{"id":1297350,"date":"2025-07-12T09:04:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T03:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/?p=1297350"},"modified":"2025-07-12T09:05:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T03:35:31","slug":"ex-ceo-of-cognizant-says-future-of-it-is-hybrid-humans-ai-working-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/ex-ceo-of-cognizant-says-future-of-it-is-hybrid-humans-ai-working-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-CEO Of Cognizant Says Future Of IT Is Hybrid: Humans &amp; AI Working Together"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The future of IT services is shifting toward a hybrid model, blending artificial intelligence (AI) with human expertise to modernize outdated systems and accelerate service delivery, according to Francisco D\u2019Souza, co-founder of private equity firm Recognize and former Cognizant CEO. D\u2019Souza emphasizes that legacy modernisation and backlog reduction are emerging as key areas of opportunity for IT companies, particularly as AI\u2014especially generative AI\u2014proves effective at understanding legacy code, replatforming systems, and generating test cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot-2025-04-13-at-9.24.46\u202fAM-1024x563-1.png\" alt=\"Ex-CEO Of Cognizant Says Future Of IT Is Hybrid: Humans &amp; AI Working Together\" class=\"wp-image-1297625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot-2025-04-13-at-9.24.46\u202fAM-1024x563-1.png 1024w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot-2025-04-13-at-9.24.46\u202fAM-1024x563-1-300x165.png 300w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot-2025-04-13-at-9.24.46\u202fAM-1024x563-1-768x422.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AI-Driven Hybrid Services: The Future of IT Transformation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He explained that many enterprises are still burdened by technical debt and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneycontrol.com\/artificial-intelligence\/future-of-services-is-hybrid-former-cognizant-ceo-francisco-dsouza-says-it-firms-well-placed-to-modernise-legacy-systems-article-13210035.html\">legacy systems,<\/a> which slow innovation. However, AI is now enabling faster resolution of these issues, helping companies address long-standing backlogs more efficiently. With Recognize closing its $1.7 billion second fund, D\u2019Souza highlighted the importance of evaluating how portfolio companies leverage AI internally and externally to drive transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>D\u2019Souza envisions a \u201cfundamental reset\u201d in the services industry, where the traditional labour-intensive models give way to intelligence-enabled service delivery. This hybrid approach involves automation, proprietary platforms, and intellectual property combined with skilled professionals. Full automation, he said, is unlikely due to the complexity of legacy systems; instead, a middle-ground model\u2014human workers augmented by AI\u2014is expected to dominate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AI Startups vs Legacy IT: A New Era of Enterprise Transformation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He compared this AI-driven disruption to earlier shifts in enterprise tech, like the rise of cloud computing. In contrast to the past, when businesses applied temporary fixes to legacy systems, modern demands for real-time responsiveness expose these systems as bottlenecks in an AI-first environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>D\u2019Souza also noted the contrast between large IT firms and lean AI-native startups. While traditional IT services companies work with legacy-heavy clients, AI-first startups, built on modern architectures, solve targeted problems rapidly. For instance, AI-powered startups like Cursor and Lovable have achieved $300 million and $40 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), respectively, with teams of just 20 and 15. As IT giants prepare for this transformation, the integration of AI will define the next phase of growth and efficiency in enterprise services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Francisco D\u2019Souza foresees a hybrid IT services future, blending AI with human expertise to modernize legacy systems and reduce backlogs. AI-native startups are rapidly scaling, while traditional firms face disruption. The shift toward AI-augmented service models marks a major reset in enterprise technology, emphasizing efficiency, automation, and real-time performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The future of IT services is shifting toward a hybrid model, blending artificial intelligence (AI) with human expertise to modernize outdated systems and accelerate service delivery, according to Francisco D\u2019Souza, co-founder of private equity firm Recognize and former Cognizant CEO. D\u2019Souza emphasizes that legacy modernisation and backlog reduction are emerging as key areas of opportunity [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":1297625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[271,5515],"class_list":["post-1297350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-ai","tag-hybrid"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ex-CEO Of Cognizant Says Future Of IT Is Hybrid: Humans &amp; AI Working Together - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/ex-ceo-of-cognizant-says-future-of-it-is-hybrid-humans-ai-working-together\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-CEO Of Cognizant Says Future Of IT Is Hybrid: Humans &amp; AI Working Together - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The future of IT services is shifting toward a hybrid model, blending artificial intelligence (AI) with human expertise to modernize outdated systems and accelerate service delivery, according to Francisco D\u2019Souza, co-founder of private equity firm Recognize and former Cognizant CEO. 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