What is AI for you? How do you use the new-age technology at the workplace? Shishank Gupta, SVP & Head of the Digital Workplace Ecosystem and Microsoft Practice, Infosys, sees AI as an enabler to help people invest time in continuous upskilling.
“It enhances teams’ capabilities by automating mundane tasks. It allows employees to focus on high-value, strategic work that requires human judgment and creativity.”
According to Shishank, Infosys has embraced AI with a “Human + AI, not Human vs AI” philosophy, focusing on the augmentation of human potential. Infosys has developed role-specific AI assistants trained and designed to complement humans in tasks like designing presentations, generating documents, searching for information, etc. “Beyond structured change management, we have redesigned jobs, tasks, processes, and experiences, ensuring seamless AI integration into daily workflows.”
Preparing the workforce to succeed in new era
At Infosys, says Shishank, the AI-first approach includes their talent strategy as an important pillar, with a focus on three levels of enablement and upskilling.
• Level 1 is called AI Aware, wherein they work on making everyone attain a base level of AI awareness. “This helps them leverage persona-based AI assistants and tools responsibly and be more productive. Over 2,70,000 Infoscions are AI Aware.”
• He adds that Level 2 is AI Builders who can redesign experience and processes to build industry-specific AI-led solutions.
• Level 3 are AI Masters who build advanced AI solutions on Agentic AI, small language models, Responsible AI Guardrails, enterprise AI platforms, etc.
He points out that tailored learning journeys are designed with defined paths, certifications, and hands-on projects to upskill talent. “Regular enablement programs, in collaboration with partners, reskill employees in cutting-edge technologies. Collaboration with leading academic institutions provides access to top AI talent and joint upskilling initiatives,” says Shishank. Infosys’ AI experts are involved in research and building new offerings in collaboration with academia e.g. with Stanford University Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, IIT Madras as part of the AI Alliance, etc.
Capitalising on a transformative moment
Infosys has embraced an AI-first transformation, embedding artificial intelligence across services, operations, and client solutions. Shishank shares that at the core of this transformation is Infosys Topaz, an AI-led suite integrating Agentic and Generative AI, analytics, and cloud to drive enterprise-wide change. He mentions that Infosys’ AI first transformation focuses on three major areas encompassing, work, workplace, and workforce:
1. Embracing AI across operations: Infosys is reimagining experiences and processes and embedding advanced AI in all areas like sales and marketing for designing collaterals, crafting persuasive proposals, etc. They are leveraging Agentic AI/Gen AI heavily in knowledge management for HR, finance and procurement.
2. Building advanced AI platforms and small language models: Shishank adds that they are building AI solutions as a part of Infosys Topaz, as their core AI offering. “It has several AI platforms with a repository of ready-to-use AI assets and accelerators, including the latest Agentic AI solutions.” He adds that it offers scalable AI solutions, with high customisability, interoperability, and support for all modes of deployment. They have built small language models (SLMs), trained on domain-specific data for IT Operations Banking, Operations, and Cybersecurity and many more are in line. These SLMs cut down operational costs of AI, while improving accuracy and performance.
AI’s impact on engagement, productivity, and well-being
At Infosys, they leverage AI to reimagine employee experiences, driving higher engagement, productivity, and well-being. A few example use-cases are:
• Hyper-Personalised Learning & Development: Through AI-powered learning platforms, informs Shishank that they provide adaptive learning journeys tailored to employees’ career aspirations, skill gaps, and learning preferences.
• AI-Driven Employee Well-being & Sentiment Analysis: AI-powered wellness assistants analyse workplace interactions, feedback, and behavioral patterns to proactively address burnout risks. Real-time insights, enable us to take proactive steps in enhancing employee experience.
• AI powered employee services: Their enterprise AI solutions streamline communication, helpdesk, and support services by curating and surfacing relevant knowledge in real-time, enabling employees to find the right information effortlessly. AI-powered collaboration tools ensure seamless teamwork across geographies.
Multiple uncoordinated AI assistants can lead to a fragmented experience, requiring users to switch between them. “To address this, we leverage agentic frameworks to ensure seamless interaction through a single AI interface. Acting as the experience layer, Agentic AI understands user intent, contextualises requests, and tailors responses before routing them to specialised agents—such as a policy agent or manager agent—via an orchestration framework. This approach streamlines interactions, enhancing efficiency and user experience.”
Bridging the trust gap between to ensure that Gen AI is for both business and employees
Shishank suggests that organisations can bridge the trust gap by fostering transparency, inclusivity, and responsible AI adoption. At Infosys, they have built blueprints and playbooks to redesign different processes and touchpoints to foster trust:
• Transparent AI Governance – He suggests communicating AI policies, decision-making processes, and protocols to ensure fairness and accountability. Implement tools for making AI explainable and design UI/UX to make it more intuitive and seamless.
• “Human + AI” – Position AI as an enabler, and as an augmentation. Redesign process and invest in AI literacy programs to equip employees with the skills to leverage AI effectively and confidently.
• Change Management – Infosys has designed an approach to drive large-scale AI transformation through bottom-up micro-changes, gradually evolving processes with minimal friction. “Behavioral nudges, cues, and incentives encourage adoption, ensuring seamless transition to new routines. Actively engaging employees in AI adoption, ensuring continuous feedback and building a cross-functional team for managing this, helps build trust,” Shishank concludes.