HFS PODCASTS

Join Achyuta Ghosh and Steve Rudderham for a conversation on how GBS is being rebuilt as a true engine of enterprise value, not just a scaled shared services function. They discuss how Ecolab’s “One Ecolab” strategy is reshaping GBS around nine end-to-end processes, why cost and SLAs are now table stakes rather than differentiators, and how data, AI, and talent are coming together to move the needle on customer experience, growth, and enterprise decision-making.

What you’ll hear:

• Why the traditional shared services playbook is running out of runway, and how Ecolab is positioning GBS as the connector across process, data, people, and technology.
• Steve draws on 15 years across Kellogg, AkzoNobel, Carrier, and his early BPO days at GECIS, and shares what he is doing three months into leading GBS at Ecolab.

Key takeaways:

• Why cost per transaction and SLAs are table stakes, and what enterprise KPIs GBS should actually be moving.
• How Ecolab has organized the enterprise into nine end-to-end processes, with GBS acting as the connector between functions and geographies.
• How a lead-to-cash view, applied to the top 35 clients, is helping GBS improve customer experience and free up commercial time.
• The data-first agenda: moving customer, vendor, and financial master data from a byproduct into a true enterprise asset before scaling AI.
• A real example of how collecting data changed the team's prioritization of customer calls and freed capacity for higher-value work.
• Why running fast on AI without fixing data governance and process consistency is a common mistake, and how Ecolab is sequencing that work.
• The talent shift: reskilling every associate on AI and automation basics, while bringing in specialized talent in advanced analytics and AI.
• Why the gap between leading and lagging GBS organizations is going to widen, and what separates the two three years from now.

Join Achyuta Ghosh and Mohit Bhatia for a candid conversation on what it takes to build a strategic GCC from an early stage, at a time when the old playbook no longer applies. They discuss why the answer is not to jump straight into AI, why fixing the basics still matters, how Rolls-Royce is thinking about data, talent, and enterprise outcomes, and what India means as a home market for a company known globally for jet engines, propulsion, and energy.

What you'll hear:

• Why an early-stage GCC in 2026 does not need to follow the four-stage transformation curve that GCCs went through 20 years ago, and where it can leapfrog straight to modern platforms.
• Mohit draws on nearly four decades across Maersk, Mondelez, Genpact, and American Express, and shares how he is applying that experience at Rolls-Royce without falling back on the traditional playbook.

Key takeaways:

• Why the first 12 to 18 months of a new GCC are still about execution excellence and fixing the basics, before piling on modern tech and AI.
• How to "jump the curve" and start at the top of someone else's S-curve, rather than repeating three decades of legacy build-outs.
• Why AI should sit in the fabric of processes, not as a set of pilots or point solutions bolted on the side.
• The data-first agenda: cleaning, safeguarding, and segregating data before expecting AI to produce ROI.
• How Mohit is thinking about services-as-software and why the shift will be gradual, not overnight, until the ecosystem catches up on data integrity and end-to-end processes.
• The build versus buy call: keeping core GCC execution internal while partnering with third parties on ERP, workflow tools, and system integration.
• Where AI actually pays off at Rolls-Royce, from predictive analytics on jet engine maintenance to three-way match, auto-reconciliations, and employee self-service.
• The talent shift: hiring for curiosity, learning agility, enterprise leader mindset, and tech comfort, without discounting people management, empathetic leadership, and domain expertise.
• Why Rolls-Royce is treating India as a home market, and what the ecosystem could look like at 10,000 people over the next five to seven years.

In this episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Ashwin Venkatesan, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, sat down with Pandiya Kumar Rajamony, Executive Vice President at LTM, to discuss one of the hottest topics in enterprise tech today: how AI is fundamentally rewiring infrastructure services.

Following HFS Research's Horizons report on next-generation infrastructure services, where LTM was positioned as a Horizon 3 provider, this conversation digs into why infrastructure has shifted from simply hosting workloads to becoming the intelligent control plane for enterprise AI. Pandi explains why the question is no longer “Can my infrastructure run AI?” but rather “Can my infrastructure help me scale AI safely, efficiently, and intelligently?”

