New Delhi, April 7 -- The rapid evolution of enterprise software is entering its third phase, with artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled development poised to redefine how applications are built and deployed, according to Vivek Ganesh, Country Head and Regional Vice President for OutSystems India, an enterprise software firm based in the US. In a conversation with TechCircle, Ganesh said enterprises are now moving beyond experimentation to real-world deployments of AI, particularly agentic systems, even as the role of developers undergoes a fundamental shift.
From low-code to AI-first development
OutSystems, founded in 2001 by Paulo Rosado and backed by Goldman Sachs and KKR, addresses the inefficiencies of traditional software development. The low-code platform provider has seen the industry transition from rapid application development to low-code/no-code-and now to AI-powered development, a term increasingly used by Gartner.
"The world is moving towards AI-enabled development, where building code is just a small part of the lifecycle," Ganesh said, adding that coding now accounts for barely 20% of the overall software development process.
Instead, he believes, enterprises are focusing on end-to-end workflows-from building applications and deploying them to integrating AI agents into business processes, followed by testing and production rollout.
This shift is also reshaping developer expectations. "AI engineering skills and agility will be critical," Ganesh said, noting that developers will increasingly work across the lifecycle rather than just writing code.
India leads in real-world AI deployments
A key trend emerging over the past year is the transition from AI pilots to production-scale deployments. While early adoption centred on experimentation with generative AI, enterprises are now investing in agentic AI to automate processes and decision-making.
Ganesh pointed to financial services as a leading example. Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance firms are using AI-driven platforms to drastically cut loan processing timelines-from several weeks to just days, with ambitions to bring it down to under an hour.
In one such case, a housing finance firm reduced its loan disbursal cycle from up to eight weeks to 3-4 days, and is targeting near real-time approvals.
Similarly, banks and insurers are deploying AI agents in underwriting and decision engines, enabling faster approvals while retaining human oversight.
"Indian enterprises, especially in banking and insurance, are leading globally in building agentic business rule engines," Ganesh said.
Enterprise adoption spans sectors
OutSystems claims over 4,000 enterprise customers globally, with India emerging as a strategic market across sectors such as banking, insurance, IT services and manufacturing.
Among its public references are Wipro, which uses the platform for applications serving over 250,000 employees, YES Bank, Schneider Electric, and Edelweiss Group.
Manufacturing is another emerging frontier, with companies building "smart factory" systems powered by AI agents to improve shop floor productivity and reduce process times.
The governance challenge: avoiding AI sprawl
However, as enterprises deploy multiple AI tools and agents, concerns around "AI sprawl" and rising technical debt are intensifying.
Ganesh said CIOs and CISOs are increasingly prioritising unified platforms that integrate application development, data systems, and AI capabilities, rather than relying on fragmented tools.
"One of the biggest concerns is ending up with hundreds of agents and multiple platforms, creating tech debt over time," he said.
To address this, enterprises are focusing on three key pillars: unified development platforms, strong data integration with legacy systems such as ERPs and CRMs, and robust security guardrails.
Regulation is another critical factor, particularly in India's highly regulated sectors. Companies are ensuring compliance with frameworks such as RBI and IRDAI guidelines, alongside global standards like GDPR.
Fewer apps, more productivity
Looking ahead, Ganesh expects a structural shift in how enterprises design their technology stacks.
Instead of scaling teams to build more applications, companies will aim to rationalise and modernise existing systems. "Organisations will move from managing 150 applications to perhaps 50, built on modern architectures," he said.
This consolidation, combined with AI-driven automation, is expected to significantly improve developer productivity and reduce costs.
At the same time, enterprises will increasingly embed AI agents into critical decision points-such as customer onboarding, service workflows and internal approvals-to accelerate turnaround times from days to hours.
India a key hub for product and growth
India is also becoming central to OutSystems' global strategy, both as a market and as a product development hub. The company that works with Global Systems Integrator (GSI) partners such as Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and NTT Data in India is expanding engineering teams working on key offerings such as its AI-assisted development tools and agent-building platforms.
On the business side, the focus remains on scaling enterprise adoption in sectors like financial services, manufacturing and IT, as well as tapping mid-market opportunities.
Ganesh summed up the transition underway: "The conversation is no longer about experimenting with AI. It's about identifying real business workflows-document processing, decision-making, and custom processes-and taking them to production at scale."
As enterprises navigate this shift, the balance between speed, governance and security will determine how effectively AI moves from promise to impact.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from TechCircle.