SAP Labs Sees Surge in Demand for Custom AI Solutions as Company Expands India Operations
Bengaluru, India - SAP Labs, a leading provider of custom AI and agentic AI solutions, is witnessing significant traction in the global market, with the company exploring innovative approaches to serve emerging markets.
According to Milesh J, head of strategy and operations at SAP Labs, the company is leveraging the Indian market as a testing ground for refining AI solutions tailored to specific needs. These innovations are then fed back into established markets, enabling the company to offer more personalized and effective solutions to its global customers.
Agentic AI refers to artificial intelligence systems designed to act as autonomous agents, capable of performing complex tasks with minimal human intervention. SAP Labs is introducing this framework with multi-agents that can handle various aspects of decision-making, execution, and problem-solving in a coordinated way.
"OUR Business AI Solution is for all of our global customers, but when we talk about custom AI, it's about personalising it and making it very specific to a target market in India," Milesh said. "We're also introducing the agentic framework with multi-agents that can handle complex business functions."
Indian IT firm Infosys is also witnessing an increasing demand from enterprises worldwide for customized small language models to improve business operations. Senior vice-president Balakrishna D R, Infosys, reported that the company has recently launched two small language models and is seeing a growing interest in developing these models for specific contexts.
"Infosys just launched two small language models about a month back," Balakrishna said. "A lot of our customers are saying, 'Can you actually develop it for my context?' So all of these are opportunities for us to help the entire world adopt AI."
SAP Labs itself is a global capability center (GCC) that has grown significantly over the years. The Indian GCC ecosystem has generated $65 billion in revenue and employs around 1.9 million people, with remarkable growth seen in the past five years.
Despite the sector's growth, challenges persist, including bridging the gap between education and employability in India. Initiatives such as apprentice programs are addressing this issue, but more efforts are needed to address it completely.
GCCs are redefining growth beyond mere headcount expansion, with a focus on creating value for businesses. "Growth is about the impact you make and understanding how you bring value back to the business," panelists emphasized.
With its significant operations in India, SAP Labs is poised to continue driving innovation and growth in the global AI market.