The discussion covers the four forces reshaping enterprise infrastructure expectations: AI-aware infrastructure (since training and inference behave very differently), dynamic workload placement across cloud, data center, and edge, security and governance in the age of AI agents, and the rising cost pressure of GPU infrastructure and tokenization. Pand also tackles data and infrastructure sovereignty, the move toward heterogeneous CPU-plus-GPU workloads, and why true AI-native operations can't be achieved by simply layering automation onto existing processes.

You'll also hear how LTM's cognitive infrastructure services strategy comes to life through its BlueVerse platform, BlueVerse Knowledge Fabric, and the IRUN agentic operating model: including two real client stories: modernizing India's tax analytics platform for the Central Board of Direct Taxes (Insight 2.0), delivering the same performance with a 37% lower GPU footprint, and an IRUN super-agent deployment for a long-standing travel client that cut operational costs by 35% while doubling engagement revenue.

In this episode of Unfiltered Stories, Saurabh Gupta sits down with Rory Fidler, CIO at Menzies Aviation, and Sorabh Singhal from Wipro to talk about a challenge every enterprise is facing right now, modernization that never seems to end.

This videocast is divided into three episodes. Watch all three to hear the complete conversation and explore the key insights on AI and legacy modernization.

Episode 1: Unfiltered Stories | How AI enables a platform-based approach to enterprise modernization - Why modernization never ends

Enterprise modernization has been underway for years, yet most organizations still feel stuck. Now, with AI accelerating the urgency, leaders are caught between pressure to move fast and fatigue from past efforts. In this episode, we explore why modernization programs often succeed on paper but fail to deliver real impact, and why AI is making this challenge even more critical.

What you’ll hear

• The reality of AI hype vs fear on the ground
• Why modernization feels like a never-ending cycle
• The disconnect between reported success and real outcomes
• Why “bolt-on” approaches fail

Watch Part 2 to see how leading enterprises are breaking out of this cycle with a platform-based approach.

Episode 2: Unfiltered Stories | How AI enables a platform-based approach to enterprise modernization - From projects to platforms

Modernization doesn’t work when treated as isolated projects. It works when reimagined as a platform-driven transformation. In this episode, we explore how organizations are moving from fragmented systems to platform-based architectures, and why this shift is critical before AI can deliver real value.

What you’ll hear

• The real role of AI in modernization
• Why most enterprises get stuck in pilot mode
• A real-world example of platform-led transformation
• Why data becomes the foundation for AI

Watch Part 3 to understand how AI turns modernization into a continuous, value-driving capability.

Episode 3: Unfiltered Stories | How AI enables a platform-based approach to enterprise modernization - From modernization to business value

Modernization is no longer just about upgrading systems. It’s about enabling continuous transformation and business growth. In this final episode, we explore how AI builds on platform foundations to unlock new value, drive innovation, and reshape how enterprises operate.

What you’ll hear

• Why modernization must become continuous
• How AI connects systems into a “thread of gold.”
• What real business value from AI looks like
• Practical advice for CIOs to get started

Watch the full series to see how enterprises are rethinking modernization for the AI era, and what it takes to make it work in practice.

Join Achyuta Ghosh and Arvind Vaishnav for a conversation on how a healthcare GCC creates real impact for patients and clinicians, and what it takes for a center to move from running functions to shaping enterprise outcomes. They discuss how the Philips Innovation Campus is building AI-led solutions that cut MRI scan times in half, the talent shifts behind end-to-end value creation, and how partnerships with clinicians, academia, and startups are reshaping healthcare innovation from Bangalore.

What you'll hear:

• Why the Philips Innovation Campus, with around 4,000 people and more than 30 years in Bangalore, is one of the largest healthcare innovation hubs in India, and what makes its work different from a traditional GCC.
• Arvind walks through real examples of how the campus delivers functional, economic, and social value, including SmartSpeed MRI, a homegrown AI capability that cuts scan time by 50 percent.

