On this page, you’ll find a curated collection of key takeaways, event photos, video highlights, and analyst insights that capture the spirit and substance of this roundtable event. We invite you to dive in and experience the bold, unfiltered thinking that defines HFS Research.

Highlights from This HFS Executive Roundtable

Senior leaders from banking, financial services, consumer goods, manufacturing, and healthcare came together in New York City for an off-the-record roundtable, hosted by HFS Research in collaboration with LTIMindtree.

The discussion centered on how enterprises can break free from AI’s proof-of-concept purgatory and begin scaling with purpose. Leaders explored the urgent need to shift AI’s role from cost-cutting tool to business catalyst—fueling growth, competitive advantage, and new value propositions.

What We Heard

  • AI ROI is stalling when limited to productivity. Leaders agreed that chasing speed, accuracy, and cost takeout alone is a dead end. Real wins come from reimagining models and customer experiences—like predictive AI in healthcare that boosted billing accuracy and personalized AI in banking that drove new revenue.
  • Change management is make-or-break. Enterprises often underfund the cultural shift required for AI adoption. Without strong leadership sponsorship, structured change programs, and early employee engagement, resistance will undermine outcomes.
  • Bad data is the silent killer. Data silos, governance gaps, and inconsistent standards are still the biggest obstacles. Empowered data leaders, common data models, and smarter use of GenAI for mapping and contextualization are essential to make AI work at scale.
  • The message was clear: AI should not just manage costs—it must reimagine the enterprise.

Scenes from the Roundtable

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Executive Interviews: Perspectives That Push the Conversation Further

We captured five dynamic interviews that continue the roundtable’s bold conversation. 

BlueVerse: LTIMindtree’s AI Ecosystem for Scalable Enterprise Outcomes

Nachiket Deshpande, President – Global AI Services, Strategic Deals and Partnerships and Whole-time Director at LTIMindtree, introduces BlueVerse—the firm’s AI ecosystem designed to unify assets, methodologies, and partners to help enterprises scale AI adoption. He explains how BlueVerse is built to move beyond proofs of concept, guaranteeing tangible business outcomes through curated technology, proprietary assets, and vertical-specific solutions.

Banking’s AI Future: From Productivity Gains to Billion-Dollar Use Cases

Harsh Naidu, Chief Business Officer, Banking and Financial Services at LTIMindtree, discusses how banks are evolving into tech-driven organizations. He highlights the shift from AI-assisted projects that improve productivity to the larger opportunities of AI-native platforms—unlocking new value through data monetization, core transformation, and enhanced customer experiences.

Scaling AI in Banking: A Practical Framework

In this interview, Ashok Panduranga, Senior Vice President, AI and Automation Lead Executive at US Bank, explains how banks can scale AI with purpose. He stresses the importance of aligning pilots to business outcomes, building strong data and integration strategies, and addressing change management from the start. Ashok also underscores agility—knowing when to refine, when to scale, and when to move on.

Operationalizing AI as a Catalyst at Webster Bank

Rohit Kharbanda, Senior Managing Director at Webster Bank, shares how the bank is pursuing a twofold AI journey—building the right technology capabilities while reimagining business processes to enhance customer experience. He explains why Webster is keeping GenAI and agent AI internal for now, ensuring innovation strengthens operations without losing the critical human touch.

Reimagining, Reinventing, and Staying Relevant with AI

Rohan Kulkarni, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, speaks about the joint market impact report underpinning the roundtable. Rohan introduces the RRR framework—Reimagination, Reinvention, and Relevance—as a practical guide for enterprises to move beyond productivity-driven pilots and adopt AI with purpose, scale, and customer impact.

What’s Next?

The roundtable underscored that scaling AI requires more than technology—it demands new frameworks, cultural commitment, and empowered data leadership. Enterprises that fail to act risk drowning in pilots that never translate into impact.

This is the beginning of an ongoing dialogue on how to harness AI as a true catalyst for growth and reinvention. If your organization is navigating the challenges of data readiness, change management, or shifting from incremental pilots to enterprise-wide outcomes, let’s continue the conversation.

For a deeper perspective on these discussions, read Rohan Kulkarni’s point of view, where he expands on the themes of reimagination, reinvention, and relevance in scaling AI. https://www.hfsresearch.com/research/band-aid-fixes-catalyst/.

For more information about this topic, read our research report: Enterprises must embrace AI to reimagine their future, not tinker in the margins.

Let’s work together on how to build the frameworks, culture, and data foundations needed to turn AI ambition into enterprise-wide impact.

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