Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the IT industry had one of the largest shares in Ukrainian exports. In recent years, we have seen the opposite trend. In the first nine months of 2024, the decline in exports of IT services amounted to -4.9% compared to the same period in 2023, according to the NBU.
Among the reasons voiced by the market are the refusal of foreign clients to cooperate due to companies’ bans on contracts with Ukraine; restrictions on short-term work trips of Ukrainian IT specialists; and a low percentage of booked IT specialists.

However, the performance of global companies, which are the main customers of IT services, shows that they are not going through the best of years. The market capitalization of Accenture, Wipro, Capgemini, EPAM Systems, Infosys, or Globant has declined by an average of 20% over the past three years. While the S&P500 stock index grew by 25% over this period.

What are the reasons for the weakening of the global IT market and is it worth investing in service companies?
To answer these questions, we analyzed the latest quarterly reports of the world’s leading IT service companies and public comments by their CEOs. We found that the global IT outsourcing market is facing significant challenges that affect revenue growth and investment trends in the sector.
Three problems of IT development in the world
Restructuring: active cost reduction for corporate clients
Corporations or customers of IT solutions are becoming more selective about spending amid economic uncertainty, inflation, and shifting business priorities.
Many companies are focusing their budgets on large-scale, long-term digital transformation projects, while cutting back on smaller initiatives. Accenture and Wipro emphasize the slowdown in discretionary spending as their clients favor investments in hardware to support digital transformation.
Smaller projects are often postponed or canceled as enterprise clients reallocate resources to critical long-term investments such as AI-powered cloud transformation and enterprise-wide automation.
Challenges of AI scaling
Many corporations face significant obstacles in scaling AI projects due to internal limitations: outdated data infrastructure, security issues, and the gap between Proof-of-Concept and full production.
This gap prevents IT vendors from increasing revenues as the adoption of AI solutions is slower than expected.
One of the most significant challenges to AI scaling is critical gaps in digital infrastructure, analyzes Accenture CEO Julie Sweet. The reason is a hasty and reckless transition to cloud technologies during the pandemic to reduce infrastructure costs. As a result, many things need to be modernized or problems in the system need to be solved.
Now these processes are going hand in hand. On the one hand, there is a demand for transformation with the help of artificial intelligence. On the other hand, many organizations must first address the issues of cloud migration, data architecture, and ERP system modernization to fully unlock the potential of AI.
Economic decline in certain industries
In certain sectors, such as the automotive and metals industries, profitability and investment in development are slowing. This is due to economic uncertainty, supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical tensions.
As a result, global businesses are postponing or reducing investments in technology, and IT service providers are losing customers. The aerospace industry has shifted its focus from investment in development to cost cutting due to supply chain problems, Capgemini explains. This has affected the revenues of companies in Europe. Similarly, India’s Wipro saw a decline in the manufacturing and energy sectors – by 2% and 4%, respectively.
In Ukraine, IT companies face additional challenges due to the cautiousness of foreign customers and domestic restrictions related to martial law. Many foreign clients refuse to continue working with Ukrainian IT contractors, citing the ban on contracting with partners from Ukraine, Russia, or Belarus or strategies to mitigate risks to projects.
This approach also makes it difficult for Ukrainian IT companies to operate in the international market because of the impossibility of short-term business trips for IT teams.
Ensuring employee reservations remains critical for the IT industry. It is crucial for businesses to guarantee clients that the company is able to implement projects on time and in full.
In 2024, this challenge only intensified. Only the possibility of short-term business trips for key employees will allow companies to maintain existing contracts and attract new customers, emphasizes Stepan Mitish, Head of ERAM Ukraine.
Development strategies of global IT companies
IT giants are implementing innovative strategies to adapt to the constant changes and challenges of the industry. At the global level, CEOs of the largest companies share different approaches to transformation.
Five trends that are currently developing in the industry.
Transferring operations to regions with lower costs
IT companies are moving operations to more accessible regions: India, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. This allows them not only to reduce costs but also to gain access to numerous human resources, while serving fast-growing markets outside of traditional regions.
Generative AI is in the spotlight of the industry
Wipro and Capgemini executives are actively investing in the development of AI infrastructure, staff training, and human resources to meet customer demand for artificial intelligence.
Wipro has already certified more than 44,000 employees in advanced AI programs, and at Globant, almost all employees have mastered basic AI skills. This makes teams ready for future challenges and helps them stay competitive.
AI innovation centers as a lever for development
The development of R&D centers for AI and products such as chatbots demonstrates the industry’s determination to integrate artificial intelligence into daily operations and service delivery. Innovation centers dedicated to AI, such as the AI labs at EPAM and the Globant invention studio, are becoming important elements in the development strategy of IT companies. These centers facilitate in-depth research, development, and testing of new technologies, which makes it possible to launch AI projects faster, from the idea to the actual integration into products and services.
Optimization of budget decision cycles
Delays in budget approval for IT solutions have become a significant challenge for IT vendors. In response, companies are optimizing their operations and building closer relationships with customers, positioning themselves as reliable partners in strategic transformations. Even if project approval processes are delayed.
Accenture has introduced a fixed-fee model for AI project support, which provides clients with a transparent pricing structure, helping to increase cost predictability.
Adapting to the demand for multi-cloud and hybrid solutions
Customers’ need for multi- and hybrid cloud solutions is only growing. Therefore, IT companies are investing in the ability to manage complex cloud ecosystems on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud platforms. This allows customers to get a flexible and scalable infrastructure that meets their security and performance requirements.
However, active integration into the cloud raises the problem of protecting corporate data on the cloud provider’s servers. This forces IT service companies to develop cybersecurity solutions more deeply.
Looking to the future
Despite the global downturn in the IT industry, analysts and companies are optimistic about the future. In 2025-2026, the segment’s revenue growth is expected to accelerate from the current 2% to 13-15% per year. This is less than in 2021-2022, but the sector is becoming more marginal due to cost optimization and diversification of the customer portfolio.

The latest report by EPAM Systems, the largest IT company in Ukraine by staff, in which the company singled out the financial sector as the most resilient to the challenges of digital transformation, confirms these optimistic predictions. To strengthen its expertise and support clients in this sector, EPAM acquired technology consulting company NEORIS. Other IT companies are also active in M&A, which underscores their strategic focus on sector diversification in their portfolios and their belief in the overall economic stability of the IT industry.
A good example of margin improvement is the consulting company Accenture. It is working on the idea of increasing labor productivity by 30% while reducing staff by 30%. For this purpose, the company integrates AI assistants and develops software automation solutions. In the long run, AI can radically change business operations of IT companies.
The Ukrainian IT sector, in addition to the general challenges of the global market, faces additional difficulties. Players that remain in the market, continue to create jobs and maintain long-term contracts with customers are powerful leaders of the future.
The focus is now clear: maximum diversification abroad. Given the current market multiples in the IT segment, investing in IT outsourcing is about maximizing future profits.
Artem Shcherbyna, Sofia Golubtsova. Source: Forbes.ua