leader in the HFS Horizons: High-Tech Services, 2024 report, standing out among 17 IT services firms. In this episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Harshul Asnani, President Tech Media & Entertainment Business at Tech Mahindra, joins Joel Martin, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, to share what sets Tech Mahindra apart and how it continues to thrive as a key partner in the technology industry.

Discover how Tech Mahindra’s "born in the industry" mindset enables high-tech companies to leverage cutting-edge solutions and customer-centric innovations like Sandstorm to drive talent, technology, and transformation outcomes.

In this episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Rohan Kulkarni, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, and Kim Dalla Torre, EY Global Health Sector Leader, discuss the pressing financial challenges facing health systems and hospitals today. They explore the critical need for innovation to address these issues and improve patient care.

Topics covered include:

• Financial pressures on health systems post-pandemic.
• The growing demand for care and the funding gap.
• How service providers are evolving to meet complex healthcare challenges.
• Missed opportunities to achieve the triple aim of care.
• EY’s leadership in smart care model transformation, recognized in Horizon 3.
• Innovation’s role in enhancing clinician work-life balance and patient outcomes.
• Why remote monitoring should be a key part of patient care.
• The importance of trust in building successful healthcare partnerships.

Based on insights from the HFS Horizons HCP Service Providers 2024 study, this discussion provides a roadmap for healthcare organizations striving for sustainability and innovation.

In this episode of Unfiltered Stories, Saurabh Gupta, President of Research and Advisory Services at HFS Research, sits down with Jason Kelley, GM of Strategic Partners at IBM Consulting, Stacy Short, SAP Global Partnership Executive at IBM Consulting, and Christine Rhoads, Global VP of Business Development at SAP. Together, they explore the 52-year partnership between IBM and SAP and its lasting impact on the tech industry.

Key insights from this discussion include:

• Partnerships are vital in technology, enabling companies to leverage each other’s strengths and deliver greater value to customers.
• IBM’s transformation into a hybrid cloud AI company was driven by strategic shifts toward open platforms and strong partnerships.
• The IBM-SAP partnership is built on trust, communication, and commitment and has evolved over the last 52 years to deliver value to joint customers.
• The Value Generation Partnership Initiative helps enterprises tackle their technology, data, process, and skills debt using the power of generative AI.
• The panel shares their vision for the future of the partnership, focusing on delivering next-level customer value, achieving business outcomes, and adapting to the fast pace of change.

In the latest episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Melissa O'Brien, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, is joined by Shashank Verma, SVP and Global Head of Data and AI Led CX Transformation at EXL, to discuss how customer experience is transforming in the age of AI.

In this episode, we cover:

• The increasing demand for CX services.
• The importance of domain intelligence, tech expertise, and commitment to business outcomes in driving successful transformation.
• The changing needs of customers and the impact of emerging technology, particularly GenAI, on customer experience.

Shashank Verma foresees a shift toward increasingly personalized and sophisticated customer interactions, emphasizing the pivotal role of GenAI in enhancing contact center operations and driving the development of autonomous agents.

Clinical innovation is a critical value creation that service providers like SoftServe are embracing, enabling, and delivering more consistently. HFS Executive Research Leader Rohan Kulkarni discusses the findings of our recently released study, the HFS Horizon Healthcare Provider Service Provider 2024, with John Edwards, VP Healthcare Solutions Consulting at SoftServe.

You will learn:

• Financial pressures take center stage for health systems and hospitals that inform their buying behaviors.
• Service provider capabilities and attitudes shift toward the possibilities as they get bolder.
• Despite progress, opportunities continue to be missed to address the triple aim of care.

HFS analyst Ashish Chaturvedi discusses the current GenAI picture in the consumer goods industry with Caitlyn Carr from Coca-Cola Bottlers Sales and Services and Wendy Earon from Genpact.

You will learn:

• The GenAI potential in the consumer goods industry is high, but adoption is a meager 11%. What are the biggest barriers, and why are enterprises taking it slow?
• What are some high-potential use cases in consumer goods, and how are they being identified?
• The role played by Genpact in Coca-Cola Bottlers Sales and Services' GenAI pursuits.
• How important is talent, and how do we nurture people?
• Consumer Goods companies must look beyond their GenAI investments' productivity gains. How is Coca-Cola Bottlers Sales and Services approaching this maze?

In this edition of Unfiltered Stories, Joel Martin, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, is joined by Abhay Chaturvedi, Executive Vice President, Tech Industries at HCLTech to discuss why HCLTech is a Horizon 3 Market Leader in the latest HFS Horizon report on High-Tech services.

Key Point Discussed:

• Bringing an engineering mindset to co-innovation with high-tech firms is critical to executing at scale.

In this edition of Unfiltered Stories, HFS Executive Research Leader Melissa O'Brien discusses the value of the ecosystem in the travel, hospitality, and logistics industries with Hemal Shah, Global Head of Travel, Transportation, Hospitality & Logistics Business at Sutherland.

You will learn:

• THL industry leaders must embrace their ecosystems and emerging technology to advance to the next horizon of differentiation and experience.

Join us for an exclusive Fireside Chat as HFS Research CEO and Chief Analyst Phil Fersht speaks with Ritesh Idnani, CEO and MD of Firstsource. Ritesh shares valuable insights on the company's remarkable growth in the service industry and discusses how technology shifts and disruptions have shaped their journey.

Don’t miss this compelling discussion on AI adoption and automation and how Firstsource is integrating this technology into its operations.

In this exclusive Fireside Chat, HFS Research CEO and Chief Analyst Phil Fersht talks with Keshav Murugesh, Group CEO of WNS. Reflecting on their 14-year journey, they discuss the transformative impact of AI and generative AI on the business services industry. Keshav shares insights on navigating disruptive technologies, leveraging AI to innovate and drive business performance, and the evolving role of strategic partnerships. They also discuss the importance of ethical AI, transparency, and accountability in AI development. Don't miss this engaging dialogue on the future of AI in business and how companies like WNS are taking charge of digital transformation.

In this edition of Unfiltered Stories, Ashish Chaturvedi, Practice leader at HFS, discusses the frenetic space of Enterprise Supply Chains with Yash Chauhan, Global Head at Neo Tangent.

The conversation covers:

• What's driving increased investments in supply chains.
• Understanding the visibility, resilience, and agility triad in supply chains.
• Neo Tangent's three-pronged go-to-market strategy for supply chains.