Despite geopolitical uncertainties, Pegasystems has not seen any direct impact, says CPO

For the Massachusetts-headquartered enterprise transformation solutions provider Pegasystems, India has been its largest research and development (R&D) centre since 2008. Of the company’s 5,500 employees worldwide, more than 2,000 are based in India, working out of its Hyderabad and Bengaluru offices. Today, over half of Pegasystems’ global developer base sits in India — making the country central not just to the company’s technology innovation but also to its overall operations.

“Our India operation is a vital part of the company,” said Kerim Akgonul, Chief Product Officer at Pegasystems, during his recent visit to the country. “India’s teams lead many of our initiatives and have full ownership of serious parts of our solution stack.” He emphasized that Pegasystems’ engineering talent in India “participates in every aspect of the business.”

Operating as a Global Capability Center (GCC), Pegasystems India also partners closely with the GCCs of its major global clients — a relationship that has become a cornerstone of its ecosystem. The company currently collaborates with 50–60 client GCCs across India, deepening its integration with enterprises in key industries such as financial services, telecom, healthcare, and the public sector.

As a US-based company employing a large pool of India-based talent, geopolitical dynamics play an increasingly critical role in shaping operations and workforce planning. For instance, the proposed HIRE Bill aims to levy a 25% excise tax on any payments made by US companies to foreign entities or workers for services that are consumed by US consumers. Additionally, in September, the President Donald Trump-led US government announced a $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa petitions.

“We’re following geopolitical changes on a daily basis,” Akgonul said, pointing out that “the pace of international politics today feels almost as rapid as the pace of AI innovation.”

Despite these uncertainties, Pegasystems has not seen any direct impact on its operations. “It’s all a work in progress,” he said. “A lot of these developments can mean different things, but we haven’t seen any particular impact at Pegasystems.”

The shifting global environment, Akgonul added, has also drawn greater attention to India’s growing pool of engineering talent. “It’s shining a light on the growth of technical expertise in India,” he said. “It showcases what a central role Indian engineers now play in the global technology and software economy.”

Pegasystems’ recent financials

Pegasystems recently announced its Q3 financial results, beating analyst estimates. The revenue stood $381.35 million, up approximately 17% year-over-year. Akgonul said that the company’s strong third-quarter performance was largely driven by its AI and cloud strategy. 

“Pegasystems has seen significant engagement with one of its primary AI solutions, Pega GenAI Blueprint, launched last year. The platform has had a major impact on how the company interacts with customers, prospects, and business analysts, bridging the gap between IT and business functions within enterprises,” he said.

Akgonul added that Pegasystems continues to invest in and leverage Blueprint across its operations. The tool has also played a key role in customer engagements in India. He also noted that many of Pegasystems’ teams in India are involved in designing, developing, and building on Blueprint and its underlying AI models.

Beyond AI, Akgonul explained that Pegasystems’ third-quarter results reflected a clear shift toward its cloud-based annual contract value (ACV), which now accounts for the majority of the company’s business. This segment, he noted, is also the fastest-growing part of Pegasystems’ operations. The growth, he added, is being driven by strong momentum around legacy transformations and the increasing adoption of new AI capabilities across the company’s customer base. To be sure, Pegasystems’ ACV for the quarter grew 14% YoY to about $1.557 billion, while cloud ACV rose ~27% YoY.