NTT DATA’s Horizons Innovation Summit 2026 Explores AI Opportunities

NTT DATA recently hosted its Europe client and analyst event in Milan, the Horizons Innovation Summit. The technology solutions provider brings together a broad capability stack spanning network infrastructure, IT services, systems integration, and consulting expertise. Thanks to its Japanese heritage, NTT DATA has a strong offering in adjacent areas like robotics, engineering, and design. Most notably, NTT DATA has positioned AI as the central pillar of its future growth and IT service evolution.

The AI Opportunity For IT Service Providers

AI is firmly embedded at the highest levels of the organization. NTT DATA’s CEO, Abhijit Dubey, also serves as its Chief AI Officer. Abhijit presented his view of AI as a transformative force capable of expanding the IT services market from roughly $1.5 trillion today to as much as $30-40 trillion over the coming five years. 

Strategic drivers for exploiting the AI potential for IT services include optimizing cost structures, particularly the cost of goods sold (COGS) and SG&A. The strategy implies embedding AI across internal operations, existing service portfolios, and new AI-native offerings. To maximize AI’s potential, NTT DATA helps clients focus on the domains that generate the most economic value impact, including claims processing and underwriting for the insurance sector and product engineering and supply chain for the manufacturing sector. Central to this vision is the reengineering of enterprise workflows into agentic, autonomous processes delivered through “services-as-software” models.

A Holistic Approach To AI Transformation

A defining theme of the event was NTT DATA’s holistic approach to AI transformation. Fittingly, the event kicked off with a visit to one of Italy’s premier design museums, ADI Design Museum, underscoring the connection between functionality, product innovation, and user experience.

This set the tone for a narrative that balances deep technical expertise with human-centric considerations. Beyond engineering excellence, NTT DATA emphasized the importance of organizational culture, employee experience, and change management as critical enablers of successful transformation outcomes.

Innovation Plays A Central Role

Innovation plays a central role in NTT DATA’s differentiation strategy. Unlike many competitors, the company is less reliant on traditional labour arbitrage models and instead focuses on driving higher productivity and value per employee. This is reflected in its AI services mix: approximately 40% of activities centre on data readiness, 30% on architecture and optimization, 20% on change management, and only 10% on building AI agents. This distribution highlights a pragmatic understanding that most of the value in AI initiatives lies upstream and downstream of model development.

Looking ahead, Anne-Sophie Lotgering, CEO, Europe, emphasized that NTT DATA aims to evolve toward outcome-based agentic process outsourcing supported by reusable, domain-specific solutions. The event demonstrated a sophisticated and forward-looking perspective on AI’s potential to redefine the IT services industry, delivering clear benefits for end users.