Tata Group Firms Team Up On AI Platform For Small Businesses

Tata Communications and Tata Tele Business Services (TTBS), on July 28, announced a partnership to bring artificial intelligence tools to India's small and medium businesses through a shared AI platform built for the segment.

TTBS works with SMBs across India, offering connectivity, cloud and managed services through a network of channel partners and its digital exchange, Do Big Cloud Hub, where businesses can discover and adopt digital services. Tata Communications brings its Voice AI platform, powered by agentic AI, which the company says is among the first in the industry to offer speech-to-speech customer engagement with latency under 500 milliseconds and support for multiple languages.

The Voice AI Platform

As part of the collaboration, the companies showcased an AI-powered voice agent that businesses can deploy with a dedicated fixed-line number. The agent is designed to handle customer interactions such as answering routine queries, scheduling appointments and follow-ups, and processing orders.

The platform is built on Commotion, Tata Communications' conversational AI system, and runs on the company's Vayu AI Cloud. TTBS provides the underlying voice infrastructure and connectivity. According to the companies, the AI agents draw on data through a shared network fabric that combines capabilities from both firms.

Tata Communications and TTBS said the joint offering is meant to make advanced AI tools more accessible to SMBs, without the cost or technical complexity typically associated with enterprise-grade systems. The companies said customers can choose from flexible options, ranging from ready-to-use AI agents to full-stack infrastructure access, depending on their needs.

The companies pointed to bus ticketing and mobility platforms as one example, where Voice AI could help customers book or modify tickets, check journey details, and resolve queries through conversation. In healthcare, the companies said the same technology could be used to book appointments, share test reports and manage aftercare communication with patients.

Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, managing director and chief executive officer of Tata Communications, said the partnership was aimed at extending AI access beyond large enterprises. "India's AI opportunity will be realised not only through large enterprises, but by empowering millions of SMBs with access to world-class digital infrastructure and intelligence capabilities. By combining TTBS's extensive SMB relationships with our cloud, AI and communications expertise, we are creating a differentiated platform that allows businesses to adopt AI with confidence, while ensuring data sovereignty, security and scalability," he said.

Harjit Singh, managing director of Tata Teleservices, said SMBs needed a technology partner that understood their operational realities. "India's SMB sector represents one of the world's largest untapped opportunities for AI-led transformation. As AI adoption accelerates, SMBs need a trusted technology partner that understands their business realities. TTBS is already helping customers leverage AI across communications, cloud and digital solutions. Our collaboration with Tata Communications builds on this foundation to deliver a more comprehensive AI ecosystem that enables businesses to adopt AI with confidence," he said.

The companies said the collaboration is expected to expand beyond voice AI over time, forming the basis for a wider set of AI-powered products and digital services for businesses in India, and eventually in other SMB markets globally.