Inside Capgemini’s 2028 Strategy: Banking on Agentic AI to Drive Consulting Growth

Revenue Growth: Counting on Consulting and M&A

Capgemini expects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of +5.5% to +7.5% in revenue between 2025 and 2028, measured at constant currency . Mergers and acquisitions account for roughly 2 percentage points of that expansion, implying a significant organic growth push driven by new digital transformation engagements .

For context, the 2025 baseline saw constant-currency revenue growth of +3.4% for the full year, accelerating to +10.6% in the fourth quarter . The company’s 2026 guidance calls for a further uptick to +6.5% to +8.5% .

Operating Margin: A New Yardstick, a Cooler Reception

Management introduced a new headline metric measuring operating profit before acquisition-related expenses. Under this framework, Capgemini aims to expand the figure by 130 to 150 basis points from its 2025 level, bringing it to 12.1% to 12.3% of revenues by 2028 .

Analysts at Oddo BHF noted the margin target underperformed consensus estimates, even though the revenue growth forecast came in above expectations . While Capgemini emphasizes that significant value created for clients through AI transformation will ultimately fuel margin expansion, investor reaction suggests some skepticism about the speed of that conversion .

Free Cash Flow: A €6 Billion Cash Pile

Where the company faces margin doubts, it overcompensates on liquidity promises. Capgemini projects cumulative organic free cash flow of more than €6 billion across the 2026–2028 period—roughly $7 billion at current exchange rates .

In 2025, the firm delivered an essentially stable €1.95 billion in organic free cash flow, meeting its "around €1.9 billion" target . Sustaining a roughly €2-billion-per-year pace implies that the top-line growth and working-capital efficiency within the plan must hold steady over multiple cycles.

AI as the Central Growth Engine

The strategic plan isn't merely about AI—it is AI. Capgemini wants to claim the role of lead advisor for organizations trying to embed agentic AI into daily operations and scale it across business units . The company has identified five specific AI-driven value drivers for its own growth: accelerating the modernization of technical debt that has accumulated in large organizations over many years, deploying new technology stacks, building data foundations for AI, scaling AI industrialization, and unlocking the full potential of the workforce through AI augmentation .

The scale of the opportunity is significant. Capgemini’s own research suggests AI agents could generate up to $450 billion in economic value through revenue uplift and cost savings by 2028 across its surveyed markets . The firm’s roadmap positions it to capture a share of that value not by building standalone AI products, but by helping legacy enterprises integrate the capabilities of frontier models into their existing workflows and software footprints.

The capital markets message is clear: in Capgemini’s view, the next wave of IT consulting value will be earned by the firms that can most effectively bridge the gap between artificial intelligence research and the complex, messy systems that run the global economy.