Wipro leaders urge reskilling as AI agent adoption surges
A new report from MIT Technology Review highlights how companies like Wipro are integrating agentic AI to boost productivity, while warning that leadership must prioritise data privacy and employee adaptability to navigate the transition.
Enterprise leadership teams are confronting a significant shift in workforce dynamics as the adoption of AI agents is projected to surge by 300% over the next two years. Unlike traditional enterprise automation that relies on manual input, these AI agents autonomously coordinate complex tasks across multiple tools and environments. In early applications within customer service, human resources, and sales, this autonomy has delivered productivity gains of 30 to 50 per cent, positioning agents as collaborators rather than mere tools.
Ateet Jayaswal, chief culture and employee experience officer at Wipro, emphasises that this technological shift requires a fundamental mindset change in how organisations manage their people. With an estimated three-quarters of current roles requiring redesign, reskilling, or redeployment by 2030, leadership must focus on reskilling employees for higher-value work. Jayaswal notes that the nature of employment is evolving from individuals acting as problem-solvers to those designing the systems that solve problems, a transition that demands fluency in change management.
Wipro, a technology services company with 240,000 employees across 65 countries, has already implemented a custom agentic AI assistant co-created with Ema Unlimited. This integration has reduced human resources query response times from 48 hours to five seconds and assumed responsibility for 50 tasks previously handled by staff. By automating routine administrative duties such as sorting timesheets, the company aims to free human employees to focus on creative, imaginative, and cross-functional collaboration.
However, the integration of AI into enterprise systems introduces critical governance challenges. Jayaswal stresses that because these agents interact with sensitive and personal organisational data, they require stringent guardrails and robust data privacy rules. He advocates for the establishment of governance layers, such as AI councils, to manage these risks. The goal is to ensure that while AI handles rote tasks, humans remain in the loop to oversee operations and maintain ethical standards.
As organisations adapt to this blended workforce, HR leaders are prioritising reskilling in technical literacy, relationship building, collaboration, and adaptability. Major employers including Salesforce, Danone, and Walmart are already rolling out dedicated AI skills programs to equip their workforces. Despite the potential to improve employee experience by removing non-value-added work, managers must address new stressors, including confusion over digital labour’s impact and the potential erosion of trust if AI agents are designated as colleagues on organisational charts.
