Francisco D'souza on IT services business model
From Francisco D'Souza Of Recognize & BHP's CFO Vandita Pant On Trump 2.0 & Its Impact | Davos · · CNBC-TV18
“The moment has come now where Services businesses have to get more and more IP intensive. The old model of providing just people and very knowledgeable capable people without some form of software or other IP... you've got to have some of that in order to be competitive. So I think the IT services firms of the future are the ones that are going to be willing and able to invest in creating that specialization.”
On , Francisco D'souza, Former Chief Executive Officer at Cognizant, spoke about IT services business model during Francisco D'Souza Of Recognize & BHP's CFO Vandita Pant On Trump 2.0 & Its Impact | Davos on CNBC-TV18.
About Francisco D'souza
Francisco D'Souza, co-founder of Recognize and former CEO of Cognizant, appeared on CNBC TV18 on April 29, 2026, to discuss what he called "the great decoupling" in the IT services industry. He stated that "code has never been more valuable" but "the value of the act of coding is going to zero," adding that abundant code does not necessarily translate to reliable software. D'Souza described the current moment as a "tremendous opportunity" for the services industry, as the world becomes more technology-intensive and firms that can deliver code reliably and with strong ethics will remain relevant. In the interview, D'Souza outlined four structural changes firms need to make to adapt, as described in a white paper: moving toward effort-agnostic commercial models (pricing based on delivered value rather than effort); prioritizing impact over head count in internal culture and client conversations; creating proprietary IP in chosen areas; and shifting from a pyramid-shaped to a diamond-shaped talent geometry. He acknowledged that outcome-based pricing has historically been difficult to implement but suggested output pricing—based on a volume metric relevant to the client—as a "solid middle ground." D'Souza noted that input pricing will remain valid for some work, and that a combination of input, output, and outcome pricing models is likely in the future.