AI agents helping Microsoft India's sales team boost revenue by 9%

Microsoft, which has about 25,000 engineers in India, has already said that a third of its code were written by GitHub co-pilot

Microsoft India’s sales teams are adding over 9 per cent to the top line by using artificial intelligence (AI) and AI agents and sealing deals 20 per cent faster than when they were not using the new-age technology, the company’s country head said.

 

Agents have become the hottest thing in the AI ecosystem as companies put them to work along with their workforce.

 

They are expected to help the people by doing mundane work, improve efficiency and productivity and free up time to do more value-added work.

 

“You have to believe in this technology to be your partner. For all of our sales people that are using AI, they are creating 9.3 per cent more to the top line and closing deals 20 per cent faster. It is also impacting customer service and our resolution is up by 12 per cent,” Puneet Chandok, president of Microsoft India and South Asia, said at Converge 2025, the flagship retail-tech event from Walmart Global Tech, in Bengaluru on Friday.

   

Microsoft, which has about 25,000 engineers in India, said that a third of its code was written by GitHub co-pilot.

 

That is a similar number cited by Alphabet chief executive officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai and Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar as AI writes thousands of lines of codes faster than was previously done by software developers. 

 

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a Linkedin post last year that the company’s Gen AI assistant for software development, Amazon Q, has helped save “the equivalent of 4,500 developer-years” when upgrading applications to Java.

 

Adoption of such agents, Chandok cautioned, has its challenges within a company’s workforce.

 

One of the reasons why adoption of AI still lags expectations in enterprises is because employees are hesitant to embrace it, and apprehensive of how it will impact their jobs in the future.

 

Those agents, or digital colleagues, are expected to work together with humans, which will create a dual workforce.

 

Employees are expected to treat those agents not just as tools but teammates. This will take a lot of time because it is a cultural shift.

 

“That is a mindset shift. This is the biggest behavioural shift in our life and it is a challenge. If you are willing to work with AI, there is a 30 per cent productivity for you today. The first time, the prompt does not work. Keep trying and it will get better,” Chandok said.

 

He added that AI is not just about learning and getting certified but getting AI to work for an individual. He said, “It is important to have that growth mindset. Else, you will fall behind and not be relevant anymore.”