Expect more tech adoption, strategic partnerships in 2025: NASSCOM Chairperson

Amid geopolitical shifts and megatrends such as AI redefining the tech landscape, the year 2025 is likely to see greater appetite and adoption of technology and forging of strategic partnerships, according to NASSCOM Chairperson Sindhu Gangadharan.

Weighing in on global debate on whether AI will lead to major layoffs, she said artificial intelligence needs to be seen as an enabler that can help amplify skills and boost productivity.

"Just look around, we are living in a world where there is so much change... The year 2025, for me, is definitely going to be a lot more about technology adoption and more of strategic partnerships," Gangadharan, also the Managing Director of SAP Labs India told PTI.

She said that in order to stay relevant, businesses will need to embrace technology, irrespective of the size and scale of their operations.

"I think it is super important in today's world that we build very strong partnerships, because it is only together that we can drive the bigger changes, and bigger challenges that the world is grappling with," Gangadharan said.

Terming AI as a phenomenal, transformative technology, she said it needs to be embraced as an enabler.

"It is very important that people understand this is a phenomenal, transformational technology, ...now you have the power to use (it) in a very safe, regulated, governed way. So really, leveraging that technology to help amplify your skills is how I would look at it," she said.

She believes the issue is less about displacement of jobs, and more to do with leveraging technology to derive greater productivity and benefits.

When it comes to tech spends, there is now a realisation that embracing technology is the only way forward, she asserted.

"Everybody understands there's no way around it. The faster you do it, the better it is for business," she said, adding that amid technology shifts, partnerships and collaborations would clearly be in focus.

"The whole topic of partnerships definitely plays out today when we look at some of the large language models that are pervasive all through, many of them come from the United States. So it would be very important that we understand better how these models are being put into action in the various use cases that we have here in India as well " she said.

In India, AI mission and skilling would be among the key areas of priority.

Gangadharan, who is leading SAP Labs in India, said the company's headcount here has been growing at an average of 2,500-3,000 net new hires every year, and that number may just accelerate.

"We see the growth happening at that pace, or even more, because if you just look at the portfolio growth in the location... We are, of course, in Bengaluru, but we are also in four other locations, in Gurugram, Pune, Mumbai, as well as in Hyderabad. For us it is important that we are able to tap into the best-in-class talent " she said.

The growth is also in sync with market opportunities and ecosystem potential that exists, she said, pointing to rapid pace of innovation, the wide network of partners, and deep research with academia as driving factors.

India is among the fastest-growing markets for SAP and poised to become one of the largest markets in future, CEO Christian Klein had said recently adding that the German software maker plans to "over proportionally" invest and hire here.

SAP is betting big on the country's engineering talent and digitisation push and given its thrust on "overproportional growth" Klein said it is only a matter of time before India becomes the largest base for SAP Labs in terms of sheer number of people.

On the sales and revenue side, India is among the top 10 markets for SAP globally, and the company expects the market here to grow "heavily and faster" than some of its top markets.

The Indian market is set to climb further up the chart for SAP, according to the company.

"Our focus will also be on building up AI skills in our teams because the work we will be doing will be about infusing AI into the core of our portfolio," Gangadharan said.