Building AI-powered Wipro with a human-centric approach: Rishad Premji, ET BrandEquity

IT company Wipro is working hard to unlock the full potential of AI and put a human-centric approach at the forefront of AI development, said Rishad A. Premji, chairman of the company. Speaking at the company's 78th annual general meeting on Thursday, Premji said artificial intelligence is at the heart of the company's growth strategy and an “AI-powered Wipro” is on the way. “There has been a significant shift in the way enterprises perceive AI, particularly generative AI. What was once a topic of curiosity is now a cornerstone of long-term strategies for value creation. AI offers a tremendous opportunity to reshape industries, reimagine experiences, drive efficiencies and drive innovation. Our goal is to lead this transformation for our clients and our own organization,” he said.

The company continued to invest heavily in its ai360 strategy throughout FY24, he said.

“We are building an AI-powered Wipro by embedding responsible and safe AI in every solution, tool and process across the organization. We have expanded strategic partnerships with leading AI companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and NVIDIA. Further, we have launched our own AI platform through our innovation arm, Lab45, to accelerate the adoption of AI,” Premji said.

He further said that Wipro has partnered with academic institutes like IITs and IISc as talent development is a crucial and key component to the success of its AI strategy.

“These partnerships have helped advance research, strengthen our AI talent pipeline, and upskill our workforce. We've provided foundational training on GenAI to more than 225,000 employees, including myself. An additional 30,000 employees have received advanced training tailored to their roles,” Premji added.

He said Wipro has incorporated Gen-AI into its internal processes to improve productivity.

“For example, WiNow, our AI-powered self-service enterprise chatbot, is used by almost all employees and has handled approximately 6.5 million queries. This has significantly improved productivity for critical tasks such as approvals, onboarding and other administrative functions,” he said.

Widespread adoption of AI will require strong change management and a commitment to inclusivity, he added.

Wipro has a human-centric approach that will help bridge the gap, build trust and unlock the full potential of AI, he said.

He also said there has been a 240 percent increase in the number of women in senior management roles in technology companies.

Wipro is due to announce its June quarter results later today.

The company reported consolidated net profit for Q3FY24 at Rs 28,346 crore, down 7.8% year-on-year, and forecast revenue growth of 0.5-1.5% for Q4FY25 on a constant currency basis.

Revenue from operations for FY24 was Rs 8,976.03 crore, down 0.8% from the previous fiscal year. Net profit declined 2.6% to Rs 1,104.52 crore.

“FY24 was a challenging year for our company. Global economic volatility over the past year impacted our customers' technology spending and created uncertainty in market demand. However, despite these challenges, the fundamentals of our business have not changed and we remain fully committed to investing in the future,” Premji said.