An overwhelming majority of LTIMindtree’s clientele—90 to 95%—are planning to invest in Generative AI (GenAI) within the next 12 to 18 months, and is currently engaging in over 140 GenAI projects, Nachiket Deshpande, the chief operating officer of the IT company told FE.
“Based on our research and surveys, almost all our customers are gearing up to integrate GenAI in the near term. Many have already executed proof of concepts and are now in a phase of understanding the precise implementations needed for their enterprises,” he said.
Every business deal at LTIMindtree now includes AI elements, with the company actively engaging in over 140 GenAI projects. Further, the IT company has successfully implemented more than 40 GenAI solutions into production and is involved in over 200 open conversations about future GenAI projects, which serves a diverse range of top industries, including Banking and Financial Services (BFS), High Technology, Insurance, Manufacturing, and Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Deshpande said.
“Every service that we offer is being reimagined with AI. This isn’t just about having AI projects; it’s about embedding AI into the fabric of all our services,” he added. However, the broad adoption of AI technologies is not without challenges, particularly around data security, regulatory compliance, and the need for robust infrastructure.
AI in LTIMintree
The company itself is heavily invested in AI, and also finds it as a critical component in enhancing the productivity and improving operational efficiencies. “AI can potentially create massive positive disruptions, so our approach has been what we call is ‘AI in everything, AI for everyone and Everything in AI’. So we are reimagining every single business process to see how it can be enhanced with AI. This includes everything from planning and forecasting to talent acquisition and HR processes, Deshpande said.
The IT major has successfully launched 25 ‘Customer Zero’ use cases, where AI solutions are deployed internally before being rolled out to clients. Additionally, there are 10 AI use cases already in production, impacting various domains such as talent supply chain management, delivery excellence, and cybersecurity.
The company’s proactive approach extends to employee training and development, with over 20,000 associates already trained in GenAI technologies. LTIMindtree has also developed a robust internal training platform named ‘Garuda’, which offers over 350 curated training programs.
AI IMPACT ON JOBS
Deshpande said that as AI is increasingly adopted, the overall need for human labor in current roles will decrease, suggesting that not as many employees will be needed for the same tasks due to increased productivity.
However, he emphasized the critical importance of maintaining a “human in the middle” approach to ensure the successful implementation of AI, indicating that human oversight remains essential even as some job functions are automated or enhanced by AI technologies.
Further, he said that new roles such as model trainers, prompt engineers, and model ethics engineers are being created. Therefore, “our net-net, we believe it will continue to be positive from a workforce perspective within IT services. But yes, there will be shift in the skill set and we do expect a significant improvement in the individual productivity as we adapt these technologies,” he added.
AI HIRING
As many as 30-40% of LTIMindtree’s new hiring is around AI skill sets, Deshpande said. “I would say almost 30 to 40% of our new hiring is around AI skill sets, either it could be around data or it could be around algorithms, or it could be around specific cloud or OEM technologies,” he said.
LTIMindtree’s total headcount as on March 31 was at 81,650. And in FY24 the company’s workforce fell by 2,896. Further, the company’s attrition rate also rose 0.2% quarter-on-quarter to 14.4% in Jan-Mar, while the utilisation fell to 86.9% from 87.4% in the previous quarter.