Key takeaways:

• How a healthcare GCC measures impact through three lenses: functional value, economic value, and social value.
• A real example of bringing MRI scan time down from an hour to thirty minutes, and what that means for patients, clinicians, and access to care.
• Why end-to-end ownership of the clinician and patient journey is the new bar for healthcare GCCs.
• The talent shifts driving this change: clinical and product roles, quality and safety expertise, and digital skills like AI and cloud.
• The role of ecosystem partnerships with clinicians, academia, and startups in accelerating healthcare innovation.
• How AI is helping clinicians spend more time with patients, and less time with the technology.
• What is changing in how healthcare GCCs are expected to deliver, from supporting functions to shaping outcomes.

Join Achyuta Ghosh and Aparna Rao for a practical conversation on how AI is changing the actual work inside GCCs, and what that means for roles, skills, and leadership. They discuss how the GCC model is moving from processing tasks to making decisions, why AI cannot fix weak fundamentals, and what leaders need to do right now to stay relevant.

What you'll hear:

• Why work in GCCs is no longer organized around steps and tasks.
• It is increasingly organized around decisions, and what humans should do versus what AI should do.
• Aparna draws on 25 years of building and scaling six GCCs across IT, retail, agriculture, pharma, and pharma logistics, and shares what is actually working on the ground at Cencora.

Key takeaways:

• Why has work not reduced inside GCCs? It has elevated, and the bar for talent has risen with it.
• The three shifts reshaping GCC roles: from processing to judgment, from deep silos to T-shaped capability, and from doing the work to influencing how it gets done.
• Why does AI not fix weak fundamentals? It amplifies them, and what to do about that before you scale anything.
• Why is the right starting point not the tool, but the business problem, and how a recent hackathon at Cencora made that visible?
• How democratizing AI access, building AI governance into the capability framework, and investing in human learning together change what a GCC can deliver.
• Practical guidance for this quarter: redesign one or two high-impact workflows end-to-end rather than trying to transform everything at once.
• Why will the winners not be the GCCs that adopt AI the fastest, but the ones that use it most thoughtfully?

Join Achyuta Ghosh and Arindam Mukhopadhyay for a candid conversation on how leadership in Global Capability Centers must change. They talk about how the GCC model is moving past the old scale game and the "landlord" style of leadership, as AI reshapes how work gets done, how value is delivered, and what GCC leaders need to focus on next.

What you'll hear:

• Why the biggest threat to the GCC model isn’t AI.
• It is leadership that has drifted away from domain expertise and process ownership, and what it takes to close that gap.
• Arindam draws on nearly two decades of building, scaling, transforming, and exiting GCCs across India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Poland, Hungary, Costa Rica, Ireland, and the US, and shares his view on what future-ready leadership looks like.

Key takeaways:

• Why strong GCC growth numbers can mask real questions about long-term sustainability.
• The end of the "landlord" leadership role. • Managing facilities and headcount is no longer enough.
• Why the shift from scale-led to outcome-driven GCCs is a leadership problem first, and a technology problem second.
• The value of staying close to the process and demanding excellence from your team rather than just their time.
• How AI is reshaping the talent pyramid and the skills GCCs will need next.
• A practical test every leader can apply: start from the assumption that AI can do the work and rule it out only after kicking the tires hard.
• Why the next wave of GCC leaders will pivot from running large teams of people to leading a smaller core of rare, high-impact skills.
• The simple leadership mantra to carry forward: your job is to make your colleagues successful.

HFS Executive Research Leader David Cushman learns how Agentic Tech market leader EMA is going further in productizing agentic work, delivering hard ROI, and building trust in regulated industries.

Key point discussed:

• The importance of redefining what work looks like, why change management is key, and the importance of understanding both business needs and processes, to deliver ROI with AI.

In this episode, HFS Research’s Dana Daher is joined by Genpact’s Ajay Vasal to unpack insights from a new study of over 500 enterprise leaders on what it really takes to scale agentic AI.

While most organizations believe the technology is ready, very few are prepared to let AI act autonomously. The conversation explores why this is not a technology challenge, but an operating model shift that requires rethinking processes, governance, and decision-making at a fundamental level.

