TCS AI.Cloud’s Siva Ganesan on how the firm is driving GenAI adoption

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape industries globally, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is helping businesses all over the world adopt AI solutions with speed and precision. In this interview, Siva Ganesan, the global head of TCS’ AI.Cloud business unit, reveals how the company is guiding organisations through AI integration, overcoming implementation challenges and paving the way for an AI-driven future.

Ganesan also showcases the company’s AI WisdomNext platform and how it empowers companies to streamline operations, enhance decision-making, and future-proof strategies in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Give us an overview of how rapidly AI is evolving and its overall effect on businesses globally.

AI is increasingly being integrated into various business processes, enhancing efficiency and automating repetitive tasks. AI technologies are reshaping industries by streamlining operations, enhancing decision-making, and fostering innovation.

This widespread adoption is driven by AI’s ability to enhance customer experiences, improve employee productivity, and increase revenues.

As per the recent TCS AI for Business study (2024), the following are some key insights into the global AI market scenario:

• 59 per cent of corporate functions have AI implementations in process or completed
• The majority of executives (54 per cent) believe AI’s impact on their business model will be greater or at least equal to earlier disruptive technologies (viz. Internet)
• 55 per cent  of organisations are making changes to their business model, stakeholders’ roles or changes to their product and service offerings and how to sell them in the AI world

Tell us about your role and how TCS is working with companies across the world to help them become early adopters of AI.

TCS provides end-to-end service in the entire value chain of organisations to implement AI interventions, starting from advisory services, framing the roadmap for adoption, exploring possibilities and pilot specific business scenarios, subsequently scaling these to production and then providing continuous operations support.

The company deploys various indigenous platforms, tools and technology offerings to accelerate this entire cycle of activities providing customers with a faster time to market, increasing operations efficiency along with consistently high customer satisfaction scores.

Tell us about TCS’ AI WisdomNext platform. How does it enable organisations to adopt next-gen technologies at scale, reduce costs, and stay within regulatory frameworks?

When businesses, globally, are grappling with the uncertainty and complexity of the paradigm shift brought forth by GenAI, TCS AI WisdomNext Platform promises to alleviate some of the challenges of GenAI adoption. It also helps enterprises seamlessly navigate the technology landscape to infuse Generative AI into the ‘here and now of business’, as well as fuel re-imagining business models of the future.

This enterprise-grade orchestration and arbitrage platform enables rapid onboarding of business use cases that translate into tangible business value, responsibly. The platform is cloud-agnostic and supports multiple models, providing a unified user interface that is both secure and customisable.

The platform has several key features, including multi-modal, multi-model, and multi-cloud capabilities. This allows for easy onboarding of business use cases using GenAI interventions and integration with existing IT applications. The platform further enhances productivity by incorporating GenAI into the software development lifecycle and application management operations. With excellent model evaluation and fine-tuning offered as a service, the platform helps organisations make informed decisions regarding the GenAI technology landscape.

The platform employs a local prompt-and-response store, termed ‘Knowledge House’, providing pre-aligned golden responses to existing queries. This helps optimise costs, improve platform performance, and ensure the accuracy and explainability of the GenAI output. Prioritising a human-first approach, empowers users to customise generated content, ensuring it aligns with their preferences and standards.

The core capabilities of the platform include aggregation, arbitrage, intermediation, data management, security, ethical guardrails and analytics.

These capabilities enable seamless integration of AI-based services, comparison of AI models and costs, integration of in-house and third-party applications, data management, ensuring ethical and responsible AI practices, and providing insights into usage patterns, accuracy and cost.

How does the platform provide ready-to-deploy AI solutions? Could you share some examples of how these solutions have been successfully implemented in various industries?

WisdomNext provides ready-to-deploy AI solutions through a comprehensive suite of industry-specific, pre-configured templates. These templates jumpstart Generative AI implementations,  significantly compressing the ideation to execution cycle. A few examples of successful implementations across various industries are outlined below:

For a leading media company based out of NY, we have infused GenAI augmentation in their sales process by creating a chat interface based on natural language. The solution helps them to inform customers of the availability of billboards at suitable locations that fulfil their requirements concerning proximity. The solution integrates with the existing system to generate suitable quotes and complete the enquiry process.

The ‘GenAI in SDLC’ module of the platform is used for a leading US-based global insurance company in its cloud migration programme. The platform augments the phases of the migration programme and helps the developers by generating a portion of code based on the specifications provided. This resulted in a 15-20 per cent productivity boost, translating to significant cost savings for the customer.

We have showcased GenAI capability of the platform in the compliance domain for one of the leading global banks. The solution is configured to audit system control definitions on specified audit parameters like ‘5W’s and report non-compliance. The solution also suggests corrective actions to set right the identified discrepancies. The solution was extended to create definitions for new checks and controls from image or text input and ensure the same complies with the defined audit criteria. This helps the customer to keep their checks and controls updated with the latest compliance requirements and avoid hefty fines and penalties for non-conformance.

For a leading retailer and pharmacy, we have used the business solution module of WisdomNext to enhance the OTC experience of their customers. The solution created the ability to scan the bar code of any product to voice playback the detailed literature in terms of product suitability, price, similar products etc. It was extended to provide answers to any potential questions voiced by the customer on the product in an interactive manner.

The voice-enabled solution was particularly useful for visually challenged customers but gained popularity with all others for having an automated bot assistant helping with the purchase.

In what ways does the platform assist businesses in making informed decisions and future-proofing their strategies?

