Bengaluru: Enterprises have moved beyond experimenting with artificial intelligence and are now embedding the technology into core business processes, marking a shift from pilots to enterprise-wide deployment, Wipro chairman Rishad Premji said on Wednesday.“We believe AI represents one of the most fundamental shifts of our time,” Premji told shareholders at Wipro’s 80th annual general meeting on Wednesday. “The focus is shifting from experimentation to execution. AI is changing the economics and speed of modernisation and software engineering, creating new opportunities for growth.”However, he cautioned that enterprise AI adoption is far more complex than simply deploying AI models.“Real enterprises are complex. Technology estates, processes and operating models have evolved over decades. Realising business outcomes from AI requires much more than deploying technology. Organisations must reimagine processes and workflows, modernise data and enterprise architecture, and bring people along,” he said.Premji said Wipro’s decades-long client relationships and deep understanding of customers’ businesses and operating environments position the company well to help enterprises navigate this transformation. The company is also creating AI-focused roles such as exponential engineers, AI architects and forward-deployed engineers, while upskilling a majority of its workforce through advanced AI learning programmes.His comments come as IT services firms grapple with a subdued demand environment, where clients continue to prioritise cost optimisation even as spending on AI gathers pace. However, the company expanded operating margins and raised its shareholder payout ratio for the three-year period ended FY26 to 87.8%, well above its committed target of 70%.Wipro is also deploying AI across its own operations. Premji said monthly financial closing cycles have been reduced from 24 hours to eight hours, while planning activities that earlier took a month can now be completed in five days.Chief executive Srini Pallia said clients are increasingly seeking measurable business outcomes rather than AI pilots.“Our clients are looking for partners who can modernise technology estates, simplify complexity and deploy AI safely and effectively across the enterprise,” he said. For FY26, IT services revenue declined 0.3% in dollar terms to $10.4 billion and fell 1.6% in constant currency.Wipro approved its sixth—and largest—share buyback to date, worth Rs 15,000 crore at Rs 250 per share.To deepen its AI capabilities, Wipro has created an AI native business and platform unit and committed $500 million through Wipro Ventures to invest in frontier startups focused on AI, data and cybersecurity. The company has also launched 10 innovation labs globally over the past year and is investing in technologies such as agentic AI, physical AI, quantum computing and space technologies.Responding to shareholder questions, management said there has been no change in the demand environment despite macroeconomic uncertainty.“Our pipeline remains healthy across industries and markets,” Pallia said, adding that AI is increasingly being embedded into business process services and application management engagements.
