TCS approach suits firms seeking resilience in an evolving tech landscape

While hyperbole and hoopla surround GenAI and its impact on the enterprise, TCS is approaching this particular technology much as it handles other disruptors—with a balanced and pragmatic approach in line with most of the current market appetite.

The message from the stage at the firm’s Annual Advisor Event in London, UK, and among leaders in more private conversations, was the same: They want to enable enterprises to embrace change—but balanced with the need for enterprise resilience.

A safe pair of hands when your No. 1 priority is business continuity

One informative example was presented by Matt Webb, CIO of UK Power Networks (UKPN), in a client presentation. This firm is responsible for critical networks distributing electricity across significant economic centers in the UK, including London. In the firm’s cloud migration program (moving from on-premises to Microsoft Azure Cloud), it turned to TCS to lead a collaborative project. The partners assembled included Baringa, Microsoft, SAP, GE, Enzen, Kyndryl, and others.

That TCS was chosen to lead may have much to do with the project priorities UKPN set for itself. Yes, the project should be on time, on budget, and enable innovation, but priority No. 1 was ‘do all this without disruption to the business.’ TCS was seen as a safe pair of hands to deliver on that priority.

AI WisdomNext platform answers many current customer concerns on GenAI

More evidence that TCS puts its customers’ concerns first comes in the shape of its AI WisdomNext platform. The platform streamlines the adoption of GenAI for enterprises by consolidating multiple GenAI services into a single interface.

AI WisdomNext—demonstrated at the firm’s Pace Port innovation center in London—offers intelligent evaluator bots that compare available GenAI ecosystems and technology stacks, assisting organizations in choosing the most suitable models based on accuracy, performance, and cost. It also offers a suite of modular, reusable components and industry-specific, pre-configured solution blueprints, enabling faster design and deployment of AI applications.

The platform can also evaluate AI model accuracy and offer fine-tuning services, enabling businesses to optimize operational costs while maintaining performance, centralized governance with built-in guardrails, and portability across cloud platforms and LLMs.

In short, they listened to customer concerns about cost, risk, and speed to market and responded with a one-stop-shop solution.

The most radical innovators will want more—but a packaged GenAI platform is what many enterprises need right now

Of course, for enterprises gearing for massive transformation built on GenAI, this packaged approach will be just one of many parts of an overall GenAI strategy. Firms placing the biggest bets on a new GenAI era—in which every aspect of enterprise life is impacted—will want more. However, for the majority of enterprises adopting next-gen technologies to build or fine-tune their custom LLM models and embedded generative AI applications, AI WisdomNext enables accelerated and scalable generative AI adoption.

TCS will enter its 50^th year in the UK next year. It has 200 UK customers, and 48 of those are FTSE100 firms. For the TCS customer base, WidsomNext offers a balance of predictability and compliance, supporting those less willing to compromise resilience in the pursuit of change.

The agentic era may push the rate and impact of change beyond evolution toward revolution

It remains to be seen if the pragmatic TCS balance between resilience and change will need to adjust as we enter an accelerated period of change. We have barely scratched the surface with GenAI. While the era of POCs and pilots is pronounced dead by many—we know that is far from the case. The outcomes of those that have moved to production are primarily point solutions. However, the looming agentic era will push GenAI into processes and across functions, impacting both the rate and scale of change.

TCS advocates the idea of the perpetually adaptable enterprise, which suits evolution. The future challenge for TCS customers is whether this mindset remains appropriate if and when the disruption becomes a revolution.

The Bottom Line: Enterprise leaders may prize resilience, but they must be ready with a plan B in the event of a deep, fast GenAI revolution

Enterprise leaders have a duty to ensure the stability and resilience of their businesses. The potential for revolutionary disruption that GenAI presents challenges enterprises to find the right balance between the need for stability and resilience and the demand for change. TCS has built its success on balancing change with resilience in a measured evolutionary manner. However, TCS and its customers must be ready with a plan B to hedge against the threat of deep, fast, revolutionary change.