HCLTech recruits Sharon White to oversee Data & AI offering

The A/NZ branch of HCLTech has recruited Sharon White to a newly-created role heading next-gen data, analytics & AI, as the global firm continues to launch new GenAI products.

Having recently joined HCLTech from Deloitte as its new A/NZ country manager, Sonia Eland has now recruited former Sydney office colleague Sharon White to head up the tech consulting and services firm’s data, analytics and AI business for Australia and New Zealand in a new associate vice president role.

White’s appointment coincides with the global launch of the firm’s GenAI software development and engineering platform HCLTech AI Force.

A self-described ‘data rockstar’, White has spent the past two and a half years as a director at Deloitte, prior to which she also served for two years as a director at fellow Big Four firm KPMG with a brief executive contract stint at IT consultancy GainInsights in between. She altogether brings three decades worth of cross-industry information management and business intelligence experience across the Asia Pacific and Europe to her new role.

“We’re thrilled to have Sharon join the team to help us scale our data, analytics and AI consultancy capabilities within the region,” stated Eland, who served as national ServiceNow lead partner at Deloitte before crossing to HCLTech toward the end of last year. “HCLTech already has significant AI capabilities but Sharon’s appointment will strengthen our position, allowing us to better advise businesses at a time of immense change and opportunity.”

White’s appointment to the newly-created role in Australia coincides with the global launch of ‘HCLTech AI Force’, an innovative platform designed to accelerate ‘time-to-value’ across the life-cycle of software development and engineering projects. Built on Azure OpenAI with a highly customisable suite of GenAI-based solutions, the firm says HCLTech AI Force has the capacity to deliver greater productivity, improved quality, and faster release timelines.

“We take great pride in spearheading the art of possible in articial intelligence and are thrilled to unveil this exciting innovation,” stated Vijay Guntur, HCLTech’s India-based global president of engineering and research & development services. “This platform is a true game-changer and some of our pilots with clients in the technology and financial services industries have delivered extremely encouraging outcomes thus far.”

The latest platform launch follows last year’s announcement of an extension to the firm’s strategic partnership with Microsoft in a bid to capture joint opportunities in the artificial intelligence and machine learning space, with Microsoft chief Satya Nadella noting in a recent interview that HCLTech was among a number of big consultancies not only driving external Copilot innovation but customising the product for internal use through various plug-ins.

HCLTech’s CTO Kalyan Kumar said at the time that businesses could gain valuable insights into their operations and improve decision-making by leveraging Microsoft’s generative AI innovations; “Whether enhancing customer experiences, streamlining supply chain operations or optimising business processes, this powerful collaboration provides the tools and expertise companies need to succeed in the fast-paced digital landscape.”