HFS RESEARCH ROUNDTABLE | Post-event Recap
Bold conversations. Visionary leaders. Here’s what went down.
September 18, 2025 | The Dorchester, London
This event was conducted in collaboration with Wipro
On this page, you’ll find a curated collection of key takeaways, event photos, video highlights, and analyst insights that capture the spirit and substance of this roundtable event. We invite you to dive in and experience the bold, unfiltered thinking that defines HFS Research.
HFS Research, in collaboration with Wipro, brought senior executives together in London for a candid, off-the-record discussion on the realities of adopting agentic AI. While there was plenty of enthusiasm about the potential of autonomous systems to transform workflows, decision-making, and customer experiences, participants were equally clear-eyed about the barriers. Enterprise debt—accumulated challenges in data, processes, technology, and culture—was consistently identified as the obstacle between AI hype and measurable value.
This roundtable created the space to move past surface-level pilots and explore what it really takes to prepare organizations for autonomy at scale.
The discussion surfaced both optimism and caution. Among the key takeaways:
The tone was clear: agentic AI is ready, but enterprises must first re-architect their foundations to unlock its potential.
We captured five dynamic interviews that continue the roundtable’s bold conversation.
Agentic AI in the Enterprise: Readiness, Value, and Control
Arun Kurup, Head of Data, Analytics & AI, UKI at Wipro discusses how enterprises are adopting agentic AI—from early copilot use to multi-agent systems with control towers. The conversation covers value mapping, a banking reconciliation pilot that scaled, human-in-the-loop guardrails, and the path from assisted to autonomous execution.
Agentic AI Adoption: Front-Runners vs. Fast Followers
Tanusree Saha, Global Head of Strategic Advisory – Data, Analytics & AI at Wipro, speaks about real-world agentic AI adoption across sectors. She shares a Silicon Valley tech client case reimagining back- and mid-office with agents—shifting from 80% human / 20% agents to 20% human / 80% agents over two years, with humans supervising “superhuman” agent workflows.
Planned Autonomy: Scaling Agentic AI Safely
Dr. Bhargav Mitra, Head of Data & AI Advisory, Europe at Wipro outlines a pragmatic path to agentic AI. He frames adoption as a journey of planned autonomy: begin with assistive, low-risk agents in well-defined areas with clear business value, build trust and adoption, then expand autonomy under strict governance and protocols.
CIO Priorities in Insurance: Data, Cloud, and AI at AXA UK
Natasha Davydova, CIO at AXA UK talks about whether enterprises are truly ready for agentic AI. The discussion covers technical and security readiness, workforce impacts and change management, human-in-the-loop operating models, and the governance agents require—including identity and access management, role-based permissions, just-in-time access, oversight of agent interactions, and “who checks the checker.”
Dr. Laura Weis, Global Talent Innovation Director at WPP discusses the people side of agentic AI. Rather than fixating on what AI might replace, she references the changing the narrative to what AI will enable—with clear guidance on how roles evolve, which skills emerge, and how to reduce fear by removing ambiguity and winning stakeholder buy-in.
The Future of GBS: Services-as-Software and Agentic AI
Stephen Hosley, SVP, Global Business Services at Reckitt discusses where Global Business Services is headed in the era of services-as-software and agentic AI. He reflects on GBS from the 1990s to today—why RPA was oversold, how LLMs and agentic AI finally enable a credible path to a virtual, digital-first GBS, and why the conversational “Ask GBS” model is now within reach.
Agentic AI: The “How” Problem for Enterprises
Saurabh Gupta, President, Research and Advisory Services at HFS Research, recaps a discussion with 20 enterprise leaders. The verdict: the ‘why’ (business case) and the ‘what’ (maturing tech) for agentic AI are clear—but the ‘how’ remains the barrier. Leaders struggle with data readiness, process maturity, technical debt, over-focusing on productivity vs. outcomes, structuring AI-first deals, and defining the emerging ecosystem.
The conversation about enterprise-ready agentic AI is just beginning—and the implications span every industry. If your organization is grappling with legacy debt, workforce readiness, or how to translate AI ambition into enterprise-wide value, we’d love to continue the dialogue. Let’s connect to explore how to move from experimentation to measurable impact.
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