Drawing from real-world experience, Ajay shares how enterprises can move beyond pilots and unlock value by redesigning workflows for AI, establishing accountability, and shifting how success is measured. This is a practical discussion on what separates AI ambition from execution.

What you’ll learn

• Why scaling agentic AI is an operating model challenge, not a technology one
• The gap between AI ambition and enterprise readiness
• How to redesign processes for autonomous execution
• What governance and accountability look like in an AI-driven environment
• Why productivity alone is not the right way to measure AI success
• How leading enterprises are moving from pilots to real business impact

Key takeaways

• Most enterprises trust AI to recommend, but not to act
• AI cannot be layered onto processes designed for humans
• Process redesign is critical to unlocking AI value
• Governance and decision ownership must be clearly defined
• Measuring AI through productivity alone limits its true potential
• Organizations that treat AI as a business transformation will scale faster

HFS Research selected OrbitShift as a Hot Tech for its ability to turn fragmented market signals into structured opportunity shaping and pipeline execution through full-stack agentic orchestration.

In this videocast, HFS Executive Research Leader David Cushman sits down with OrbitShift co-founder and CEO Saurabh Mishra to unpack what that really means in practice. Together, they explore how sales teams are navigating an increasingly complex landscape filled with dashboards, signals, and AI tools, yet still struggle to prioritize the right opportunities at the right time.

The conversation looks at how OrbitShift approaches this challenge differently, combining contextual intelligence, real-time data, and agent-driven workflows to support deal shaping and pipeline development. Saurabh also shares where automation works best, where human judgment remains critical, and how this balance is evolving as agent capabilities mature.

From pipeline impact and user experience to the future of agent-to-agent interactions, this discussion offers a grounded view of how sales models are shifting and what it takes to turn signals into meaningful outcomes.

Key points discussed:

• What kind of data makes the biggest difference to sales conversions?
• Where should agentic AI be deployed and where should humans remain at the helm, and how should we prepare for the rise of agent-to-agent sales?

iOPEX CRO Dharmesh Mistry and HFS Executive Research Leader David Cushman discuss how iOPEX applies domain expertise and outcome-based pricing to deliver agentic services in the enterprise.

Key points discussed:

• Dive deeper into iOPEX’s impact in the first-ever HFS Agentic Services Horizons report.
• How are they combining deep domain and process expertise with gain-share commercial approaches to move the needle for a significant client?

What happens when services are no longer delivered through people alone, but through platforms, software, and AI working together?

In this Fireside Chat, Phil Fersht speaks with Jo Debecker, President and CEO at Akkodis, on how the company is shifting from a traditional staffing-led model to outcome-driven digital engineering.

With engineering becoming increasingly digital, Akkodis is combining deep domain expertise with platforms, IP, and AI to accelerate innovation for clients. From building simulation environments for industries like aerospace to enabling faster product development cycles, the focus is on delivering measurable outcomes rather than just effort.

The conversation explores what it really takes to move away from headcount-based services, how sales and delivery models must evolve, and why AI should be seen as an enabler of human potential rather than a replacement.

It also highlights a critical shift ahead. Less experimentation, more focused implementation. Less hype, more real impact.

Cognizant Chief AI Officer Babak Hodjat - Head of the firm’s AI lab in San Francisco, tackles the realities of scaling agentic AI across the enterprise, with HFS Executive Research Leader David Cushman.

Key points discussed include:

• Where multi-agent systems break first - and what that means for the state of progress in agentic AI.
• How an agent OS - a standardized layer for governance, orchestration, observability, data trust, and workforce integration, helps enterprises handle the complexity ceiling they will inevitably hit when scaling the use of agentic AI.
• And what’s the impact of the newly emerged OpenClaw and its promise of end-to-end workflows?

In the latest episode of Unfiltered Stories, Sam Duncan, Practice Leader at HFS, sat down with Paul Brody, Former Global Blockchain Leader at EY, and Clare Adelgren, Global Blockchain Leader at EY, to discuss the findings of the latest HFS Enterprise Blockchain Services Horizon. They concluded that enterprise blockchain is very much alive, but it's become all the right kinds of boring.

