How can organisations move artificial intelligence from pilot projects and experimentation to measurable business value and profitable, large-scale implementation? This was a key question at AiXcelrate 4.0, the fourth edition of the AI and leadership conclave organised by the School of Management at the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi.
Held on September 19 and 20, the two-day conclave brought together industry leaders, practitioners, faculty members and students to examine how organisations can move beyond AI adoption and turn the technology into sustainable business advantage.
Organised around the theme “Next Gen AI-Leadership: Beyond the Horizon to Monetizing AI,” the conclave focused on three transitions: moving from productivity and automation to strategic advantage, converting AI adoption into business growth, and taking AI initiatives from pilot projects to sustainable and profitable scale.
The first day featured a panel discussion on “Moving from Productivity and Automation to Strategic Advantage: The AI Value Shift.” The discussion examined whether efficiency gains from AI are sufficient to create a lasting competitive advantage and what organisations need to do to translate technological capabilities into business outcomes.
Ashley D’Acouza, Chief Data Officer, Hindustan Coca-Cola, cautioned against assuming that access to AI automatically creates an advantage.
“The AI advantage is still far away. We are still in the experimentation phase,” he said, stressing the importance of leadership, strategic vision and aligning AI capabilities with specific business requirements.
The second day moved the discussion from adoption to growth and scale. A panel on “Moving from AI Adoption to AI Advantage: Accelerating Growth” examined how organisations can use AI for customer acquisition, personalisation, innovation, decision-making and revenue growth. The discussion also focused on identifying credible measures of business value rather than treating experimentation itself as success.
The subsequent panel, “Moving from Pilot to Profit: Scaling AI,” addressed the practical challenges of expanding promising AI projects across organisations. Discussions covered data infrastructure, integration with existing systems, governance, workforce readiness, costs and human oversight, as well as how organisations can determine which AI initiatives can generate sustainable returns at scale.
Rohit Kilam, Chief Technology Officer at HDFC Life, discussed how AI could change the division of work between humans and machines.
“The verifiable will increasingly be taken over by AI, but the unverifiable will remain. That is where humans will continue to stay relevant,” he said, highlighting the continuing importance of human judgement in areas involving ambiguity.
AI leadership and responsibility
The conclave also examined the wider responsibilities accompanying AI adoption.
IIT Mandi Director Prof. Laxmidhar Behera said AI leadership cannot be defined only by the speed at which organisations adopt new technologies.
“Responsible AI leadership requires us to consider the larger societal consequences of the choices we make, while ensuring that innovation remains aligned with human values and meaningful outcomes,” he said.
An Industry Case Competition, sponsored and powered by 6D Technologies, gave MBA and Integrated MBA students an opportunity to apply strategic and analytical thinking to an industry-oriented business challenge.
Team Tactical Minds emerged as the winner, while The Case Solvers and The InsightX secured the first and second runner-up positions, respectively.
Prof. Anjan K. Swain, Chairperson, School of Management, IIT Mandi, described the emerging relationship between AI and business through three dimensions — scope, speed and scale.
“The business implications of AI increasingly need to be understood through three dimensions: scope, speed and scale,” he said, pointing to AI’s expanding organisational scope, the accelerating pace of technological change and the challenge of scaling AI while creating genuine business value.
The two-day conclave also featured mentoring sessions, student presentations, industry-academia interaction and a cultural evening.
