In an exclusive interaction with APAC Media and CXO Media, Allwyn Dsilva, VP & Global Head of L&D, Future of Work & Business HR, Tata Communications, spoke at length about how AI is transforming the way Human Resources operates—bringing greater efficiency, insight, and personalisation to the employee experience. Rather than replacing the human touch, AI in HR is enhancing decision-making, streamlining processes and freeing up HR professionals to focus on more strategic, people-centric tasks.
What are the measurable business outcomes when HR and IT collaborate on digital transformation initiatives? Can you provide examples of companies that have successfully demonstrated ROI from such partnerships?
In today’s fast-moving business environment, talent is a real differentiator. When HR and IT come together to drive digital transformation, the outcomes are not just visible—they’re measurable. We’ve seen this partnership lead to faster hiring, smoother onboarding, and more engaged employees who are likely to stick around longer.
A big part of this is about simplifying processes and making them more relevant. When HRIS and HR product teams work in sync, technology can be shaped around employee needs, not the other way around. Companies that get this right often see improvements across talent metrics, alongside operational gains. In the long run, this kind of alignment doesn’t just enhance employee experience—it has a direct impact on customer experience too.
How can HR and IT jointly develop a shared vision and strategic roadmap that aligns with overall business goals?
It starts with bringing everyone to the same table. Joint strategy workshops between HR and IT help ground the conversation in the organisation’s broader goals. These sessions typically focus on mapping the full employee journey, identifying shared KPIs, and laying out a clear roadmap that evolves in phases.
By involving cross-functional teams—including domain experts and tech leads—you make sure the vision is both ambitious and grounded. Feedback from employees helps set the right priorities, and regular check-ins keep the strategy flexible as things change.
What governance structures or leadership models (e.g., digital steering committees, HR-IT liaisons) best support sustained collaboration between HR and IT?
Sustained collaboration needs structure. Digital steering committees and data governance councils help keep things on track, while HR-IT liaisons ensure there’s constant back-and-forth. These models create space for alignment—not just once, but continuously.
We’ve also seen roles like HR Business Information Security Officers (BISOs) add a layer of oversight when it comes to data privacy, ethics, and compliance. These structures make sure both sides understand each other’s priorities and can move faster when decisions need to be made.
How can cross-functional HR-IT teams use data analytics to improve talent acquisition, onboarding, engagement, and retention?
Data is a game changer when HR and IT come together to use it smartly. At our end, we use the DATOM framework to assess and grow our data maturity. Within this setup, our HR product teams focus on defining the right metrics, while the HRIS teams make sure the systems and data pipelines are set up to bring it all together.
We pull insights from engagement surveys, pulse checks, performance data—you name it. This gives us a fuller picture of employee sentiment and behavior, which makes interventions more targeted. Skills, in fact, have become the backbone across all our HR systems. By syncing platforms around skill-based data, and now layering in generative AI, we’re able to get even deeper insights and deliver more personalised employee experiences.
What types of employee experience metrics should be prioritised to ensure a data-driven approach from both HR and IT perspectives?
For HR and IT to truly take a data-first approach, it’s important to track a mix of core experience metrics. Engagement scores, NPS, platform usage, AskHR turnaround times, and data accessibility are key areas we monitor. These are reviewed regularly by our HR leadership, COEs, and HRIS teams.
That said, numbers don’t tell the full story. We also gather input through social fabric conversations—these are direct check-ins where employees and managers share what’s working and what’s not. And of course, it’s become standard practice to analyse queries coming into human support channels like email or phone, and feed those into chatbot responses to make support faster and smoother.
What are the common pitfalls in HR-tech implementation that stem from poor collaboration with IT—and how can they be avoided?
The biggest mistake is treating tech implementation like a one-way handoff. If HR simply tosses over the requirement and IT runs with it, you often end up with solutions that don’t really land with users.
From my experience, co-creation is key. Start small—with a minimum viable product—and pilot it. Bring IT in early, especially when designing the user interface and experience. Design thinking workshops that include both tech and HR voices help keep things grounded in what employees actually need.
Some common pitfalls we’ve seen include automating processes that were never effective in the first place, creating systems that don’t talk to each other, and having unclear ownership. Avoiding all this means working in a more iterative way, with clear roles, shared accountability, and room for feedback along the way.
How should HR and IT work together to establish clear policies around AI governance, algorithmic fairness, and responsible tech usage in HR processes?
Responsible use of AI in HR needs more than good intent—it needs structure. At Tata Communications, we’ve set up a dedicated AI Centre of Excellence (COE) that looks at how AI can be embedded into both internal and customer-facing processes.
When it comes to HR specifically, we work closely with IT, the AI COE, and our legal and compliance teams to build a governance framework. This covers things like fairness in algorithms, ethical usage, and oversight in decision-making, especially in sensitive areas like hiring or promotions. We make sure there are “human-in-the-loop” checks in place, and that our algorithms go through regular audits to catch and fix bias. IT plays a huge role here in enabling the tech setup and acting quickly on insights from those audits.
What role does HR-IT collaboration play in designing digital infrastructure to support continuous learning and skill development?
Learning and upskilling have become central to staying competitive, and HR-IT collaboration is at the heart of how we’re building for that. Together, we’ve created a strong digital foundation—powered by AI—that supports personalised learning paths and is fully embedded into daily workflows.
Our platforms, like Talent Central and the Tata Communications Learning Academy (TCLA), help employees track progress and access curated content seamlessly. The Learning Academy is our go-to hub for everything from upskilling to cross-skilling, and it’s paying off: we average 11 learning days per person, over 60% of employees clock more than 5 days, and we’ve developed 3,050 skills so far with nearly 9,200 repeat learners. Our L&D Net Promoter Score stands at 88, which says a lot.
We’re now moving toward democratising content creation too, bringing AI into the mix so learning can be created and consumed more organically across the organisation.
