New Delhi, Wipro Executive Chairman Rishad Premji on Wednesday said clients are moving beyond pilot projects to embed artificial intelligence (AI) into their core business processes, noting that this technological shift comes even as the broader IT sector remains cautious and heavily focused on cost optimisation.
Addressing shareholders at the company's 80th Annual General Meeting (AGM), Premji said that even as industry discussions turned toward AI and modernisation during the year, market players remained cautious and prioritised efficiency, consolidation, and cost optimisation.
"AI represents one of the most fundamental shifts of our time. Alongside efficiency gains, it is creating new opportunities for innovation, transformation, and growth while accelerating demand in areas such as data, modernisation, and AI-powered IT.
"Our clients have moved beyond pilots and begun embedding AI into core business processes and operations. The focus is shifting from experimentation to execution. We are already seeing the effects of that shift in the nature of the work that we see," Premji said.
He noted that Wipro is acting as "client zero" for its own AI transformations. By deploying AI internally, the company has drastically reduced its monthly financial closing cycles to just eight hours, while planning activities that previously took a month can now be completed in five days.
Artificial intelligence is shifting the economics and speed of modernisation, opening up new avenues for growth.
Within operations, human responsibilities are moving away from routine tasks and focusing instead on managing exceptions, ensuring compliance, generating insights, and supporting strategic decisions.
To support this technological shift, Premji said a significant majority of Wipro's workforce has completed advanced AI learning pathways. The company is also scaling new roles, including AI architects, forward-deployed engineers, and exponential engineers.
