Software and/or Data: Dilemmas in an AI Research Lab of an Indian IT Organization

This case is based on a four-month-long ethnography conducted during January-May 2020 in the research lab of an established IT-BPM (Information Technology – Business Process Management) services organization (ITSO) situated in Bengaluru, India. It focuses on the dilemmas facing this research lab garnering AI expertise as it operates under a larger service-based organizational environment. The case deals with the important themes in current times: project life cycle of an AI project, the various roles for such emerging technology projects, and the strategies of the Indian IT firms implementing these projects. The case brings out perspectives of technical and managerial work roles at ITSO as they engage in IT-BPM services augmented using emerging technologies like AI. Furthermore, it tries to bring out crucial dilemmas facing ITSO’s AI Research Lab. These dilemmas stem from the fact that while this lab’s stated objective was to further research expertise around AI, its sustenance depended on executing AI projects emerging from ITSO’s mainstream IT-BPM services offered by its ODCs. This case tries to bring out the challenges faced by the research lab and its key members as they try to navigate through these dilemmas. It also provides opportunities to discuss the challenges facing the Indian IT sector as it transitions into AI technologies and projects.