TCS MasterCraft introduces GenAI for faster legacy IT modernisation

Tata Consultancy Services has released an updated version of TCS MasterCraft, now equipped with Generative AI (GenAI) and Agentic AI, to automate and accelerate the process of modernising legacy IT systems.

The company reports that the new GenAI and Agentic AI features in TCS MasterCraft can reduce the cost of application modernisation by over 70% and achieve results at twice the speed of traditional methods. The updated product is designed to automate the conversion of legacy application code, which is often resource-intensive and complicated due to outdated technologies and sparse documentation.

Modernisation is a priority for businesses contending with growing technology debt and high maintenance costs relating to old software platforms. Enterprises typically encounter significant risk and expense when updating their technology landscapes. TCS indicates that most existing solutions focus only on converting legacy systems without addressing the long-term sustainability of new platforms. The enhancements in TCS MasterCraft aim to mitigate these risks by creating maintainable and future-proof applications.

According to the company, one of North America's largest banks utilised the GenAI-powered TCS MasterCraft to transform its mainframe applications. The project recorded double the productivity savings during the modernisation and completed the process three times faster than conventional approaches. In addition, TCS established a central knowledge repository for the client, resulting in a 90% reduction in required effort. TCS also reports ongoing use of the platform to migrate over 50 million lines of legacy COBOL code to Java for a major US-based financial services company, helping to expedite modernisation programmes and create reusable application knowledge bases.

Zachariah Chirayil, Practice Director at Everest Group, commented on the role of TCS MasterCraft in enterprise transformation: "As businesses undergo digital transformation, enterprises are reassessing their heritage environments, prioritising integration with cloud platforms, and modernising legacy applications. TCS' comprehensive AI and automation suite, TCS MasterCraft, supports enterprises in modernising mainframe applications, facilitating monolithic application rearchitecting to microservices, and optimising mainframe workloads."

"The company's extensive partnership network and deep understanding of business requirements around mainframes enable the delivery of hyper-personalised, industry-specific solutions. TCS' location-agnostic operating model and organisational change management approach ensures smooth transitions during mainframe modernisation, while clients appreciate its proficiency in both mainframe and cloud technologies."

Addressing the technological advancements of TCS MasterCraft, Ashvini Saxena, Vice President and Head, TCS Components Engineering Group and Digital Software and Solutions, added: "Enterprises have large applications in multiple technologies and architectures over decades. We've successfully delivered hundreds of complex modernisation programs using intelligent automation-driven technology conversion for years."

"Solutions commercially available to the enterprises currently make it expensive to deliver such modernisation programs. We have leveraged GenAI and Agentic AI capabilities for extraction of business knowledge and conversion to augment this capability to deliver maintainable applications and data with powerful design repository."

The GenAI and Agentic AI upgrades also facilitate the creation of a centralised and reusable knowledge base for enterprise applications. According to TCS, such knowledge repositories reduce manual intervention and improve the maintainability of newly modernised systems, decreasing the likelihood of technology obsolescence.

Since its introduction in 2012, TCS MasterCraft has supported clients in transforming outdated systems into modern, cloud-native applications. Over the past decade, the solution has integrated innovations driven by advancements in technology, with the recent addition of artificial intelligence marking a further evolution. The Agentic AI layer utilises TCS's accumulated expertise and best practices to address the specific requirements of complex modernisation tasks through purposive software agents.

The company states that the most recent version of TCS MasterCraft is aligned with its broader strategy to enable AI-driven solutions that streamline and optimise business operations. The product offers intelligent automation with human-in-the-loop decision-making and supports continuous delivery through an integrated DevSecOps pipeline. In the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2025, TCS noted around 580 business engagements focused on AI, reflecting current industry trends.

TCS is also prioritising investment in Agentic AI across numerous sectors. The company reports the development of over 150 specialised solutions for fields such as financial services, accounting, and supply chain management.