Microsoft regards the Indian IT environment as critical to the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Microsoft collaborates with Indian IT service providers as a client, seller, and project partner, and is enthused about future joint ventures, according to Ahmed Mazhari, President, Microsoft Asia.

 

In Asia, Microsoft has engagements with global system integrators(SI) in two regions, Japan -with the likes of Fujitsu, NEC and Hitachi, and India- with the likes of Infosys, TCS, and others. “We have a very deep relationship that has been built over the last two decades, and we do a lot of work with these players. These relationships are 360 relationships, and serve us in many ways,” Mazhari added.

 

Microsoft has a threefold relationship with IT services players - being customers of certain services, selling to others, and collaborating with entities like banks, public utilities, or hospitals on platform implementations, particularly within the Microsoft IT services framework prevalent in India, as per thehindubusinessline.

 

“We see the tech ecosystem as supercritical to enablement of AI and they will play a very important role,” Mazhari said. Infosys for instance is one of the largest ITeS companies using GitHub and is driving productivity at scale, he notes. Microsoft is also committed to enabling implementation of services by focusing on improving the talent base, by their upskilling programs and certification courses. 

 

When it comes to enterprise adoption in India, Mazhari observes that Indian businesses are increasingly looking at integrating sophisticated technologies and AI. Indigo's AI chatbot, for example, uses the Microsoft OpenAI platform to purchase tickets. Air India successfully moved its data center to the Azure cloud as part of this technological adoption. He emphasizes the importance of significant projects, such as Apollo's AI-powered risk APIs for cardiovascular health.