Exploring HCLTech’s advances in medical device engineering and healthcare transformation

In the past 12 to 18 months, GenAI has transitioned from pilot projects to full product implementation across the healthcare and life sciences sectors. It is accelerating drug discovery, optimizing clinical trials, and enhancing biomarker identification for precision medicine. AI-driven genomic data platforms are facilitating breakthroughs in personalized healthcare and disease research, while Industry 4.0 technologies are revolutionizing manufacturing through real-time analytics and small-batch production. Moreover, AI is bolstering supply chain resilience with predictive forecasting, blockchain transparency, and diversified supplier networks. On the commercial side, AI-powered engagement strategies, omnichannel marketing, and telemedicine are expanding direct-to-consumer models and improving patient adherence. This shift towards a digital, AI-driven healthcare system enables remote monitoring, self-care guidance, and proactive interventions, all of which contribute to better population health and care delivery while reducing administrative burdens and enhancing workforce efficiency.

IT service providers like HCLTech collaborate with life sciences organizations to address industry challenges. They assist in managing regulatory changes, adopting new technologies, and developing workforce skills. By optimizing operations and improving efficiency, these providers enable healthcare and life sciences companies to focus on their core work, such as research, development, and patient care.

During our recent visit to the HCLTech LSH Analyst Day 2025, Dr. Sandesh Prabhu, Senior Vice President and Head of the Practices and Solutions Group (PSG) for Life Sciences and Healthcare at HCLTech, delivered a comprehensive overview of the company’s strategic initiatives and performance. He showcased significant achievements in the Life Sciences and Healthcare (LSH) sector, emphasizing the company’s commitment to domain-led sales, thought leadership, strategic partnerships, and delivery excellence in his presentation. Key updates included the integration of Engineering & R&D Services (ERS)and IT and Business Services (ITBS), establishing Global Capability Centres (GCC), and emphasizing data and AI-driven solutions. Dr. Prabhu also discussed the company’s unique offerings, such as AI Force, Digital Colleague, and Agentic AI, which are designed to drive innovation and deliver value across the LSH value chain. The strategic pillars of HCLTech’s LSH sector include investing in joint innovation with customers and partners, leveraging state-of-the-art labs, and focusing on Industry Focused Repeatable Solutions (IFRS) to drive success.

Satish Sarat, Vice President of Life Sciences, and Ravi Bansal, Vice President of Healthcare, presented HCLTech’s solutions that are helping transform the healthcare and life sciences sectors. HCLTech’s extensive and innovative capabilities focus on AI and GenAI to drive industry-focused, repeatable IPs and co-innovation. In the life sciences value stream, HCLTech offers AI-first solutions for research and development, clinical, regulatory, safety, manufacturing, supply chain, commercial, and enterprise functions. Use cases include omnichannel customer experience, smart content curation, novel drug design, clinical simulation, and regulatory intelligence. The Life Sciences Digital Services 2024 RadarView™ highlights an industry shift where service providers increasingly use automation and AI to streamline drug evaluation processes, enabling life sciences enterprises to accelerate time-to-market for new drugs. By reducing manual efforts and increasing business agility, automation is driving greater efficiency and responsiveness in the evolving landscape of drug development and evaluation. These advancements empower organizations to streamline operations and focus on their core strengths. However, to remain competitive in this rapidly evolving sector, service providers must harness advanced technologies to optimize efficiency, enabling the industry to prioritize innovation and its primary competencies.

The Healthcare Provider Digital Services 2024 RadarView™ report highlights that nearly two-thirds of service providers are leveraging cloud-based solutions, AI/ML, and RPA to enhance integration, ensure interoperability, and enable real-time access to patient data. These technologies drive personalized care, improve clinical and radiological diagnostics, and boost operational efficiency. As shown in the table below, HCLTech is using the power of AI/ML and RPA to develop intelligent, data-driven solutions for healthcare providers and payors. These technologies enhance system integration, ensure interoperability across platforms utilizing FHIR/HL7, and enable real-time access to patient data—empowering personalized care, improving diagnostic accuracy, and driving operational efficiency by minimizing manual effort.

