HCLSoftware has hosted its India Golf Masterclass alongside the DP World India Championship 2026 at Delhi Golf Club, bringing together senior leaders from India’s defence and aerospace sectors, including the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force.
The initiative provides a platform for HCLSoftware to engage with customers and partners while discussing enterprise technology priorities, including intelligent operations, application security, sovereign collaboration and artificial intelligence (AI).
The DP World India Championship features international and Indian golfers competing for a reported prize purse of $4 million. HCLTech is the Official Digital Experience Partner of the DP World Tour, giving HCLSoftware an opportunity to engage with enterprise customers in the context of a global sporting event.
The masterclass combined discussions on enterprise technology with a golf learning experience led by a professional. The technology showcase featured HCL BigFix for intelligent operations, HCL AppScan for application security, and HCL Domino and Domino IQ for sovereign collaboration and AI.
Sovereignty becomes an operational priority
A central theme of the discussions was how enterprises can maintain control over their data, applications, security and AI workloads while operating across different regulatory environments.
Kalyan Kumar, president of HCL Software, drew a parallel between the DP World Tour’s common rules across different venues and the need for consistent enterprise AI governance that can accommodate local regulatory requirements.
“Golf is a game of precision. You don’t win because of one great shot. You win by making good decisions consistently, adapting to the course in front of you, and executing with discipline. Enterprise AI works the same way,” Kumar said.
He added that organisations need a common governance model that can adapt to local regulations without requiring them to rebuild their approach for each jurisdiction.
“To make that work, enterprises need three integrated pillars: a robust data intelligence platform at the core, resilient operations and cybersecurity software to protect critical workloads, and sovereign applications and software with a choice of deployment across cloud and private infrastructure,” he said.
The discussion reflects the growing focus on sovereign technology architectures, particularly for organisations operating in regulated environments where control over data, infrastructure and software deployment is a key consideration.
Integrating operations, security and sovereign AI
Dhruv Kohli, vice-president, India and Middle East, HCL Software, said enterprise customers were increasingly evaluating technology based on the degree of control they need over deployment and operations.
“The HCL Software Intelli-Ops framework comprehensively covers Business-Ops, Cyber-Ops and IT-Ops. This leverages our world-class, Gartner Leader-rated products – HCL BigFix, HCL AppScan, and HCL UNO+ – with sovereignty built into the core, giving customers the choice of where to run their software,” Kohli said.
He added that the company’s sovereign portfolio includes HCL Domino and Domino IQ for collaboration and AI in regulated environments.
HCL Software and Sify Digital Services launched a fully managed sovereign AI offering for India in February 2026 as part of their efforts to support sovereign-by-design technology platforms.
The masterclass placed these themes within a broader discussion on how organisations can align AI adoption with governance, cybersecurity and operational resilience. For enterprises evaluating AI deployments, the challenge is increasingly to combine innovation with the ability to manage workloads under the regulatory and operational requirements applicable to their business.
HCLSoftware serves more than 20,000 organisations globally, including a majority of Fortune 100 companies and nearly half of the Fortune 500.