AI is augmenting human capital to enhance productivity: Tech Mahindra’s Deveena Chopra

Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are entering a transformative phase, driven by advancements in artificial intelligence and a shift towards engineering-focused talent development, rather than mere cost savings. During her address at The Global GCC Summit hosted by Inductus Group, Deveena Chopra, Director for Deals and Pursuits at Tech Mahindra, highlighted that GCCs are evolving into pivotal innovation centers for multinational firms. Chopra emphasized that the sector has significantly progressed from its traditional role as merely a back-office support system. "GCCs are emerging as AI-driven innovation hubs with strategic importance for their parent companies worldwide," she remarked. This evolution is characterized by a multifaceted impact on the industry. Her team collaborates closely with GCCs to facilitate digital transformations, develop strategic insights, create proofs of concept, and implement these innovations on a large scale. To exemplify the power of AI in addressing complex industry challenges, she referenced a leading bank in the UK, which operates on mainframe systems that are decades old. With the impending retirement of many experts, the bank faced a critical skills shortage. The manual modernization of their legacy systems would have been laborious and time-consuming. However, AI and generative AI solutions have radically changed this landscape. Tools like IBM Watson can now efficiently analyze outdated mainframe code, extract essential business requirements, generate documentation, and translate legacy code into contemporary programming languages like Java or Python. They can also create test cases and compare results between the original and updated systems. Chopra clarified that this technological shift is not intended to replace human workers; rather, it aims to equip them with advanced skills to thrive in modern engineering and AI environments. She noted that GCC talent models are undergoing a significant transformation, moving away from a traditional full-time employment focus to a capability-driven, engineering-centric approach. Roles are evolving from manual testers to software development engineers and from generic developers to specialized AI developers, alongside a rise in demand for data science and machine learning professionals. GCCs are now seeking small, agile teams of engineers empowered by AI tools to achieve quicker and more effective results. The impact of these advancements is already evident across various industries. For example, GCCs are now managing predictive maintenance for automotive companies, developing forecasting and recommendation systems for retailers, and enhancing fraud detection and risk modeling for financial institutions. "AI is enhancing human capital to boost efficiency and productivity," Chopra concluded.