Focus on Metaverse, Gen AI result of rising demand: Tech Mahindra's Purohit
Summary
- In an interview with Mint, Kunal Purohit, chief digital services officer, Tech Mahindra, shared his views on fundamental transformations shaping the enterprise technology space
New Delhi: Tech Mahindra, the IT services major, is betting on emerging technologies like generative artificial intelligence, quantum computing, metaverse, and more, to tap into new growth opportunities across customer industries. In an interview with Mint, Kunal Purohit, chief digital services officer, Tech Mahindra, who also heads its digital and analytics capability solution units globally, shared his views on fundamental transformations shaping the enterprise technology space, how the IT firm’s leadership realignment offers growth impetus and success, as well as TechM’s plans for the immediate future. Edited excerpts:
What are the shifts taking place in the enterprise technology sector, and how is Tech Mahindra keeping up with these changes?
The biggest shift in the technology marketplace in the last decade has been the transition to digital operating models with increased digitisation from traditional operating models. The changes over the past two to three years have been even more significant, with companies moving toward cognitive digital models that incorporate data and AI. The focus is on improving customer service, sales, and outreach, and staying ahead in the technology ecosystem. Tech Mahindra has been working in areas of cognitive AI to help businesses solve key technology challenges. We leverage technologies like computer vision, natural language processing, AI, machine learning, to achieve long-term business outcomes like improved revenue, increased efficiency, reduced risk, enhanced customer experience, and greater contribution to society.
Amid changes in the broader business and technology landscape, Tech Mahindra saw changes in its top management. Has this cha-nged your short- and long-term digital goals?
The leadership realignment at Tech Mahindra has provided incremental impetus. While C.P. Gurnani has set the momentum, the team led by Mohit Joshi (new MD and CEO) and Atul Soneja, chief operating officer, have sharpened their focus in strategic areas to stay relevant and continue to drive success. In response to the macro-economic conditions, consumers are spending more on emerging areas such as AI, generative AI, cybersecurity, and others. Tech Mahindra is ensuring our engineers and consultants are highly specialised. We recently opened an innovation centre in Finland to expand our presence and increase headcount. We will continue to offer digital business transformation services and solutions in quantum computing, generative AI, and the metaverse, tapping into new opportunities in research and development (R&D) across customer industries.
Speaking of technologies like generative AI, what potential do you see, and how are you using this technology to solve complex business challenges?
AI was used to automate processes and improve operations. However, there has been noticeable shift towards the optimisation of large language models such as GPT, with AI now being used for creative and generative purposes. Tech Mahindra’s Email AmplifAIer, for example, harnesses the power of generative AI to provide unified visualisations and automation techniques, which enables human-in-the-loop philosophy to improve customer experience responsibly. The use of generative AI resulted in a 25-30% increase in productivity and significant cost savings. TechM was the first to launch a generative AI studio and is using it internally to help enterprises make informed decisions and achieve digitised efficiency. We are focussing on banking, financial services and insurance, healthcare, and retail and will invest in the learning and development of employees to create a future-proof and resilient talent pool.
What kind of tech talent will you recruit?
Technology hiring has slowed, but TechM remains committed to upskilling workforce, and invest in learning tools and platforms. In April-June we upskilled nearly 9,000 staff in generative AI and other AI platforms. With a focus on AI, quantum computing, metaverse, we are looking for right candidates.
Which enterprise metaverse projects are you working on? Do you expect more demand?
Enterprise metaverse is here to stay. TechM is experiencing increased demand for metaverse and other futuristic projects across sectors. We are helping clients create immersive, interconnected, and intelligent design and digital experiences based on metaverse. In the future, projects related to the metaverse, AI, AR, VR, and quantum computing will attract more deals depending on client priorities. Currently, clients are focused on cost transformation, moving towards the cloud, and enhancing customer experience.
What are your key focus areas in the next 12 to 18 months?
Our primary focus is helping enterprises become more autonomous through the development of AI technologies, including generative AI. Secondly, we are utilising digital twin and other emerging technologies to establish secure industry clouds. This means building industry-specific solutions on the cloud that are secure. The third area of focus is enabling our customers to monetise their offerings by creating marketplaces. Internally, data monetisation is on the rise, and we are able to facilitate this through our data engineering, data management, and data governance practices. Our momentum in agile DevOps, human-centered design, and our partner ecosystem too will continue to grow in the coming months. We will also continue to form partnerships with hyperscalers to drive greater value and innovation for enterprises.
