Intelligent Enterprise – Can we use Generative AI and Agentic AI to Reshore from India?

Vast amounts of work have been offshored, particularly by US and UK companies over the past 25 years.? The maturity of Generative and Agentic AI offers the opportunity to reshore much of that work.?

Those organisations that adopt the lessons of the Intelligent Enterprise will build the capabilities for change as Usual, and with that in mind, the capabilities to fully leverage Generative and Agentic AI, to bring back the IP and delivery from low costs offshore, to onshore maximising competitive advantage!

This will not necessarily create new jobs, but secure the skills, work and intellectual property of Onshore workers!

Offshoring Background and Status Quo

The offshoring of technology and business process automation work to India has been a dominant trend for UK and US companies, over the past 25 years, driven by the availability of a large, cost-effective labour force. However, the advent of Generative AI and Agentic AI presents new possibilities for automation that could reshape this landscape.?

• India's IT-BPM (Information Technology-Business Process Management) sector reached approximately $245 billion in FY 2023, with exports accounting for $194 billion (NASSCOM).? India employs over 5 million professionals in the IT-BPM sector (NASSCOM).
• UK IT services outsourcing market is projected to reach approximately ￡28.7 billion (US$39.99 billion) in 2024, driven by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.53%.? ?
• UK BPO market is projected to generate revenues of US$31.46 billion in 2025, with an anticipated annual growth rate of 5.25% from 2025 to 2029, leading to a market volume of US$38.61 billion by 2029.?

India has been a preferred destination for offshoring due to several factors:

• Cost-Effectiveness: Labour costs in India are significantly lower than in the UK and US. Skilled Workforce: India boasts a large pool of highly skilled technology and business process professionals.? Infrastructure: Established IT infrastructure and a mature outsourcing industry.

The question for CIOs, CTOs, CEOs and ultimately Political Leaders is then, should we allow India Inc to accrue the benefits, or do we use this generational opportunity to reevaluate where our work is done.?

Generative AI and Agentic AI: Introduction

Generative AI refers to AI systems that can generate content, such as text, images, and code, based on learned patterns from large datasets. Agentic AI, on the other hand, refers to AI systems capable of autonomous decision-making and performing tasks with minimal human intervention.?

Generative AI and agentic AI technologies are poised to significantly impact the offshore technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) landscape.

Quantifiable Impact of GenAI/Agentic AI

• Gartner predicts that by 2025, 70% of organisations will implement structured automation architectures, up from 20% in 2021.
• McKinsey estimates that 44% of core IT activities could be automated with existing technologies.
• World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2023 indicates 42% of task hours will be completed by machines by 2027.

Potential Impact on Indian Offshoring

Potential Productivity Improvements

The integration of Generative AI is projected to enhance productivity in India’s IT industry by 43% to 45% over the next five years. Software development roles may see productivity boosts of around 60%, with BPO services and IT consulting experiencing increases of 52% and 47%, respectively.?

Generative AI and Agentic AI have the potential to automate a significant portion of low and medium complexity tasks currently performed by the Indian workforce.

For example:

• Customer Support: AI chatbots and virtual assistants can handle routine customer inquiries, reducing the need for human intervention.
• Data Entry and Processing: AI systems can accurately process large volumes of data, eliminating manual data entry tasks.
• Software Development: Generative AI can assist in writing and debugging code, speeding up the development process.
• Business Analysis: AI tools can analyse large datasets to provide insights, helping analysts make informed decisions quickly.

The question is then, are we automating the work of Indian workers or replacing the work of Indian workers.

Commercial, Economic and Political Implications

The question for COOs, CIOs, CTOs, CEOs and ultimately Political Leaders is then, should we allow India Inc to accrue the benefits, or do we use this generational opportunity to reevaluate where our work is done.?

With Economic turmoil, pressures on market as well as Data protection, should organisations seek to onshore these tasks? The reality is that the India Government has not been the biggest supporter of the UK (or for that matter US) in recently international geo-political events. That said, the UK economy is very closely coupled with India in a number of traditional industries such as Steel and Automotive, as well as the heavy use of Indian IT/BPO companies.

To maintain high quality onshore work, and the workers who deliver that, UK & US CEOs and theorists politicians will need to closely consider how dependant they should be on offshore companies.

Leveraging Generative and Agentic AI to deliver key work, but with that work orchestrated onshore rather than offshore, creates an opportunity to reduce that dependency! Those organisations that adopt the lessons of the Intelligent Enterprise will build the capabilities for change as Usual, and with that in mind, the capabilities to fully leverage Generative and Agentic AI, to bring back the IP and delivery from low costs offshore, to onshore maximising competitive advantage!

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