Market View
Navigating the AI transformation journey: How global service providers are reimagining value creation
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Vipul Mehta
Senior Vice President of Private Equity & Portfolio Transformation at SaxeCap
About Vipul Mehta
Vipul Mehta serves as Senior Vice President of Private Equity & Portfolio Transformation at SaxeCap, where he plays a dual role—evaluating AI potential in investment opportunities and leading end-to-end transformations across portfolio companies. He is passionate about leveraging AI to reinvent legacy business models and unlock innovative value creation opportunities. With leadership experience at Evalueserve, EXL, and S&P Global, Vipul brings a sharp blend of strategic insight and execution rigor. Based in Gurugram, India, he combines his technical foundation from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi with a global track record of delivering enterprise value through top-line growth and operational efficiency.
How do you see the service provider landscape evolving as AI capabilities mature?
The service provider landscape is experiencing both remarkable opportunities and significant risks as AI capabilities mature. On the opportunity side, generative AI has enabled capabilities that were technically impossible just few years ago. These new possibilities create top-line growth through innovative service offerings while simultaneously driving operational efficiencies across organisations.
AI transformation holds immense potential for boosting business profitability—not only by improving operating margins through automation and efficiency, but also by enhancing existing products and unlocking entirely new service lines that drive top-line growth. However, the low barrier to entry means the competitive landscape is shifting fast. We’re witnessing a surge of innovative tech startups leveraging AI to disrupt traditional models, intensifying pricing pressure and challenging the competitive advantages of incumbents.
We're witnessing a surge of new startups that are completely reimagining traditional business processes. This influx of competition means incumbents must be exceptionally adaptable and nimble to remain competitive. The historical cost arbitrage model, where organisations relied on labour cost differentials across regions, is being fundamentally challenged. Processes that were once heavily reliant on human capital are now prime candidates for AI-driven transformation—unlocking opportunities for margin expansion, but also posing risks of revenue cannibalization as clients become increasingly aware of evolving capabilities and cost efficiencies.
The industry must navigate these opportunities and risks strategically, transforming business models from traditional FTE-based approaches to more outcome and transaction-based structures that better align with AI-native delivery capabilities.
In today’s environment, earning a dollar is easier than saving one—making it even more critical to unlock new value. Market momentum is being shaped by a dual push: modernizing legacy processes while launching entirely new service lines. The real opportunity lies in a balanced approach that drives both operational efficiency and innovation-led top-line growth.
What changes are you seeing in how clients value service delivery?
Generative AI has created a wildfire of interest among clients, dramatically increasing their expectations and demands. A couple of years ago, clients were comfortable with certain processes being performed status quo. Now, during renewal discussions, they come with substantially higher expectations, often informed by what they've seen emerging AI-native companies achieve.
This shift has created better bargaining opportunities for clients, putting significant pressure on service providers to deliver more value. In response, we've adopted a more consultative approach, working to understand clients' evolving needs – particularly requirements that weren't feasible to address before recent technological advancements.
The speed of innovation has also accelerated dramatically. Proof of concepts that previously took months can now be completed within days. This acceleration is how established service providers can address emerging risks and meet elevated client expectations. The challenge is finding ways to balance innovation with maintaining existing revenue streams, especially when automation might initially appear to displace existing revenue streams.
How are you identifying where AI can add the most value in service delivery?
What's remarkable about generative AI is that it adds value across the entire value chain and all departments. Unlike previous technologies that were domain-specific, generative AI is domain-agnostic. A solution developed for one area can often be easily adapted for use in another, creating a multiplier effect on your investment.
From enhancing product offerings with new customer support systems to improving operational efficiency in corporate functions like HR, legal and finance, the applications are extensive. The technology works effectively across languages as well, eliminating translation dependencies that previously created bottlenecks.
For example, a researcher who discovers a relevant document in Spanish previously needed to wait for a translator to extract insights. With generative AI, this translation and analysis happens within seconds. This cross-functional, cross-language capability creates impact throughout the organisation, from front-office functions to back-office operations.
The approach that's delivering the greatest impact is what I call an 'AI-native' approach, where instead of simply layering AI on top of existing processes, we completely redesign workflows with AI as the foundation and human expertise as a complement.
What benefits have you seen from your AI initiatives?
We've experienced both quantifiable and non-quantifiable benefits from our AI initiatives. On the quantifiable side, we've significantly improved organisational profitability by automating processes in both corporate functions and core business operations. This automation has substantially reduced our cost of goods sold, directly impacting gross margins.
On the non-quantifiable side, we've seen improvements in quality, velocity, throughput, NPS and CSAT scores. These metrics are critical for remaining competitive in an increasingly AI-enhanced marketplace. The approach that's delivering the greatest impact is what I call an "AI-native" approach, where instead of simply layering AI on top of existing processes, we completely redesign workflows with AI as the foundation and human expertise as a complement.
How do you balance quick AI wins against longer-term scalable solutions?
This requires a balanced approach as there's no definitive right or wrong answer. In my experience, quick wins often lead to more scalable solutions – you typically can't jump directly to large-scale implementations. We start with small proof of concepts to validate the art of the possible. These quick wins build credibility and confidence with both clients and internal sponsors.
Once we've demonstrated success with these smaller initiatives, we can expand to broader, more sustainable projects – what I call a "land and expand" approach. Even when a quick win doesn't scale immediately, it provides valuable insights into possibilities and limitations that inform future implementations.
The key is maintaining a balance between proving immediate value and building toward strategic, enterprise-wide transformation. Quick wins shouldn't be isolated experiments but should instead align with and contribute to your longer-term vision for AI-enabled service delivery.
The historical cost arbitrage model, where organisations relied on labour cost differentials across regions, is being fundamentally challenged. Processes that previously required hundreds of full-time employees can now be easily automated.
About SaxeCap
SaxeCap is the leading AI transformation platform in private equity, operating at the intersection of technology and value creation. As an AI transformation and investment holding company, we partner with over 40 private equity funds and 100+ portfolio and independent companies globally to revolutionize traditional industries through generative AI, traditional AI, and automation. We have driven over $2B in enterprise value expansion across sectors such as business services, software, healthcare, financial services, and media. Our transformation practice—SaxeCap Transformations—works closely with 7 of the top 10 global PE funds by AUM, enabling accelerated growth, operational efficiency, and digital reinvention at scale.
About Enate
Enate is the leading SaaS solution for business services. Enate orchestrates work from start to finish, giving clients the visibility and control needed to deliver better services. From email management and data analysis to intelligent document processing, Enate also offers a host of touch-button AI features designed to slash the time spent on manual work. Trusted by global service teams, Enate ensures smooth, consistent operations that help clients perform at their best.