SAP Labs is witnessing significant traction for its custom AI and agentic AI solutions, as the company explores innovative approaches to serve global and emerging markets alike, Milesh J, head of strategy and operations of the company said at Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS).
By leveraging the Indian market as a testing ground, SAP Labs is refining AI solutions tailored to specific needs while feeding these innovations back into established markets, Milesh said.
Agentic AI refers to artificial intelligence systems designed to act as autonomous agents, capable of performing complex tasks with minimal human intervention. These systems often utilise multiple AI models, referred to as “multi-agents,” to handle various aspects of decision-making, execution, and problem-solving in a coordinated way.
“Our business AI solution is for all of our global customers, but when we talk about custom AI, it’s about personalising it and making it very specific to a target market in India. We’re also introducing the agentic framework with multi-agents that can handle complex business functions,” Milesh added.
On similar lines, Balakrishna D R, senior vice-president, service offering head – energy, communications (services and AI & automation services), Infosys, said that Infosys is also witnessing an increasing demand from enterprises worldwide for customised small language models to improve business operations.
“Infosys just launched two small language models about a month back. A lot of our customers are saying, Can you actually develop it for my context? So all of these are opportunities for us to help the entire world adopt AI,” Balakrishna said.
Milesh was speaking at a panel themed: Making Bengaluru the GCC Headquarter of the World. India’s global capability centres (GCCs) have evolved beyond cost centres to become innovation drivers and value creators for their parent organisations. The Indian GCC ecosystem, which generates $65 billion in revenue and employs around 1.9 million people, has seen remarkable growth, adding 400 centres in the last five years.
SAP Labs itself is a GCC. Since its establishment in 1998 with 100 employees, SAP Labs India has grown to 16,000 employees, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% over 26 years.
“Back then, we started with localisation of the ERP solution for the Asia-Pacific market. Now, India is one of our four global hubs for development centres,” Milesh said.
However, despite the sector’s growth, challenges persist, such as bridging the gap between education and employability in India. Initiatives like apprentice programmes and expanding opportunities beyond Bengaluru are addressing this, but more efforts are needed, the panelists said.
Additionally, GCCs are redefining growth beyond mere headcount expansion. “Growth is about the impact you make and understanding how you bring value back to the business,” a panelist said.
