Tata Consultancy Services
A well-pronounced Business 4.0 push and a well-etched Machinefirst strategy keeps the giant going fast on new tracks of digital transformation. Acquisitions add the fuel, at the right spots. But please don’t run out of talent gas or get stuck in the wrong lane
Awell-pronounced Business 4.0 push and a well-etched Machinefirst strategy keeps the giant going fast on new tracks of digital transformation. Acquisitions add the fuel, at the right spots. But please don’t run out of talent gas or get stuck in the wrong lane. FY 2019 transpired as another splendid year for TCS with its top-linerevenue touching the stellar US$20,000 Mn mark and that too, with an enviable operating margin of 25 percent. Despite its colossal base, it still managed to grow at an impressive clip of 11 percent. The company has been consistently clocking more than US$ 5B every quarter during the financial year. This growth momentum can be largely attributed to well-timed investments in innovation and its ambitious vision of Business 4.0: Agile, Machine-First. The Business 4.0 strategy is all about mass personalisation, leveraging the entire ecosystem, and embracing risk while creating exponential impacts. Digital forces galvanise as the key growth driver for TCS and this segment now accounts for close toone-third of its total revenues.
TCS has created a new brand called “Pace”, with a freshfocus of research, innovation and digital transformation services aimed at the core of their clients’ Business 4.0 journey.These innate strengths of the company spawn from one of the most balanced portfolios of offerings,a deep understanding of the unique contexts of legacy IT systems, robust automation strengths and an inimitable ability to digitally transform organisations at scale. This distils into a major differentiation advantage for TCS in comparison to its peers.
Needless to say,TCS is becoming the “Walmart of IT Services”. Its vision of Machine-First Delivery Model is bolstering TCS to tackle complex AI challenges by designing adaptive digital CX (Customer Experience) systems. It focuses on designing digital systems that require minimal human interventions to deliver superior customer experiences. These capabilities continue to learn from all interactions, aligning with thecore vision of giving the machines “the first right to refusal” inbusiness decision-making.
Incidentally, after a few years of inactivity on the M&A front, TCS has acquired a UK-based digital design agency named W12 Studios in November 2018. This player designs digital experiences covering brand, content and technology strategy. It is an intriguing move and will add creative and experience-design abilities to TCS Interactive’s portfolio. W12 also brings on board customers like CNN, Vodafone, F1 and Fios. Another acquisition of note here is that of BridgePoint Group, a small but significant addition to TCS’s basket.
This year the company announced many new developments around its flagship platform BaNCS for BFSI vertical. TCS also made announcements worth reckoning around some services like Enterprise Data Lake for Advanced Analytics, HOBS, Digital Reimagination Framework, Jile, Ignio, Intelligent Airline Operations Solutions and TCS Pace during the last fiscal year.
Some of the major clients witnessed during the year were Bonnier AB, NSDC, Transport for NSW, Bahrain National Holding, M&G Prudential, Concor, ALDO, Scottish Government, Thomson Reuters, SNIC, KCC, Standard Bank, Phoenix Group and Bihar Police.
TCS should push the envelope far ahead and upwards to the broader C-suite in its Business 4.0 digital transformation agenda rather than being tucked in its comfort zone of the familiar-set of IT leadership, CIO and ITCentric messagesamongst enterprises. TCS may have to rein in attrition with a renewed ferocity as the hunt for digital talent is catching up some real heat and can be a big wheel in the race for digital leadership ahead.