Wipro’s clients, like enterprises across the world, continue to grapple with challenges in adopting agentic AI. However, as the technology matures, these hurdles are steadily diminishing, according to the company’s chief technology officer, Sandhya Arun.
“The biggest risk that enterprises are really worried about is security, safety, data privacy, as well as whether the AI is really giving you accurate answers,” she explained during a recent interaction.
“We call it explainability,” the executive said, adding that while these concerns were significant early on, “enterprises are finding ways to overcome it and partners like Wipro help them mitigate the risk.”
Data readiness remains central to AI adoption. Wipro has combined its global AI and data practices under one umbrella and developed proprietary tools to prepare enterprise data for AI.
Among these tools is Wipro Data Intelligence Suite (WDIS), which focuses on getting data ready for AI and Wipro Enterprise GenAI (WeGA), designed to improve explainability and contextual accuracy.
WeGA, endorsed by NVIDIA, has already helped Wipro win several client deals, the executive revealed.
“We usually use composable architecture (WDIS and WeGA) like Lego blocks so we can take it out or plug it in, depending on the client’s need,” she highlighted.
Getting the Pricing Right
The Bengaluru-headquartered IT giant expects that outcome-based pricing will dominate the fast-evolving market for agentic AI, with clients pressing for clear returns on investment instead of paying for technology inputs.
“At the end of the day, the client doesn’t care whether you use 10 agents, 100 agents, five people or 60 people. [What matters is whether] you are delivering the outcome of the best possible quality, delivering the business goals, which could be customer experience or revenue uplift, and [if] you are able to sustain that year on year,” Arun explained.
The company is offering an agentic pricing model, but outcome-linked contracts are emerging as the preferred approach.
She also clarified that the agentic model does not have to be outcome-based.
Outcome, according to her, means delivering the result, and the client pays for it under specific terms and conditions. An agentic model, on the other hand, can involve giving an XYZ agentic solution and pricing it based on that. “Can I charge you something which makes sense to you as a client?” the executive said, noting that pricing is ultimately a function of what enterprises consider fair value.
Innovation Network
Wipro is betting on its ‘Innovation Network’ to anchor the next phase of artificial intelligence adoption, with its new centre in India already drawing daily visits from both existing and new clients, and shaping the company’s AI-first strategy.
The Wipro Innovation Network will focus on five strategic frontier technology themes: Agentic AI, robotics with embodied AI, quantum computing, digital ledger technology and quantum-safe cyber resilience.
The company asserts that the hub will bring together Wipro’s extensive innovation ecosystem, including the Innovation Labs, Partner Labs, Wipro Ventures, its crowdsourcing platform Topcoder, alliances with leading academic and research institutions and its deep technology talent. This combination aims to create an ongoing loop of ideation, research and innovation.
The company is planning to expand the network with a new facility in London and renovations at its existing Mountain View base in California. Meanwhile, its Sydney and Dubai sites will continue to serve regional demand.
“The metric of success of the network is [measured by] impact, not pilots or ROI,” she said,
“Impact means whether your idea has matured into a successful business solution with at least one client. And if it has matured with one client, can this now be scaled as a field of play and scaled across the entire industry?” she explained.
The network, comprising about 200 core staff and supported by hundreds more specialists, serves as a funnel for ideas ranging from immediate solutions to longer-term bets.
“Quite often, the innovation originates in a delivery account and is then elevated and pushed into the lab. Quite often, the forward-looking Horizon 2 and Horizon 3 innovations start in the lab and [eventually] go out into the accounts,” she explained.
AI Adoption Surging
AI adoption is accelerating across Wipro’s global customer base. What began as experimentation two years ago has now matured into scaled deployments, with AI being embedded into most client engagements.
“Almost all of our clients, who are large global enterprises, are now certain that AI is the way to go,” the executive noted.
While early adoption primarily focused on layering AI onto existing operations, the current focus is on reimagining processes entirely with an AI-first mindset.
Cross Training
When asked how innovation will change the way developers work, Arun explained that today the company’s delivery teams keep the lights on for clients through managed services, with much of the tactical work now being AI-assisted, AI-augmented, or even fully handled by AI.
From a talent transformation perspective, she said, Wipro has made significant investments in training, mentoring, differentiated projects and hackathons.
For example, one hackathon was won by consultants from M&A and pre-sales, none of whom were engineers. This highlights how technology is being democratised and enabling business-focused professionals to leverage AI for impact.
“Our approach is to train teams, even fresh graduates, first on understanding business, domain knowledge and agile project delivery, and then on strong foundations in software and data engineering,” she underscored.
“This ensures they can act as supervisors for AI, regardless of age or experience. We also engage directly with campuses to align curricula with industry needs, so new hires come prepared to use AI effectively.”
Responsible AI
On the ethics committee overseeing AI usage, the executive said that Wipro has a dedicated responsible AI leader, Ivana Bartoletti, who serves as the company’s Wipro global chief privacy and AI governance officer.
Arun explained that Bartoletti’s team holds weekly meetings involving representatives from every practice in Wipro to stay updated on the latest developments, identify risks and explore opportunities.
“We hold strong discussions on issues like patents and intellectual property. For example, whether AI can own IP (it cannot, legally), and how this affects our statements of work,” she revealed.
“We also address claims around productivity: Ivana has been very clear that we should not quote specific percentages like ‘30%, 40% or 70% improvement’, as these figures lack a mathematical foundation and are highly contextual, depending on the client’s maturity, environment and technology landscape.
“Instead, our focus is on how AI helps us reimagine how enterprises are run, going beyond just productivity gains,” she noted.
When asked if the Innovation Network comes under Wipro’s R&D arm, at a time when the Indian IT industry has often been criticised for underinvesting in research, she was clear,
“Criticism is actually easy, but yes, the Innovation Network is a part of R&D,” the executive concluded.
In FY26, the company reported a modest 0.8% year-on-year revenue increase, reaching ₹221.3 billion. Net income rose by 10.9% YoY and the operating margin improved to 17.3%, an expansion of 0.8% YoY.
Large-deal bookings surged 131% YoY, while operating cash flow remained strong, exceeding net income.
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