As enterprises increasingly navigate the tides of digital transformation, Mphasis, a leading IT services company, is anchoring its strategy around intelligent automation and data governance. Leading this digital charge is Pavan Goyal, the company’s Senior Vice President and Global CIO, who sits at the intersection of technology innovation and operational execution. In an exclusive conversation, Goyal walks us through his vision, how AI agents are reshaping enterprise workflows, and the transformative role Oracle is playing in this evolution.
A strategic role with global impact
With over 25 years of experience in IT transformation, Goyal’s journey spans customer-facing transformations and internal enterprise innovation. Now, as CIO of Mphasis for the past two–three years, he is steering the global infrastructure, application landscape, security posture, and engineering efforts across offices worldwide.
“At Mphasis, we don’t just provide digital solutions, we live them every day,” Goyal says. His day-to-day responsibilities involve overseeing foundational IT systems while driving enterprise-wide projects that add functionality, resilience, and scalability.
AI agents: The next frontier in enterprise automation
According to Goyal, AI agents are poised to fundamentally reshape how businesses operate. But he’s quick to add a caveat, “Everything is not about AI. The foundational elements—like clean data, unified access mechanisms, and governance—must be firmly in place before AI can deliver true value.”
He underscores the need for identity and role-based access controls as prerequisites. “Without this backbone, AI agents risk introducing misinformation or flawed outcomes,” he cautions.
Striking the balance: Performance meets control
As AI agents begin executing workflow-level decisions, the challenge lies in maintaining a balance between performance and governance. Goyal believes the evolution of access controls through automation tools is a net positive.
“Far from restricting access, AI agents with finer controls will empower users, enabling them to ask the right questions and take action faster,” he notes. This democratisation of enterprise functions, in his view, is where the real power of AI lies.
Oracle’s role in building an intelligent core
Mphasis’ collaboration with Oracle is central to its AI journey. With enterprise systems like ERP, HCM, payroll, and analytics built on Oracle Fusion, the organisation is poised to maximise the benefits of Oracle’s embedded AI agent framework.
“We’ve already built use cases using chatbots for functions like leave applications,” says Goyal. “Now with Oracle’s native AI agents, we can scale that further, enabling agents to trigger multi-step workflows spanning employee services to compliance and contract management,” he points out.
The advantage lies in Oracle’s unified fabric. “It’s not just point automation—it’s about end-to-end orchestration. That’s where Oracle’s ecosystem shines,” he adds.
From data chaos to a unified source of truth
A major pillar of this transformation is the ongoing data platform initiative at Mphasis—a year-long effort to unify fragmented enterprise data.
“We had overlaps, duplication, and inconsistent governance,” Goyal admits. To address this, Mphasis built a central data lake aggregating data from HCM, ERP, CRM, training systems, and more. “Now, all applications talk to each other via the data lake, which acts as a clean, governed, real-time source of truth,” he mentions.
This initiative ensures that AI agents operate on high-quality, consistent data—a non-negotiable for reliability and accountability in automation.
Choosing the right use cases, not just flashy ones
Not all automation is created equal, and Goyal is pragmatic about it. “You could use an agent to generate a monthly report, but is it worth the computational overhead?” he asks. Instead, Mphasis focuses on high-volume, high-impact areas like employee services and core enterprise processes—hire-to-retire, order-to-cash, record-to-report.
“Every enterprise must align use cases to business value. Indiscriminate adoption won’t work,” he cautions.
Preparing for an interconnected agent ecosystem
With Oracle opening access to its AI agents, Mphasis is building an enterprise-wide, multi-agent framework. These agents aren’t limited to Oracle systems; they will span tools from Microsoft and others. “We’re creating an environment where agents talk to each other, not just humans—this is the future of enterprise orchestration,” he states confidently.
A responsible and ethical AI roadmap
Data ethics, transparency, and responsible AI are central to Goyal’s strategy. “We’ve assigned ownership to specific data domains. Only responsible business heads can alter core datasets,” he says, emphasizing governance by design.
Looking forward, Mphasis is also extending AI capabilities beyond internal use. “We’re curating AI-powered solutions for our clients, combining technologies from various partners into tailored offerings. It’s not just about internal transformation, it’s about creating value at scale,” he avers.
For Pavan Goyal, the future lies in building intelligent systems where humans and AI collaborate seamlessly. It’s a journey powered by trust, data, and responsible innovation—one that Mphasis is well on its way to mastering, with Oracle as a key enabler.
“This isn’t just about technology. It’s about creating a smarter enterprise—one that’s ready for whatever the future holds,” he concludes.