Key discussed points include:

• Serious players never stopped investing
• The core drivers of enterprise blockchain today (stablecoins, tokenization)
• How engagements can move to production
• What differentiates leaders in the market

If you think enterprise blockchain is dead, think again.

Everyone wants to be AI-first. But no one wants to fund it. In this HFS Unfiltered Stories conversation, Saurabh Gupta, President at HFS Research, sits down with Kailash Attal, Chief Solutions Officer at UST, to tackle one of the toughest questions facing enterprises today: How do you fund AI when budgets are tight, and legacy costs are high?

With CFO scrutiny increasing and capital discipline at an all-time high, enterprises can’t simply “wait for the next budget cycle.” Instead, a new operating model is emerging, a self-funded transformation, where savings generated from optimization are reinvested directly into AI and innovation.

They together explored:

• Why 8 out of 10 enterprises say they cannot wait to transform
• How to combine “run” and “transform” into one operating model
• Why AI is blurring the lines between IT and business
• How services-as-software becomes realistic through structured self-funding
• What must change culturally and operationally to make this work

This isn’t about cost-cutting. It’s about creating a flywheel of savings, reinvestment, and growth, and if your organization is struggling with the how of AI, this conversation is for you.

In this HFS Research videocast with Mindsprint, Ashish Chaturvedi speaks with Rohit Sharma and Unnikrishnan Sasikumar on how supply chains are moving from visibility to intelligence amid disruption—shifting from AI pilots to outcome-led transformation (working capital, margin, customer experience). They explore what’s driving demand today including real-time planning, control towers, supplier collaboration, predictive analytics and what’s next: agentic AI for exception handling and the path to autonomous supply chains, grounded in trustworthy data foundations and an ecosystem approach across SAP/Microsoft cores plus specialist startups.

Key discussion points include:

1. Enterprise demand today is still centered on “visibility + decision support.” Most current programs focus on real-time planning, control towers, supplier collaboration, and AI-driven dashboards/analytics to enable faster decisions during disruption.
2. Clear shift from tactical work to integrated, tech-enabled operations. Buyers are moving away from manual Excel forecasting and siloed portals toward integrated solutions that support automated exception handling (including agentic AI), plus broader ecosystem collaboration and traceability.
3. A widening “spend today vs build tomorrow” gap is shaping strategy. Enterprises are still investing heavily in analytics modernization, cloud, and data foundations, while major tech vendors are pushing hard on generative AI and agentic architectures—creating a sequencing challenge.
4. Trustworthy data is the gating factor for autonomous supply chains. The conversation emphasizes that without strong data foundations (freshness, accuracy, governance, and resolving conflicting data sources), autonomy can create bad decisions (e.g., stock-out risk when systems think safety stock exists).
5. Organizational capabilities matter as much as technology. Beyond platforms and tools, capability building and guardrails (e.g., CoE / governance frameworks) are positioned as essential to unlock value from data and AI.
6. The partner stack is hybrid: ERP core plus startup innovation. SAP and Microsoft are described as dominant “core” stacks, while many enterprises augment them with specialist startups/scale-ups for niche planning, visibility, risk, and sustainability, requiring an ecosystem approach.
7. Progress is real, but not linear. Enterprises are still getting foundations right, even as the tech investment trajectory points clearly toward more autonomous, AI-driven supply chain operations.

AI-first is table stakes; instead, outcomes-first delivery in collaboration with a partner ecosystem unlocks growth, access, and resilience.

Key discussion points include:

• AI-first is no longer differentiating, but outcomes are. Most providers claim AI-first, but the real shift is to outcomes-first delivery tied to better health, better experience, lower cost, and equity.
• The old delivery playbook won’t survive the revenue headwind and patent cliff era. Life science enterprises need a new operating model, Services-as-Software, to rewire discovery-to-commercial and drive measurable impact.
• Winning suppliers become growth partners, not just capacity providers. The next wave is precision medicine, real-world evidence, global resilient supply chains, and continuous patient engagement; vendors that bring IP/platforms and ecosystem innovation move from Horizon 2 toward Horizon 3.