WisdomNext provides a set of enhanced tools to explore, compare and orchestrate the available AI tech stack options in terms of large language models (LLMs), vector databases, embedding models, underlying cloud platforms etc., to make informed decisions while selecting the most context-aware and fit for purpose services framework. You can arrive at a close estimate of cost and a strong evaluation of performance and accuracy of responses by running use cases with your organisation’s data.

Many businesses, particularly in the UAE, face challenges due to a lack of in-house AI expertise and outdated infrastructure. How does TCS’s platform address these challenges and help organisations identify the best areas to implement AI for optimal outcomes?

We understand that many businesses in the UAE are eager to leverage AI but face hurdles due to a lack of in-house expertise and outdated infrastructure.  WisdomNext is designed to overcome these challenges and empower organisations to embrace AI’s full potential, drive innovation and improve operational efficiency.

Our high-quality advisory services guide clients through AI adoption and implementation by analyzing business data to identify high-impact areas and offering recommendations and best practices based on industry-specific use cases. TCS AI WisdomNext simplifies AI adoption by providing user-friendly interfaces and pre-built models and pipelines. These can be customised to fit specific business needs. Additionally, by using cloud-based hosting it provides scalability on demand, effectively addressing infrastructure limitations.

We leverage the platform to streamline development and deployment through end-to-end workflow management and collaboration tools. This fosters seamless alignment between data scientists, developers, and business stakeholders.

The platform ensures continuous improvement and adaptation by offering model monitoring and management tools. These tools maintain ongoing effectiveness and provide automated updates, keeping AI models accurate and relevant as new data becomes available.

What are some key ways AI can boost productivity, reduce costs, and enhance customer experience in this region?

The UAE is witnessing a rapid digital transformation, and AI is at the forefront of this change. Platforms like TCS’ AI WisdomNext can offer substantial benefits to businesses in the UAE. It orchestrates and aggregates multiple AI services, streamlining operations and enhancing customer experiences.

One of the key benefits of AI is its ability to automate routine tasks, freeing up valuable employee time for more strategic initiatives. In addition to this, AI can optimise multiple business functions, for example:

1. Supply chain management – predicting demand, optimising inventory levels, and improving logistics. This leads to enhanced efficiency and reduced delays.
2. Operations planning – AI-driven analytics provide valuable insights into market trends, consumer behaviour, and operational performance, enabling better decision-making. This can result in improved business strategies and outcomes.
3. Customer experience – analysing customer data, AI can offer personalised recommendations and services, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants enhance user interfaces and interactions on digital platforms, making them more intuitive and user-friendly.
4. Furthermore, AI automation reduces the need for manual labour and minimises errors, leading to cost savings. AI can also optimise energy consumption in buildings and industrial processes, resulting in reduced utility costs.

AI has industry-specific applications as well. In the retail sector, AI optimises pricing strategies, manages inventory, and provides personalised recommendations. In finance, AI detects fraud, assesses credit risk, and offers personalised financial advice.

In healthcare, AI assists in diagnosing diseases, managing patient records, and personalising treatment plans. AI can also contribute to smart city initiatives in the UAE, assisting in urban planning, traffic management, and resource allocation.

What are the common obstacles businesses face when implementing AI solutions, and how does TCS support its clients in overcoming these challenges?

Businesses often encounter several obstacles when implementing AI solutions, and TCS is adept at addressing these challenges. One fundamental issue is the quality and availability of data. TCS supports businesses by assisting them in collecting, cleaning, and structuring their data to make it suitable for AI applications.

Another significant challenge is integrating AI solutions with existing systems. We leverage our expertise in system integration to ensure smooth interoperability and minimise disruptions. Cost management is also a concern, and we help mitigate this by offering scalable, cloud-based AI services that reduce initial investment costs and demonstrate a return on investment strategy.

Furthermore, the lack of expertise in AI and machine learning is a common hurdle. We address this through its Center of Excellence (COE) services, which help customers build the necessary internal skills. Change management is another area where TCS provides support by developing strategies that include communication plans, training sessions, and support systems to facilitate a smooth transition for employees. Ethical and legal concerns are also taken into account, with TCS offering guidance on ethical AI practices and ensuring compliance with relevant regulations.

Lastly, scalability is considered in the design of AI solutions, ensuring they can handle larger datasets and accommodate more users as the business grows.

What do you see as the future of AI in business? How do you anticipate AI and cloud technology evolving over the next five to 10 years?

Looking ahead, the future of AI in business is poised for significant evolution over the next few years. One prominent trend is the growing recognition of GenAI as a catalyst for creating new value. While executives anticipate substantial benefits within two years, there is also a caution against overemphasising productivity gains alone. Language models are expected to become more standardised, with smaller models proliferating and integrating seamlessly into products and services.

Another key development is the shift toward multimodal models, which incorporate various forms of input and output, enhancing the capabilities of generative AI tools and large language models (LLMs). We can also expect a rise in generative AI-augmented applications and services, with app developers increasingly adopting chat interfaces to boost customer engagement and improve user experience.

AI-as-a-service (AIaaS) will continue to grow, offering pre-built AI models, tools, and APIs hosted on cloud platforms. This trend will enable enterprises to integrate AI functionalities without needing specialised expertise or infrastructure. Additionally, the advancement of edge AI computing, supported by 5G networks and energy-efficient processors, will enhance the ability to run AI applications directly at the edge.

Monitoring carbon intensity is becoming increasingly important, as larger generative AI models are more energy-intensive compared to smaller, task-specific models. Research is focusing on developing more energy-efficient generative AI tools and scaling energy production to support this ecosystem.

TCS will play a crucial role in this transformation by driving innovations in these areas, offering scalable AI and cloud solutions, and helping businesses navigate the complexities of integrating these technologies.