Digital Talent Capability: Enhancing Employee Experience to Secure Digital Talent

Gen AI has emerged as a central focus for service providers, fueling innovation and significantly enhancing productivity in both internal operations and client solutions. To support this, providers are actively investing in building a talent pipeline equipped with Gen AI expertise. At the same time, providers are dedicating substantial resources to improving employee experiences through upskilling opportunities, wellness programs, and AI-powered productivity tools. They are also strategically rolling out return-to-office initiatives, promoting hybrid work models by offering incentives to ease the transition and foster a balanced work environment.

These trends, among others, are covered in our Digital Talent Capability 2024 Market Insights™ and Digital Talent Capability 2024 RadarView™. The reports offer a comprehensive study of the digital talent capabilities of service providers and closely examine the market leaders, innovators, disruptors, and challengers.

We evaluated over 26 service providers across three dimensions: digital strategy and talent capabilities, talent transformation, and talent investments and innovation. Of these, we recognized 21 providers that brought the most value to the market during the past 12 months.

The reports recognize service providers in four categories:

• • Leaders: Accenture, HCLTech, IBM, Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra, and Wipro
  • Innovators: Capgemini, Cognizant, NTT DATA, and Persistent Systems
  • Disruptors: DXC, LTIMindtree, Mphasis, Randstad Digital, and Zensar
  • Challengers: Atos, EY, Hexaware, Stefanini, and UST

Figure 1 below from the full report illustrates these categories:

“In today’s talent war, providers need a multifaceted approach—attracting top talent while investing in upskilling through internal training and certifications in emerging tech,” said Akshay Khanna, managing partner at Avasant. “This will provide a competitive edge in a fast-changing human productivity paradigm and support the evolving customer needs.”

The reports provide a number of findings, including the following:

• • In the last six quarters, overall net head count addition for the top seven providers has been negative, as providers focus on maximizing productivity with fewer resources through Gen AI
  • Providers are focused on training employees based on their personas, with dedicated training modules tailored to each group
  • The war for AI talent will continue across industries as enterprises build internal teams to scale Gen AI initiatives
  • Providers are augmenting talent-as-a-service models to address the demand for new skill sets in emerging tech such as Gen AI and responsible AI
  • Simultaneously, providers are making strategic acquisitions to secure talent for industry growth and geo expansion and augmenting enterprise application delivery
  • Providers are also expanding their presence in emerging outsourcing hubs for government incentives and local talent access
  • Tier II and Tier III cities in India are emerging as key delivery center hubs due to lower operating costs, access to local talent, and attractive government incentives
  • Government agencies across the globe are responding to the rising demand for skills by launching initiatives to hire and train talent

“Over the past 12–18 months, the focus on employee experience has surged, emphasizing wellness, in-office engagement, and AI-driven productivity,” said Chandrika Dutt, associate research director with Avasant. “This renewed approach aims to strengthen return-to-work strategies and reduce attrition, ensuring a more engaged and productive workforce.”

The Digital Talent Capability 2024 RadarView™ features detailed profiles of 21 service providers, along with their digital talent strategy, talent investments, and experience assisting enterprises in solving digital talent challenges.

This Research Byte is a brief overview of Avasant’s Digital Talent Capability 2024 Market Insights™ and Digital Talent Capability 2024 RadarView™ (click for pricing).