In this Unfiltered Stories episode, Hansa Iyengar sits down with NewRocket CEO Harsha Kumar to dismantle the AI hype and get real about how enterprises can drive outcomes, not just experiments. The conversation zeroes in on building AI you can trust, redefining services as software, and what enterprise leaders must do now to avoid becoming irrelevant in the AI-first era.

The key takeaway from the discussion includes:

• AI is disrupting both low-end and high-end IT services models.
• Intelligent agents are transforming workflows, but you must design them right.
• Trust is the new differentiator for AI.
• Leaders must treat AI as a new operating model, not a side experiment.
• The ROI conversation must shift from cost savings to value realization.

Enterprise leaders who treat AI as a science experiment will lose to those treating it as a new business operating model. The pilot phase is over—budget for AI, train for AI, and build for scale—or prepare to be disrupted.

In this episode of HFS Unfiltered, Saurabh Gupta, President at HFS Research, sat with Hiral Chandrana, CEO and Board member of Veltris, to explore how verticalized AI is transforming digital product engineering, reshaping pricing and delivery models, and redefining what true customer-centricity looks like in an AI-native world.

Hiral shares real-world insights on AI readiness, micro-industry innovation, leadership transformation, and why the next generation’s mindset will shape the next few decades of technological progress.

The key discussion points include:

• Understanding Verticalized AI
• Shifting from Traditional Models to Agile Practices
• The Role of Leadership in a Changing Landscape
• Delivering Value through Domain Expertise and Product Mindset

TCS was recognized as a Horizon 3 Market Leader in the HFS Workday Services Horizons 2025 report for its advisory-led, industry-focused, and AI-infused transformations.

The discussion highlights:

• How TCS’s Crystallus Framework, proprietary accelerators, and GenAI capabilities are redefining Workday-enabled HR and finance transformation.
• The conversation also explores the rise of the “superworker” and how TCS is collaborating with Workday and ecosystem partners to drive the next phase of intelligent enterprise transformation.

GBS is moving from a cost-center to a growth-engine.

AI-first models and platforms are rewiring enterprise operations. In this Unfiltered Stories episode, Ashwin Venkatesan, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, sits down with Saurabh Gupta, President at HFS Research, and Shashidhar N, VP & Global Head of Platforms at EdgeVerve, to discuss what next-gen GBS really looks like—beyond slideware.

What you’ll learn:

• From “shared services” to “Generative Business Services” — AI-led, data-driven, value-obsessed.
• AI-first delivery = beyond productivity — shift from cost saves to revenue, speed, and innovation.
• What’s blocking progress — silos plus technical, data, and cultural debt (and how leaders break them).
• Why platforms matter — unifying people, process, data, and tech for scalable, AI-powered ops.
• The GBS of tomorrow — AI-first by design, built for agility, collaboration, and continuous value.

HFS Research and Ema discuss how agentic AI is transforming enterprise operations. From AI pilots to AI employees, learn what defines an agentic system, how to scale responsibly, and what the human-plus-AI workforce of the future looks like.

The key takeaways from the discussion include:

• Enterprises are moving from AI experimentation to AI as a core operating model.
• True agentic systems are goal-oriented, autonomous, and continuously improving.
• “AI employees” represent accountable, cross-functional digital colleagues.
• Success depends on governance, measurable outcomes, and C-suite ownership.
• The future workforce blends human creativity with AI execution for end-to-end transformation.

Life sciences are staring at a $1.5T revenue hit—time to rethink the playbook.

Suppliers can’t keep doing what worked yesterday. To help the industry navigate headwinds and continue delivering cures, they’ll need new capabilities, new partnerships, and faster execution.

In this episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Rohan Kulkarni, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, talks with Paul Watson, Vice President, Global Lead Healthcare & Life Sciences at Hitachi Digital Services, about what it will really take to adapt.

They get into:

• Finding growth in new markets, channels, and engagement models
• Regulatory shifts as more countries run their own approvals (not just the FDA)
• Speed to value, where partners that can design, build, run, and service plants end-to-end take the lead

Watch now for practical insights on where life sciences are headed.

