HFS Challenger: Indium

At a glance

The latest firm to receive the coveted HFS Challenger accolade is Indium, recognized for its innovative AI-driven digital engineering capabilities that help enterprises overcome the friction between legacy systems and modern AI initiatives. Many enterprises get stuck when AI and legacy systems don’t work well together. Indium tackles that with an engineering-first approach, using its custom-built, multi-agent LIFTR.ai platform designed to make modernization faster and more predictable.

Founded in 1999, Indium started as a niche independent software testing provider known for serving ISVs. It later expanded into analytics and data engineering and added the iXie gaming division, forming the foundation of its digital engineering capabilities. The company adopted big data engineering and machine learning early through this evolution, which shaped its current approach to AI-led engineering. This enabled it to anticipate the convergence of data, software, and intelligence well before AI became mainstream. HFS Research believes that what makes Indium a standout market challenger is its disciplined engineering core, supported by more than 5,000 associates and a presence across seven key markets: the US, the UK, Europe, Australia, India, Singapore, and Japan.

Today, Indium is part of the EQT Group and operates alongside Experion Technologies, which it acquired to deepen its product engineering capabilities and expand its enterprise footprint across North America, India, and the Asia Pacific.

Integrating engineering and modernization is now the only way to scale AI responsibly

Indium’s capabilities center on AI-driven digital engineering, data and AI-led modernization, and intelligent automation. Its strength comes from strong engineering skills augmented with AI across development, data pipelines, testing, and automation, delivered through four key capabilities:

• Making AI a part of the engineering core
  Indium treats AI as part of the software development process rather than an added layer. Its internal AI Factory embeds AI into engineering workflows with controls to ensure governance, track costs and outputs, and maintain compliance across delivery. Indium also applies AI across internal operations such as HR, finance, and marketing, reflecting a consistent approach to AI adoption across the organization.
• Accelerating legacy modernization through LIFTR.ai
  LIFTR.ai is a custom-built, multi-agent platform that automates the early stages of modernization, from system assessment to code analysis. Its agents map legacy applications, extract business logic, and surface modernization pathways, all reviewed through a human-in-the-loop model. For enterprises dealing with technical debt, LIFTR.ai reduces the manual effort typically required and turns the initial phases of modernization into a more structured and data-driven exercise.

• Reimagining product and quality engineering
  Indium brings AI into the way products are built and tested, not just how they are maintained. Its uphoriX platform automates functional and regression testing, while iDAF connects development, testing, and analytics so teams can identify issues earlier. Indium also focuses on testing AI systems directly by evaluating large language models for reliability, bias, and factual consistency. This helps enterprises scale GenAI safely without exposing critical systems to unpredictable or non-compliant behavior.
• Building a platform-agnostic ecosystem and delivery model
  Indium’s delivery model is built around flexibility. The company has over 750 engineers working on more than 30 GenAI programs across industries, including banking, healthcare, retail, and mobility. It avoids the problem of vendor lock-in by partnering with major cloud and AI platforms such as AWS Bedrock, Azure, and Databricks. Its in-house tools, such as iSearch, ICE Mod, and LIFTR.ai, can be used together or independently, depending on an enterprise’s modernization stage. Each engagement utilizes small, focused teams that apply reusable components and track clear outcomes, helping enterprises move faster with better control.

Modernization and AI must go hand in hand, or legacy constraints will overshadow every AI initiative

Most enterprises are trying to modernize legacy systems and explore GenAI at the same time, but these efforts often work against each other. Legacy constraints limit what AI can do, and AI initiatives stall when the underlying systems are too complex or undocumented to support them. Indium addresses this conflict by using AI inside the engineering process itself. LIFTR.ai’s multi-agent model helps teams analyze legacy code, extract business logic, and identify modernization options quickly with human review built in. This gives enterprises a clear, faster starting point and reduces the uncertainty that usually slows down modernization and AI adoption.

HFS’ take

Indium takes modernization seriously and does not treat AI as a demo topic. It builds AI into the way software is engineered, tested, and modernized. For enterprises that are stuck between aging systems and rising AI expectations, this engineering-first mindset is exactly the gap most providers still talk about but don’t consistently deliver on.

Indium’s key strength is how it uses AI to simplify complex workflows and accelerate engineering work rather than showcasing what the technology can do. LIFTR.ai and its wider toolset help enterprises pinpoint real issues, whether they involve untangling legacy code, reducing manual effort, or validating how AI systems behave in production. The focus on testing and evaluating AI systems gives buyers the assurance they need before scaling AI, prioritizing measurable progress over isolated experiments.

At the same time, Indium still has work to do if it wants to be seen as a clear choice at scale. The firm should package its strongest capabilities into simple, repeatable offerings for both business and technology leaders. It must also sharpen its story by industry, not just by capability, so that a bank, insurer, or retailer can immediately see the value it brings.

For CIOs and CTOs, Indium sets a standard for how AI-led modernization can be done responsibly. The firm’s next step is to make its methods as visible and consumable as its engineering.

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