Cobalt serves as a funnel for Infosys' AI-led deals under Topaz platform

Infosys, India’s second-largest information-technology (IT) services provider, is finding success with its Cobalt platform 

as a catalyst for artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) deals.

The Bengaluru-based firm had launched Cobalt four years ago to bring ease of transitioning clients in their Cloud-led digital transformation. Even as the company launched Topaz, its AI-first offering, last year, Cobalt has been preparing clients for their next big jump in adopting AI.

“Topaz is an extension of Cobalt. When it comes to GenAI kind of deployment, one needs a strong data fabric. Data is generated by intelligent applications. These run on cloud. To drive GenAI use cases and accelerate GenAI usage, customers need a robust cloud foundation,” said Anant Adya, executive vice-president and service offer head.

Adya, who heads Cobalt and is responsible for Infosys Americas delivery, told Business Standard GenAI was going to drive a lot of cloud consumption. However, the company did not give the number of AI and GenAI-led deals being worked on.

The fact that Cobalt is also acting as a funnel for GenAI deals for the company also shows the maturity that the platform has managed to gain.

“Four years back, when we launched Cobalt, most of the business, 60-70 per cent, would come from IT efficiency projects, which is where most of the spending was happening. Now, 60-70 per cent of our business is ‘grow, disrupt and transform’ and only 30-40 per cent is related to technology or running the business kind of engagement,” Adya said.

In 2020, when Cobalt was launched, it was about “save and optimise” projects. This means deals that involved moving from a capex model to an opex mode, or was about legacy transformation, including a shift to cloud environment, etc.

“As we evolved through the journey of Cobalt it moved towards what we call as Grow and Disrupt,” he added.

Digital contributed 62.9 per cent of the firm’s revenue in FY23, growing 25.6 per cent. After FY23 the company discontinued sharing the revenue breakup between digital and core services. Within digital, cloud is one of the biggest plays for Infosys.

When asked if the hype around GenAI seems to be high as clients are still in the proof-of-concept stage, Adya said: “The second half of 2024 will see GenAI being adopted in a big way. In the last one or one and a half quarters we have seen customers taking use cases into production.”

“It is not as big as what we had anticipated but we are hopeful that over the next few quarters it will pick up in a big way.”

When asked if a platform approach worked better than single products (like Finacle, which is core banking solutions), Adya said it did seem to be a long-term strategy for the company.

“Both Cobalt and Topaz are platform solutions and services. That has been our strategy so that we can execute any project seamlessly. This has meant a change in how we give service. Almost 60 per cent of work on any deal happens using tools, technologies, and solutions we have built. Essentially Cobalt and Topaz have accelerated the journey of customers.”