Clean energy is confusing right now. Economics says yes to wind and solar, especially. The IEA says $2tr was invested in clean energy in 2024 vs $1tr in fossil fuels. But politics, at least in rhetoric—and the oil and gas sector, suggest otherwise. Despite recent US legislation, clean energy projects are accelerating to claim the remaining subsidies, other E&U firms are doubling down on what they know are great economics, nuclear and battery technology are developing with support of ensuring the energy mix is covered in multiple future scenarios. Globally, the energy transition is seeing growing political support on all continents.

• So how are E&U firms linking the time horizons of clean energy: now, the next 2 years, and beyond?
• And are there any standout Publicis Sapient projects in the clean energy space that can give the energy transition hope?

HFS Chief Research Officer Tony Filippone speaks with Stephanie Ayoub, Chief Growth Officer at ICG, about their work together in Saudi Arabia and across MENA. The discussion focuses on how research-led strategy and on-the-ground execution help enterprises and governments deliver real transformation at scale.

They explain how HFS and ICG are moving clients from plans to results: modernizing technology, improving procurement, scaling AI and automation, and building lasting capabilities.

With Vision 2030 reshaping the region, Tony and Stephanie cover why investment flows into Saudi Arabia, how organizations move from pilots to production, and what AI adoption and sovereignty look like in practice.

You will hear about:

• Why MENA, especially Saudi Arabia, is becoming a global digital and AI-driven transformation hub.
• How the HFS and ICG partnership blends research, strategy, and execution to accelerate outcomes.
• The key challenges for leaders: talent gaps, procurement friction, vendor lock-in, and legacy estates.
• The shift from efficiency to effectiveness and how to pursue outcome-based transformation.
• AI sovereignty, data residency, and hybrid models, and how these shape the region’s next phase.

HFS Research and LTIMindtree discuss the intertwined transitions shaping the future of energy and utilities, sustainability, AI, and talent.

Josh Matthews, Practice Leader for Sustainability, Energy, and Utilities at HFS Research, sits down with Ramesh Kannan, EVP and Chief Business Officer, Head of Energy and Utilities at LTIMindtree, to explore how the industry must navigate these simultaneous shifts.

Key discussion highlights:

• Sustainability, AI, and talent are not isolated shifts—they are deeply interconnected.
• The industry needs bold and strategic transition planning that ties long-term global ambitions with the immediate push for efficiency and resilience.
• Energy and utilities organizations must balance future-focused goals with today’s operational realities to successfully insulate themselves from geopolitical volatility.

In this episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Ashish Chaturvedi sits down with Nitesh Mirchandani, Chief Business Officer at Mindsprint, to unpack how the convergence of CPG brands and retailers is redefining go-to-market strategies across industries.

From AI-first delivery models and outcome-based engagements to real-time supply chain visibility, the conversation reveals how Mindsprint is helping enterprises in food, agriculture, retail, and consumer goods adapt and thrive in an increasingly fluid ecosystem.

Together, they explore critical insights around GenAI adoption, omnichannel customer experience, and the industry's accelerated shift toward services-as-software, highlighting what it truly takes to unlock agility and competitive advantage.

Key Takeaways:

1. Convergence of CPG and Retail is strategic: Mindsprint sees the blurring lines between retailers and CPG brands as a growth opportunity, unlocking richer CX, new revenue streams, and operational leverage.
2. GenAI must be business aligned to succeed: Over 40% of AI initiatives fail not because of cost but because of poor alignment with business goals. Mindsprint takes an outcome-first approach to maximize AI ROI.
3. Data-driven product innovation and omnichannel CX are top priorities: Enterprises are doubling on real-time analytics and AI-led personalization to accelerate product launches, improve loyalty, and streamline supply chains.
4. The shift to Services-as-Software is accelerating: The market is proactively moving to subscription-based, outcome-driven engagement models, which give clients flexibility, speed, and co-innovation partnerships.

Watch now to learn how bold execution and AI-aligned strategy are reshaping the future of enterprise services.

