TCS Reboots Strategy for an AI-Led Future, Says COO Aarthi Subramanian

As the IT services industry undergoes its largest technological revolution to date, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has started a comprehensive internal and market-facing reset to get ready for a future driven by artificial intelligence. The increased effort is indicative of a fundamental change in the adoption of AI, which has moved decisively from proof-of-concept and pilots to massive deployments that are closely associated with ROI.

In an interview, Executive Director, President, and Chief Operating Officer Aarthi Subramanian stated that every interaction today is an AI conversation and that the current wave marks a deeper structural change than any prior technology cycle. A closely aligned leadership team is spearheading the change, with CEO K Krithivasan laying out the plan for TCS to grow into the biggest AI-led technology services provider in the world. In April 2025, Tata Sons reappointed Subramanian as COO as the biggest software company in India makes a big shift to artificial intelligence. She was the global head of delivery excellence, governance, and compliance at TCS before taking this position. She was also the chief digital officer of Tata Sons.

Why TCS is Focusing More on AI?

Geopolitical unpredictability and disruption from AI have hurt TCS's growth over the past two fiscal years, although in FY25, the company surpassed the $30 billion sales milestone. The corporation has made a number of drastic moves in the past six months, such as terminating 2% of its personnel, or roughly 12,000 workers, going into the data centre market, and closing its first acquisition in almost ten years. Krithivasan, according to Subramanian, is creating the company's future operating model in an AI-native environment while also forming the value propositions for customers and employees.

To increase its emphasis on large-scale delivery, TCS has recruited Amit Kapoor as chief AI and services transformation officer, reporting to Subramanian and chief strategy officer Mangesh Sathe. According to Subramanian, TCS is purposefully generating a large amount of leadership bandwidth since we are living in a time of unparalleled change. Driving change at scale requires a deep level of senior management, with Krithi at the forefront. She went on to say that her long-standing working relationship with Krithivasan is based on close cooperation and trust.

TCS’ 3 Step Engagement Mode to Allure Clients

TCS has established a three-step engagement mode—innovate with AI, create with AI, and scale with AI—that combines immersive CXO workshops, rapid-build prototypes that are provided in hours, and full-scale deployments that are finished in weeks in order to speed up client adoption. The goal of positioning TCS as an end-to-end AI player, encompassing data centre infrastructure, platforms, and intelligent agents, is the foundation of the overall approach.

This includes strategic acquisitions, new initiatives like its data centre organisation, and closer collaborations with hyperscalers, enterprise software companies, and AI-native businesses. Subramanian stated, "Our play is infrastructure to intelligence." "This is the time to go all out," she stated.

Additionally, TCS has started holding weekly AI Fridays at its physical AI laboratories, where cross-functional teams use time-bound sprints to develop solutions. According to Subramanian, this strategy is increasing learning at scale and flattening hierarchies. Over the past year, the number of workers with sophisticated AI skills has more than doubled to over 180,000. TCS is establishing itself as a real-life example of AI-driven transformation in addition to cultural change. AI-first solutions are being used to restructure internal IT, HR, finance, learning, procurement, and legal activities with an increased emphasis on ROI and productivity.