Offshore IT Partners In the Age Of AI
                     Offshore IT Partners In the Age Of AI
Anil Janardhanan
Writes for Gadgeon.com, a technology partner for  
digital technology partner. Gadgeon's 
technology solutions provider specializes in product 
engineering, IoT, and digital transformation.
The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized and reshaped 
global technology landscape significantly. AI is expected to trigger a rapid and 
ongoing business transformation, the signs of which are already being noticed. 
AI has demonstrated immense potential in areas such as predictive analytics 
and intelligent automation to generative models and autonomous systems.
On the technology front, companies are constantly striving to stay ahead of the 
competition in innovation and cost efficiency. For cost efficiency and rapid 
scaling, most businesses are relying on IT partners to ensure their innovation 
goals are met consistently as well as cost efficiently. The same is true towards 
embedding AI into their systems and operations. Hence it is important and 
relevant to understand and know what to look for in an offshore IT partner with 
respect to adoption and innovation enabled through AI integration.
The rise of AI has fundamentally changed the requirements for businesses 
seeking to hire offshore partners. Formerly, companies consulted with offshore 
IT firms when they required help with operational support, cost savings, and 
resource management and augmentation. Now, they look for innovation, 
dexterity, and strategic alignment.
AI implementation requires:
Data scientists, software engineers, and domain experts to maintain cross-
functional collaboration between them.
Deep understanding of data governance, model ethics, and compliance 
frameworks
Continuous research, learning, and iteration to make the best of execution
This shift makes it essential for companies to have offshore partners who 
are not just reactive implementers of AI but solve problems proactively. 
They should also have a clear grasp of the latest developments in AI 
technology.
The benefit of hiring Indian IT partners from Tier-2 cities
India’s IT sector is already well-established globally and has rapidly 
adapted to AI trends in recent years. There is an additional 
advantage in hiring IT partners from Tier-2 towns like Kochi as an 
example.
Strong STEM foundation: India produces number of STEM graduates every 
year, many of whom specialize in fields relevant to AI, such as 
mathematics, computer science, statistics, and data engineering. As a 
result, the country has a steadily growing workforce capable of handling 
both core AI development and its integration into business systems.
Depth in data and engineering: AI systems rely on the precise and targeted 
use of data. Indian IT teams have long-standing experience in ETL 
pipelines, MLOps, data warehousing, and data governance — the 
foundational building blocks for enterprise AI adoption.
Cost-efficiency for experimentation: AI development involves continuous 
retraining, rapid prototyping, and frequent model testing. India offers these 
services at significantly lower costs compared to many other countries, 
enabling businesses to support iterative experimentation without incurring 
excessive expenses. This cost efficiency makes AI adoption more 
accessible and sustainable.
AI skill transition at scale: Major Indian IT companies have retrained large 
portions of their workforce in AI, ML, NLP, and computer vision. They’ve 
also developed academic partnerships and created AI labs, which have 
enabled them to stay updated with global trends.
As organizations and businesses are increasingly adopting AI systems and 
technologies in coming years, the demand for Indian firms with expertise in 
this domain is expected to grow significantly. To make the most of what AI 
has to offer, you must explore the range of solutions provided by the AI 
experts and ask them to create a custom AI integration strategy tailored to 
your needs.
Why choose mid-size IT partners from Tier-2 cities like Kochi
The Indian education system is spread across entire India and not just 
restricted to major IT towns like Bangalore, Hyderabad or Pune. The top 
technical universities like IITs, NITs and IIITs are spread across the length 
and breadth of India. In our example of Kochi which belongs to the state of 
Kerala – has an IIT, NIT and IIIT. In addition, there are nearly 10 other 
universities and top engineering colleges.
As the major tier-1 cities are struggling to manage the rising cost of living, 
transportation issues, many IT professionals are willing to opt for Tier-2 
cities offering a tremendous advantage to mid-sized firms in Tier-2 cities 
which not only enhances the quality talent and expected to have lower 
turnover in the long run.
Along with agility of mid-sized organizations, valuing relationship with 
similar mid-sized firms and attractive prices – IT outsourcing to mid-sized 
tech companies from non-metro cities offers a great advantage for mid-
sized companies from North America or Europe seeking to outsource 
projects.
As AI is already transforming industries in the last few fiscal quarters, it is 
ideal time to consider IT companies from non-metro cities as offshore IT 
partners in the age of AI.
Thank you for time in reading this article!