Despite AI, you need people to execute tech for clients: Cognizant CEO

Automation, decline in traditional services, and protectionism in main markets weighing on IT sector

Even as automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are taking over the information technology (IT) services world, people are still required to execute and transform projects for clients, says Cognizant CEO Francisco D'Souza.

The IT services industry is facing the triple challenge of growing automation, a decline in traditional services, and protectionism in their main markets like the US. For Cognizant -- which is based in the US but follows the model of Indian companies, given that it has a large base of workers in low-cost countries like India -- being closer to client has helped win deals. At the same