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Even as IT major, Tata Consultancy Services, is set to deploy Generative AI for its clients, it has developed at least 10 use cases, for talent acquisition and development.
Milind Lakkad, Chief Human Resource Officer at TCS, told businessline, “We actually have developed a number of use cases (in Gen AI). We are just going through our security approvals to just make sure that we can do that, whether it is in talent development or talent acquisition. Even compliance is a good area which we need to look at. So, all these things we will definitely internalise. But I think right now, close to less than 10 used cases are basically already in place, but still not operationalised.”
On GenAI
Generative AI is the frontier which has taken the IT world by the storm. At the press conference for Q3FY24 results, the TCS management added that 4 of TCS’ projects have evolved from the proof-of-concept stage to actual implementation for their clientele. As AI becomes the investor buzzwork and more entities seek to make it part of their digital transformation plans, this technology is taking off for every possible use case. Lakkad believes it has a place in HR practices too.
Generative AI is also reducing the need for the run-in-the-mill engineer. Reliance on using AI to generate code could potentially reduce the need for engineers writing everyday code. At a time when IT firms have reduced hiring significantly, Lakkad reassured that such technologies would not necessarily have a tangible impact on the number of jobs as “Gen AI, it will only change the nature of work. It will change the role of a developer to some extent. But that does not mean that I will have a volume issue. There will be a lot more… different kinds of new roles will also come in, in the process.”
Full stack skills
However, Lakkad advises the outgoing class of engineers to develop full stack skills. “You also basically need to have full stack skills. You cannot say that I am a developer, I am a tester, I do these things. You just have to have full stack development. Those skills have also changed. With AI coming in, it will also be another step change that will happen, because what will be done by you, how is this complete software development life cycle reimagined in the context of AI,” he added. Understanding what use cases these new technologies can be deployed into will be another skill that will need to be prioritised by the outgoing class of engineers.
This is the third consecutive quarter that IT firms such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro have reduced their total headcount, which is in contravention to the usual trend of these large IT firms to increase their ranks. Even as Lakkad assures that TCS has not stopped hiring, “there a certain volume of engineers required to run a company of this scale,” he tells students looking at a market with lesser jobs to not lose heart and use this time to learn.
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