What happens when engineering collides with AI, robotics, and software-defined everything? LTTS’s Abhishek Sinha joins HFS’s Hansa Iyengar to explore how the firm is doubling down on deep tech, cross-industry innovation, and outcome-led models to deliver scalable value—and whether that’s enough to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market.

Key Points Discussed:

• LTTS is charting its path forward through engineering-led innovation, placing strategic bets on AI, robotics, and software-defined technologies to navigate an increasingly complex enterprise landscape.
• Abhishek Sinha shares how a culture of purposeful agility, cross-industry IP reuse, and outcome-based engagement models are creating tangible customer impact. With over 190 AI patents, a mature innovation framework, and deep digital engineering capabilities, LTTS is positioning itself as a leader in an era of disruptive change.

In this videocast, Joel Martin, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, sits down with Cedric Foray, Global and EMEIA Telecommunications Sector Leader at EY, for an insightful conversation on the evolving telecom landscape.

Together, they explore how accelerating transformation in the telecom industry demands a strategic realignment of AI and operations, driven by outcomes, not just activity. Cedric shares EY’s perspective on sector-oriented transformation and the importance of integrating AI into the core of telecom strategy.

Key themes discussed include:

• EY’s sector-specific approach to telecom transformation
• The critical role of speed in driving innovation
• Strategic alignment of AI and operations
• Embedding corporate strategy into service execution
• Shifting from effort-based to outcome-focused delivery models

Bosch’s Vision for Software-Defined, Outcome-Led Engineering in the Age of AI. In this engaging and forward-looking conversation, Ashwin Venkatesan, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research and Digant Shah, Chief Revenue Officer, Software and Digital Solutions at Bosch explored how Bosch is reimagining engineering and R&D (ER&D) in an era dominated by software innovation and artificial intelligence.

As industries accelerate their digital transformation journeys, Bosch is at the forefront with a software-defined, outcome-led engineering approach that leverages Generative AI, sustainability frameworks, and a robust global delivery model. This session delves into Bosch’s strategic shift from traditional engineering to a software-first mindset, highlighting how this transformation is enabling the company to deliver more meaningful outcomes and adapt swiftly to changing client expectations.

Key discussion points include:

• The shift toward software-defined engineering to drive innovation at scale
• How Generative AI is redefining R&D processes and boosting productivity
• Integrating sustainability as a core pillar in product and platform design
• Leveraging a global delivery model to support agility, speed, and localized client outcomes

In this episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Saurabh Gupta, President, Research and Advisory Services at HFS Research, sits down with Deepak Arora, SVP of Financial Services at HCLTech, to explore the dynamic transformation sweeping through commercial banking. From macroeconomic volatility to regulatory complexity and rapid digital disruption, banks are being pushed to act—not wait—for change.

Deepak unpacks how leading institutions are tackling modernization with purpose and urgency, backed by real-world case studies. From overhauling working capital systems to streamlining trade finance using AI and GenAI, the conversation brings to life the practical steps banks are taking to future-proof their business. Deepak also lays out a clear, actionable roadmap for moving from operational resilience to sustainable growth.

Key highlights of the discussion include:

• From Resilience to Growth: Commercial banks are evolving from a defensive posture to a growth-oriented, future-ready mindset.
• Balancing Legacy with Innovation: Modernization strategies must protect the stability of legacy systems while introducing digital agility.
• Use Cases That Matter: HCLTech is driving transformation in areas like trade finance, working capital optimization, and cash management.
• AI with Purpose: AI and GenAI are being applied intentionally to solve core business problems, not just for experimentation.
• Accelerated Tech Adoption: Macroeconomic and regulatory pressures are pushing banks to embrace change faster than ever.
• Beyond Point Solutions: Success lies in embracing platform-led transformation with integrated, scalable workflows.
• The New Playbook: Winning strategies center on platform investments, workflow redesign, and strong business-tech collaboration.

Trust at the Core: Efficiency matters—but trust, experience, and purpose are now key pillars of transformation.

Tune into this must-listen conversation for insight into how commercial banks are redefining their future today.