Another key highlight of Analyst Day was an in-depth look at HCLTech’s product engineering practice, which plays a crucial role in supporting medical device clients. With a team of over 9,500 engineers specializing in product development, new product introduction, sustenance engineering, digital/data engineering, manufacturing engineering with IT/OT convergence, and domain-led services like regulatory documentation, medical affairs etc,  HCLTech focuses on developing and improving medical technologies to enhance patient care and operational efficiency. Their CARE Orchestration Platform automates prenatal screening, reducing errors and enabling hybrid on-premise and cloud deployment, with over 50 global installations. In growth monitoring, their electromechanical pump solution for drug infusion enhances patient adherence and quality of life, including applications for multiple sclerosis monitoring. HCLTech’s continuous glucose monitoring solutions have evolved from custom devices to BYOD mobile solutions, emphasizing data monetization. Their remote patient monitoring solution for knee implants tracks compliance data for 20 years, reducing readmissions and offering valuable insights for payers, while the remote programming of pacemakers has improved therapy turnaround time, cut costs, and enhanced efficiency in over 2,500 clinics, benefiting 4,000 patients.

Analysis

Here are some of the key takeaways from HCLTech’s approach to healthcare and life sciences:

• • Patient-focused solutions: The company’s use of Generative AI addresses specific operational challenges rather than pursuing broader AI adoption. In healthcare settings, it helps streamline tasks like patient intake and clinical documentation, reducing manual workload and improving accuracy. In research, GenAI is used to analyze genomic data using knowledge graphs and to extract key findings from scientific literature. For regulatory and safety teams, it automates processes such as labeling, case intake, and capturing patient-reported outcomes. In clinical trials, AI tools help predict which patients might drop out and suggest the most suitable trial sites. On the operational side, GenAI supports health plans by automating benefit configurations, appeals, and grievance processes, and summarizing content for clinical reviews to improve decision-making efficiency.
  • Product engineering: The company provides comprehensive product engineering services for medical devices, supporting Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 categories. Its expertise spans end-to-end development, including new product design, digital engineering, and manufacturing support. With over 250 medical devices co-developed and 200+ patents created on behalf of our customers, it has contributed to solutions across therapeutic areas such as cardiovascular, diagnostic imaging, diabetes care, orthopaedics, and more. Specialized centres focus on regulatory compliance, materials, packaging, industrial design, clinical operations, and AI-enabled imaging, enabling the delivery of GenAI and IoT-based healthcare tools. Notable innovations include remote programming for pacemakers, cloud-enabled neuromodulation, and real-time surgical monitoring solutions.
  • Digital foundation services: The company has extensive experience in modernizing digital infrastructure across various domains. It utilizes AI-driven automation, a skilled workforce, and a broad range of services, including digital workplace solutions, hybrid cloud management, next-generation networks, and cybersecurity.
  • Global collaborations: It collaborates with industry leaders like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon to enhance its solutions, fostering innovation and improving efficiency in healthcare delivery.

Recommendations

As the healthcare and life sciences (HLS) sector continues to evolve, HCLTech possesses capabilities in these areas and can enhance its offerings further:

• • Enhancing drug development processes: It should further utilize AI, machine learning, and data analytics to accelerate drug design and repurposing, enhance clinical trial efficiency, and simplify regulatory compliance.
  • Expanding Generative AI use cases across Payors: To drive innovation in healthcare, HCLTech should explore generative AI applications in areas such as personalized care plans, underwriting, member enrollment and onboarding, and the automation of prior authorization.
  • Develop IoMT solutions: Leverage product engineering expertise and partnerships with medical device companies to develop digital hospital solutions and home healthcare hubs, advancing the connected health ecosystem.
  • Strengthening global partnerships: It should strengthen partnerships with international research organizations, healthcare and life sciences consortiums, and regulatory bodies to ensure its solutions align with global healthcare needs.

HCLTech’s investments in AI, IoT, and collaborative ecosystems, along with its focus on improving healthcare accessibility and operational efficiency, reinforce its role as a key innovator in the HLS sector. As showcased during LSH Analyst Day 2025, the company is well-positioned to tackle industry challenges and drive the next phase of advancements in healthcare and life sciences.

By Eratha Poongkuntran, Research Director