Pricing will be split between engineers, virtual agents in 5 years: Cognizant CFO Jatin Dalal | Bengaluru News

Bengaluru: As AI reshapes pricing power, Cognizant CFO Jatin Dalal told analysts that within three to five years, pricing will split into two components: one for engineers and another for virtual agents. “Five years from now, we will have a slightly different profile than what we were in the last two decades. One price will be for human agents or engineers and another for virtual agents,” said Dalal. He was speaking at the Nasdaq Investor Conference in partnership with Jefferies.Dalal’s statement comes after Surya Gummadi, president of Cognizant Americas, said that pricing would evolve a great deal in the next six months, focused on outcomes. In an earlier interaction with TOI, Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar said about 20% of the code was coming through AI. The Nasdaq-listed firm said that its AI efforts freed up 12,000 people due to its AI and automation efforts.Dalal said that the push to transition from legacy systems to modern technology stacks is fuelling tech spending in the BFSI sector. Despite being a core vertical, it faced pressure from macroeconomic uncertainties driven by the Russia-Ukraine war and customers turning cautious by pulling back discretionary spending.BFSI has shown some promise in the small deals segment, which typically costs less than $50 million. “In 2023, we saw a sharp drop in smaller deals, reflecting a pullback in discretionary spending across the industry. Last year was more stable, with deal activity staying within a range and declining at a slower pace. The fourth quarter showed the first signs of renewed momentum in smaller deals. However, the first quarter of this year returned to a more status quo environment—except in BFSI. The BFSI sector started allocating more discretionary projects compared to four quarters ago, indicating a pickup in momentum,” he said.Cognizant secured three mega deals before June, driven by upfront investments aimed at delivering the outcomes customers wanted during the projects. Dalal reiterated what Gummadi said about the tariffs. BFSI, communications, media, and telecom are unimpacted, while manufacturing, products, and healthcare are witnessing an impact of tariffs.