At the Nasscom GCC Summit held last week in Mumbai, we engaged in a discussion with two prominent GCC leaders: Ankur Mittal, CTO and Managing Director of Lowe's India, and Praveen Kumar, CEO of Barclays Global Services India. The conversation centered on how artificial intelligence represents a foundational shift and the profound impact this technology has had. Both executives affirmed that the shift is fundamental, compelling companies to rethink customer experience, employee productivity, business processes, and the nature of talent.
Reimagining Business with AI
Mittal noted, "There are going to be some places where we have to reimagine the business, foundational changes. There are going to be some places where we overlay AI on top of what we are doing today." Lowe's, the 105-year-old, $86-billion US home improvement retailer, is examining AI through three lenses: how customers shop, how employees work, and how store associates sell. The third lens is particularly critical because Lowe's operates approximately 1,750 stores and employs 300,000 store associates who assist customers with specialized home improvement needs.
Customers may ask which generator is suitable for a home, what HVAC system fits a 2,400-square-foot house, or how to fix a leaky faucet. No associate can know every detail across a 120,000-square-foot store with 40,000 SKUs. Lowe's response has been MyLow Companion, an AI assistant designed for store associates. The app consolidates product information, store inventory, nearby store availability, and guidance on customer inquiries. Lowe's has also developed a version for customers on lowes.com. "The app can answer questions like: how do I fix my patio, or which battery do I need for this tool," Mittal said.
Tangible Impact of AI
The impact is already evident. Lowe's receives nearly a million questions each month on these AI applications. Customers who interact with MyLow on lowes.com convert at twice the rate of those who do not use the AI assistant. When store associates utilize the app to assist customers, Lowe's has observed a 200-basis-point improvement in likelihood-to-recommend scores and associate helpfulness.
AI in Banking: A Foundational Shift
At Barclays, Praveen Kumar stated that AI is foundational because banking fundamentally involves allocating capital and managing risk. The quality and speed of decisions are critical. "The more data-centric and faster those decisions can be, that makes a material difference to our outcomes," he said.
Barclays' first wave of AI adoption focused on individual productivity. This included call summarization, content summarization, credit underwriting support, and other tools that enable employees to make faster decisions. The bank has also developed customer-facing use cases. Its FX bot can reduce the time required for foreign exchange quotes by 75%. Conversational AI in customer service can deliver decisions 95-99% faster.
Next Phase: End-to-End Process Reinvention
Kumar emphasized that the next phase will be more ambitious. Barclays is now exploring end-to-end process reinvention using AI and agentic AI. This encompasses know-your-customer processes, customer due diligence, financial client processes, and fraud technology. Referring to the latter, he noted that as external threat actors become increasingly sophisticated using technology, it is essential to counter them in real-time with technology as well.
New Business Opportunities
Both leaders agreed that the larger opportunity lies in new business possibilities. Mittal concluded, "We have to look at: can I create something new, something very different, big bets. It balances out cost and top line."
