AI reshaping industries, 'cornerstone' of business strategy: Rishad Premji

Wipro has made 'human interactions' core of AI development, says chairman of IT service company

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an opportunity for industries and its adoption requires strong “change management”, said Wipro chairman Rishad Premji, listing how the information technology company was preparing and “disrupting” itself for the technology.

FY24 was challenging but “fundamentals of our business remain unchanged”, he said at the company’s 78th Annual General Meeting held virtually.

“Our change-management approach focuses on placing human interactions at the core of AI development. This human-centred approach will help us bridge the gap, build trust, and maximise AI’s potential,” he said.

 “As you all know, there’s been a significant shift in how businesses perceive AI, especially Generative AI (GenAI). What was once a topic of curiosity has now become a cornerstone of long-term strategies for creating value.”

AI is an opportunity to reshape industries, reimagine experiences, enhance efficiencies, and foster innovation. “Our goal is to lead this transformation for our clients as well as within our own organisation.”

Wipro is making investments to bolster its AI tools and services while it experiments and deploys the technology within its operations.

“We have been intentional in serving as client zero for our own AI solutions, disrupting ourselves in the process. We have leveraged our talent to build GenAI-based solutions that streamline our internal processes, create delightful experiences, and boost productivity throughout our organization. For example, WiNow, our AI-powered enterprise chat bot for self-service is used by nearly all our employees, and has processed around 6.5 million queries.”

Last year, the company announced investing in its ai360 strategy. It has trained more than 225,000 employees in GenAI fundamentals. Another 30,000 employees have received advanced training for their specific roles. Premji said he has trained in GenAI fundamentals too.

Wipro has expanded its strategic partnerships with AI leaders such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and NVIDIA. Additionally, it has launched its own AI platform through innovation arm, Lab45.

“Our industry and consulting-led AI solutions are driving early results with our clients. We’ve achieved superior patient outcomes in health care. We’ve boosted the recommendation of financial advisors. We’ve driven cost and operational efficiencies in life-sciences and transportation. We’ve had many such successful client engagements and plan to keep doing more.”

Speaking about the company’s performance and the macro environment, Premji said: “Although discretionary spending was subdued in the first half of the year, we saw promising signs in our consulting business in the second half, which is a positive early indicator.”

“The global economic fluctuations this past year have affected our clients’ technology spending and led to uncertainty in market demands. However, despite these challenges, I believe the fundamentals of our business remain unchanged, and we remain fully committed to investing in our future,” Premji said, referring to the company’s challenges in FY24.