No, this is not the latest streaming drama. It is decidedly real. Every professional services firm on the planet must reinvent itself to take full advantage of the blazingly fast pace of artificial intelligence (AI). Professional services, at its core, is a people-based business. Its fundamental currency is people with deep tech, engineering, domain, and process skills. As AI, led by the latest incarnations of generative and agentic technologies, increasingly executes many functions and capabilities outsourced to professional services firms, these firms must figure out how to adapt or be left behind. This is the Software-as-Services era, an emerging $1.5 trillion opportunity that will cannibalize both software and services markets.
HFS attended Genpact’s FOCUS 2025 event in Jaipur, India, to hear the latest from the business process services specialist and its one-year-in CEO, BK Kalra. In BK’s words, “It’s time to be bold.”
Genpact FOCUS is an annual event attended by customers, partners, and primarily employees. It’s an all-in-one extravaganza to reach many audiences with a single event. The key mission of FOCUS 2025 was to showcase the hard pivot Genpact is taking to embrace the Services-as-Software era. The event heralded Genpact’s 20th anniversary and one year of BK at the helm. BK kicked off day one and closed day two, focusing on the theme of “Tomorrow. Today.” This theme reflects both Genpact’s internal transformation and what it wants to bring to clients. The engine of the strategy is a strong pivot to advanced technologies, led by AI and its recently launched Service-as-Agentic solutions. Genpact no longer wants to be known as a business process outsourcing company. Honestly, this has been true for years, but now it’s a matter of survive or thrive. It must ensure that reputationally and services-wise, every possible scrap of services is infused with AI + data + hypertech. This is its nuanced update to the data-tech-AI messaging and financial reporting Genpact has used for the past few years. The re-ordering is not accidental. Make no mistake—AI leads.
The roadmap looks like this:
Genpact has long been the heritage BPO firm that was the most tech-centric. This is not wishy-washy conjecture – it’s a straight-up fact supported by its financial results. Genpact started reporting its data-tech-AI revenue in FY 2022 as a foil to its digital operations business. At the close of FY2024, each contributed nearly a 50/50 revenue split, with data-tech-AI (6.9% growth) slightly outpacing ops (6.1% growth) year-over-year. This skinny margin of difference is a crystal-clear indicator of the need for a major advanced tech pivot. Genpact cannot continue sprinkling AI, automation, and analytics on the processes and work it manages for clients—helping things run a bit faster and a bit cheaper. It has to fundamentally change the model, moving from being people-led and FTE-contracting to autonomous AI software-led based on outcomes to break the linear results model. Per BK, Genpact wants to be “a different company you will still recognize.”
The 2025 plan is to ramp its advanced tech capabilities. The pivot was primed in 2024 with various new hires aligned to upping its technology chops, including appointing a chief technology and innovation officer. They also amped tech partnerships with the likes of AWS, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, and Microsoft. In calendar Q1 2025, we’re already starting to see the ramp to Services-as-Software with the launch of its AI Gigafactory accelerator (see HFS’ take here) and its Service-as-Agentic solutions.
Its first Service-as-Agentic solution launched is “Genpact AP Capture,” an offering designed to enhance the accounts payable function with faster, higher-precision invoice extraction. HFS tested a live demo. It is not rebranded CORA, nor is it PowerPoint fluff. The next Service-as-Agentic releases will also focus on accounts payable. The finance and accounting focus is notable as it’s been a sweet spot for Genpact as CFOs strive to modernize the finance function.
While the advanced tech pivot is critical, so is an internal cultural shift. Genpact has scads of great BPO sales and delivery people who need to be indoctrinated to Services-as-Software so they can develop various essential new competencies, including product management, ecosystem expansion and curation, and simplified commercial models beyond people-based FTE pricing or complex gain-sharing models. FTE models must be put out to pasture and replaced by outcome-based models enabled by AI.
A who’s who of enterprise clients attended FOCUS 2025. They all had kind words for Genpact, typically from years of effective, outcome-based partnerships. What HFS did not hear from the clients was a full understanding of the path forward. They understood the words but not the change requirement. This is not Genpact’s fault. As a study HFS conducted in partnership with Genpact in 2024 showcased, a small minority of enterprises have reached GenAI maturity (see Exhibit 1).
Q. What best describes the status of GenAl solutions deployment?
Q. What percentage of your organization’s technology budget is dedicated to GenAl initiatives?
Sample: 666 executives
Source: HFS Research in collaboration with Genpact, 2025
**Deniers include respondents excluded from the study due to having no GenAl initiatives or plans.
All enterprises want AI value but are stuck in the same linear, productivity-fueled results cycle because they don’t want to or don’t know how to change the way work is executed. HFS engaged with about 20 Genpact enterprise clients at FOCUS 2025 across sectors including retail and CPG, manufacturing, high-tech, automotive, banking, and insurance. The prevailing sentiment was “we’re trying to figure out what to do at scale” with a much less pronounced side of “we’re ready, let’s go!”
This was largely a population of business leaders—COOs and a few CFOs. CIOs are dominating AI in the enterprise as they own the tech strategy and associated budgets. Business leaders want in but are uncertain how to stake their AI claim. This is the path forward for Genpact—bringing AI to the business by updating processes to be agentic-ready. Enterprises must focus on the outcomes—not the required people or the shiny new tech—but on what they can achieve.
Genpact is leaning into AI and the promise of the Services-as-Software era. It has no choice. To ignore this impending reality is to be completely tone deaf to burgeoning technology trends. HFS applauds the proactive stance—it clearly wants to be the architect of its reinvention, not the recipient of imminent decline. The firm must make itself client zero to be successful. It needs to help all its loyal clients and clients-to-be see and understand the impact and potential of the current and fast-paced future iterations of AI and agentic solutions.
Genpact must be the example to help take its clients on the AI journey. This includes becoming AI-led, not people-led, which requires both a tech and culture pivot underpinned by new commercial models and strong ecosystem cultivation. Enterprise business leaders will embrace the change when they see its value and outcomes. The enterprise mission remains the same—to drive top-line, bottom-line, and stakeholder value. Genpact must prove this is possible with AI-led solutions not ever-escalating headcount. It is, indeed, time to be bold. This is the opportunity of a lifetime for Genpact and its clients.
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