Wipro’s AI360 initiative, launched last July, has seen a 65% increase in artificial intelligence (AI) use cases, Nagendra Bandaru, managing partner and president at Wipro Enterprise Futuring, told FE. This growth reflects a broader trend in the industry, with enterprises increasingly adopting AI technologies to enhance various business functions.
“Since the launch of our AI360 strategy last year, Wipro has seen increased AI adoption in existing engagements by 140% and increased industry-specific AI-led solutions by 40%,” he said.
The company had launched Wipro AI360, an AI-first innovation ecosystem that aims to integrate AI into every platform, tool and solution used internally and offered to clients in July 2023. The company had also announced that it would invest $1 billion to develop AI solutions over the next three years.
Wipro is bundling AI services with regular transformation deals while also pursuing AI-specific deals, Bandaru said. The company sees generative AI (GenAI) as pervasive and imminent across business areas. Clients are becoming more literate about the possibilities and limitations of this technology, moving to the next steps with confidence, he added.
“We have an increasing number of our generative AI projects being delivered, with the right level of ‘human-in-loop’ and ‘responsible AI’ tenets being factored into the solution,” said Bandaru. “Initial benefit yield has been encouraging, as generative AI is tending to deliver superior stakeholder experience, revenue generation insights, and cost optimization,” he added.
Wipro is monetizing AI use cases by integrating predictions and insights from traditional AI with the productivity and efficiency brought by GenAI. This approach creates efficiencies, increases productivity, realizes savings, and generates new revenue streams, Bandaru said.
“We are now at a stage where we can consistently replicate and scale that success. As other technology services are increasingly enabled by AI, we expect to see AI continue to become a bigger portion of our business,” he added.
AI adoption is gaining momentum across various industries, with healthcare, retail/consumer, energy, banking, and insurance leading the charge, Bandaru said. In healthcare, GenAI is being utilized in contact centers to assist agents and in claim operations to expedite processes. Financial services are leveraging AI to detect and manage fraud and risks, while the retail sector uses AI to provide tailored experiences to customers and manage supply chains, he added.
Bandaru emphasized the rapid growth in AI interest over the past 6-12 months: “This is due to the improvements in technology. What was merely an aspiration 3 or 4 years ago is increasingly grounded in real experience, real application. Accessibility and accuracy are the main drivers, as outputs have gotten much more accurate and are delivered much faster.”
Reluctance and Challenges in AI Adoption
Despite the growing interest, some businesses remain hesitant to adopt AI. Key challenges include data readiness, integration with existing systems, cost of implementation, and bridging the skills gap. Enterprises must ensure access to large, diverse, and high-quality datasets and handle data securely in compliance with privacy regulations. Integrating AI into legacy IT infrastructures can be complex and costly, requiring significant investments in data, hardware, software, and skilled employees.
“Data privacy and security concerns pose significant barriers to the adoption of AI by companies. Additionally, resistance to change and ethical, regulatory, and legal considerations are major challenges,” Bandaru said. “We are working with clients across industries to better understand the impact of these technologies on their business and build short- and long-term strategies for adoption,” he added.
