Industry Leaders Debate AI Agents And The Future Of SaaS
ECONOMY & POLICY

Industry Leaders Debate AI Agents And The Future Of SaaS

At the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, a high-level panel of industry chiefs explored whether AI agents are fundamentally disrupting the traditional Software as a Service model. Panel included Salil Parekh, Chief Executive Officer of Infosys; K. Krithivasan, Chief Executive Officer of Tata Consultancy Services; C Vijayakumar, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of HCL Technologies; and Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Salesforce India. The discussion was moderated by Amitabh Kant and focused on enterprise readiness, operational change and customer-centred adoption.

Bhattacharya cautioned against market oversimplification and said that sustainable SaaS outcomes depend on understanding workflows, identifying customer pain points and driving adoption through observability, governance and auditability. She argued that changes in ways of working would not substitute for delivering real customer value and that long term sustainability requires demonstrable outcomes. The panel stressed that application development must be aligned with enterprise processes rather than mere interface or coding trends.

Krithivasan described a shift in the software engineer role towards high level architecture and rigorous validation while noting that enterprise adoption requires significant groundwork from data rationalisation to application modernisation. He predicted expansion in the volume and complexity of what can be produced rather than contraction of the sector. Vijayakumar underlined that large language and foundational models are not yet optimally applicable to many enterprise use cases and explained that his firm is building intellectual property and specialised services, including physical AI and agentic AI, to bridge the gap.

Parekh highlighted the scale of opportunity, saying that AI was creating a 300 billion (bn) dollar services opportunity and pointing to legacy modernisation as an example where orchestration of foundation models with specialised agents can unlock measurable value. The panel concluded that AI agents would reshape business and operating models but would not render them obsolete overnight. Success in the AI era would depend on agility, enterprise readiness, orchestration and the continuous ability to solve real customer problems in complex digital ecosystems.

At the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, a high-level panel of industry chiefs explored whether AI agents are fundamentally disrupting the traditional Software as a Service model. Panel included Salil Parekh, Chief Executive Officer of Infosys; K. Krithivasan, Chief Executive Officer of Tata Consultancy Services; C Vijayakumar, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of HCL Technologies; and Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Salesforce India. The discussion was moderated by Amitabh Kant and focused on enterprise readiness, operational change and customer-centred adoption. Bhattacharya cautioned against market oversimplification and said that sustainable SaaS outcomes depend on understanding workflows, identifying customer pain points and driving adoption through observability, governance and auditability. She argued that changes in ways of working would not substitute for delivering real customer value and that long term sustainability requires demonstrable outcomes. The panel stressed that application development must be aligned with enterprise processes rather than mere interface or coding trends. Krithivasan described a shift in the software engineer role towards high level architecture and rigorous validation while noting that enterprise adoption requires significant groundwork from data rationalisation to application modernisation. He predicted expansion in the volume and complexity of what can be produced rather than contraction of the sector. Vijayakumar underlined that large language and foundational models are not yet optimally applicable to many enterprise use cases and explained that his firm is building intellectual property and specialised services, including physical AI and agentic AI, to bridge the gap. Parekh highlighted the scale of opportunity, saying that AI was creating a 300 billion (bn) dollar services opportunity and pointing to legacy modernisation as an example where orchestration of foundation models with specialised agents can unlock measurable value. The panel concluded that AI agents would reshape business and operating models but would not render them obsolete overnight. Success in the AI era would depend on agility, enterprise readiness, orchestration and the continuous ability to solve real customer problems in complex digital ecosystems.

Related Stories

Gold Stories

Next Story
Resources

Schindler named among Forbes’ World’s Best Employers 2026

Schindler has been named among Forbes’ World’s Best Employers 2026, a global ranking recognising companies for their workplace environments.Compiled by Forbes in partnership with Statista, the ranking is based on independent employee feedback, including whether employees would recommend their organisation to friends and family.The company said the recognition reflected its focus on creating a workplace where employees can develop their expertise and build careers. ..

Next Story
Infrastructure Urban

India needs an export-execution mindset: Vishesh Jain

Interview with Vishesh Jain, Founder & CEO, EximpleWhat gaps in India’s global trade ecosystem led you to build Eximple, and what problem did you see businesses struggling with most?Eximple came out of a problem that all three founders had seen from different choke points in the trade ecosystem. India has millions of MSMEs and manufacturers, and many of them can make products that are genuinely competitive on quality. Yet only a small fraction is able to build meaningful international businesses. In our experience, the gap is usually not manufacturing capability; it is the ability to exe..

Next Story
Building Material

Nuvoco reports 13.5% revenue growth in Q2 FY27

Nuvoco Vistas Corp. Ltd. reported consolidated revenue of Rs 27.9 billion for Q2 FY27, up 13.5% year on year. Cement sales volume rose 9% to 4.7 million tonnes (MMT), while EBITDA increased 11% to Rs 4.11 billion.The company said it began its cement operations in 2014 with a 2.3 MMT per annum (MMTPA) operation at Nimbol. It now aims to reach 35 MMTPA of cement capacity by FY28, nearly 15 times its initial capacity. Its portfolio spans cement, ready-mix concrete and modern building materials.On sustainability and cost efficiency, Nuvoco partnered with CleanMax for a 46.4 MW wind-solar hybrid re..

Advertisement

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get daily newsletters around different themes from Construction world.

STAY CONNECTED

Advertisement

SPECIAL OFFER
QR Code