Mid-sized IT services companies are reshaping leadership teams as growth pressures linked to artificial intelligence force firms to rethink operations, delivery and client engagement.
Since late March, companies including Cyient, Sonata Software, Birlasoft, Coforge and Mastek have announced changes across finance, operations, delivery, technology and human resources leadership roles, reflecting wider churn in the sector.
Industry executives and analysts said the changes signal a broader shift as companies prepare for AI-led business models and tougher competition.
“The leadership movements we’re seeing reflect a broader reinvention underway across the IT services sector rather than firm-specific stress,” said Nitin Bhatt, technology sector leader at EY India.
| Company | Role | Appointed personnel |
| Sonata Software | CEO | Rajashekar Dutta Roy |
| COO | Suresh H. P | |
| CTO | Manu Swami | |
| CHRO | Balaji Kumar | |
|
Birlasoft
|
COO | Vikram Puranik |
| CHRO | Arun Rao | |
| Cyient | CFO | Shrinivas Kulkarni |
| COO | Prabhakar Atla | |
| Coforge | COO | Sunil Fernandes |
| Mastek | COO | Amit Gajwani |
According to him, software and services are converging, pushing firms to move from “people-led delivery models to AI-enabled, platform-driven and outcomes-based services”.
Bhatt said companies are reassessing leadership roles because AI is changing how technology services are sold and delivered.
“AI is also reshaping the nature of demand and expanding the buyer landscape beyond the CIO to include executives such as the COO, CMO and CFO,” he said, adding that companies now need leaders with both technology and business expertise.
Mid-cap IT service providers have outpaced tier-1 firms on revenue growth in the $300 billion industry, but are also facing pressure on margins as AI-led deflation weighs on contract pricing. While thus far, their smaller, agile organisational structure has lent an advantage, the companies are also growing in size, challenging the larger incumbents in the market.
The changing scale of mid-tier companies is also driving management changes, said Yugal Joshi, partner at US-based IT consultancy Everest Group.
“They are preparing for the step change. Companies are realising they have to put their internal house in order, which is largely the operating model part,” he said.
Joshi added that firms are strengthening partnership and go-to-market capabilities, explaining the focus on market-facing leadership roles such as chief operating officer and chief revenue officer.
Analysts said pricing pressure on deals is forcing companies to sustain growth while retaining the agility that helped them expand in recent years.
“The market is getting very, very aggressive in terms of how AI is reshaping the business model,” said Praveen Bhadada, chief executive of consulting firm Neovay Global.
He added that “20-30% of the deals are non-IT, non-CIO”, with business divisions increasingly influencing technology spending decisions.
Bhadada said the recent leadership changes fall into four broad categories: follow-through changes after CEO transitions, leadership resets at firms facing slower growth, appointments linked to AI-focused strategies and acquisitions, and executive movement between competing firms.
“All these four are at play right now, and the intensity is a lot more because the timing is such,” he said, pointing to mounting growth pressure and new investments/acquisitions across the industry.
