Technology Consulting in Transformation: Stefanini, Thoughtworks, and Capgemini at the AI Crossroads
In 2026, major technology consultancies face an unprecedented dilemma: the AI they sell as a solution to their clients is compressing the demand for the services that have historically sustained their revenues. Stefanini, Thoughtworks, Capgemini and their Indian counterparts are recalibrating business models, leadership structures, and value propositions with an unusual speed for the sector.
The central paradox facing technology consultancies in 2026 is both simple and devastating: AI-driven software automation reduces the demand for software development hours, which is precisely the main product that most of these firms sell. The consultancy that implemented AI for a client has effectively diminished its future business base with that client.
Thoughtworks and the Post-Apax Restructuring
Thoughtworks, a technology consultancy with a strong presence in Brazil and globally renowned for its agile engineering practices, underwent significant leadership and structural changes in 2024-2025. The company, which went public on Nasdaq in 2021 with a valuation of US$ 8.3 billion, faced market pressure due to the widespread decline in valuations of IT services in 2022-2023.
CEO Guo Xiao led a strategic review focused on positioning Thoughtworks as a transformation partner driven by AI, instead of merely a provider of development capacity. This shift in positioning is crucial: instead of selling "300 engineers for 18 months", the company now offers "digital transformation architecture and AI acceleration". The difference in value proposition implies higher margins and longer engagement cycles.
Capgemini and European Scale
Capgemini, with revenues exceeding US$ 22 billion and more than 350,000 employees, is one of the largest technology consultancies in the world. Under CEO Aiman Ezzat, the company has heavily invested in its "Intelligent Industry" offering, merging industrial automation, cloud, and generative AI for manufacturing and energy.
Capgemini's challenge is scale: with this number of professionals, the transition from a headcount-based business model to one based on intellectual property and automation is a multi-year operation, not a matter of months. The company reported in 2025 that generative AI projects already represent an increasing share of its pipeline, but that the pricing model is still under development to capture value effectively.
Stefanini and the Brazilian Positioning
The Stefanini Group, founded in 1987 in São Paulo by Rafael Stefanini and now operating in over 40 countries with around 30,000 professionals, represents one of the most successful models of Latin American technology consultancy with global scale. The company has been investing in building its proprietary AI layer on top of traditional IT outsourcing services, aiming to improve margins in a market where the commoditisation of development services puts pressure on prices.
Stefanini serves Fortune 500 companies and global competitors like Infosys and Wipro. The differentiator the company claims is its ability to combine global scale with local market knowledge, especially in regulated sectors such as finance and healthcare.
What the Major Indian Consultancies Are Doing
TCS, Infosys, and Wipro, the three largest Indian IT consultancies, are each responding to AI pressure in distinct ways. Infosys, under CEO Salil Parekh, has announced an "AI-first" stance prioritising internal reskilling and the development of proprietary AI intellectual property. Wipro, following the CEO change with Srinivas Pallia taking over from Thierry Delaporte in 2024, is investing in acquisitions to build AI capabilities more rapidly than organic development would allow.
For companies hiring these services, 2026 is a time for contract reviews: those established in 2021 or 2022 were priced in a world where value was measured in human coding hours. Renegotiating contracts based on outcomes and AI-driven automation benefits clients who know how to negotiate, but requires both sides to define value metrics that are not yet standard in the market.