From HR tickets to intelligent assistance: How Persistent’s PiAssist works with Microsoft AI

When Rajiv Naithani joined Persistent Systems a little over a year ago, his onboarding came with an unusual introduction—digital colleagues. What struck the IT services firm’s Chief People Officer wasn’t the novelty, but how naturally employees relied on PiAssist for everyday HR queries.

Built on Microsoft technologies including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Teams and Copilot capabilities, PiAssist brings AI-powered assistance into the tools where employees already work. Part of Persistent’s broader AssIstX platform, an enterprise AI ecosystem spanning HR, Talent, Legal, IT, Sales and Operations, PiAssist helps employees access HR services instantly — without navigating traditional helpdesk workflows or switching between systems.

Promise: Rebuilding the process for employees

In the HR function, what looks like a routine question about a leave balance or a travel approval still demands attention, urgency and a response that is, by design, reactive and repetitive. PiAssist has changed both sides of that equation.

“The idea was to move HR from a helpdesk model functioning within work hours to an always-on, intelligent support layer embedded in the employee experience,” says Naithani. The AI-powered agent delivers instant, contextual responses to employee queries, without requiring them to switch systems or chase information across teams.

Naithani, who joined after the platform was live, was struck by how it reshaped his team’s work. “Instead of static information retrieval, the system provides contextual assistance tailored to the employee’s situation. That has significantly reduced repetitive queries reaching HR teams, freeing them from operational load while improving response speed for employees.”

Proof: From design to deployment

Today, PiAssist spans the entire employee lifecycle, from timesheet tracking, reminders and regularization to Mediclaim benefits, rewards-and-recognition checks and policy explanations, responding in under four seconds.

Behind the experience is Semantic Kernel, Microsoft’s open-source AI orchestration framework. It helps PiAssist understand employee intent, determine the right source of information and, when needed, route requests to specialized agents such as CareerAssist. All Assists are delivered inside Microsoft Teams and Outlook, with Copilot providing conversational access to enterprise data, so employees don’t have to learn new systems. And for an AI system embedded this deeply into employee workflows, trust isn’t optional, it’s foundational.

“PiAssist operates within an ISO 42001-certified governance framework, aligning to responsible AI principles around transparency, accountability and risk management. Every transaction leaves an audit trail, with logs maintained across the underlying ERP (core HR and operations system), the API gateway and the web server. And critically, humans remain in the loop. Approvals, validations and sensitive decisions never bypass governance,” adds Naithani.

Productivity: What changed in numbers

The impact shows up in the data (infographics). About two-thirds of queries are resolved through readily available reports, rest takes an executive roughly 10 minutes. Today, around 8,000 unique employees actively use PI Assist, with strong repeat usage across timecard filling, leave applications, and policy queries. A year in, the digital colleagues Naithani was once introduced to, aren’t a novelty anymore. They are simply part of the team.