HFS PODCASTS

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.

Read more: https://www.hfsresearch.com/research/life-sciences-survival-consumers/

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?

Learn more about this Horizons report to see how service providers are helping their E&U clients embrace innovation and realize value across three distinct Horizons: https://www.hfsresearch.com/research/hfs-horizons-energy-and-utilities-service-providers-2025/

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.

To know more about our strategic alliance with ICG, visit here: https://www.hfsresearch.com/strategic-alliances/

In this episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Saurabh Gupta, President of Research and Advisory Services at HFS Research, sits down with Jay Desai, Head of IT Infrastructure Operations at JTI, for an eye-opening conversation on bridging the often-disconnected worlds of business, IT, and cybersecurity.

Jay shares hard-earned lessons from leading Global Business Services (GBS) through geopolitical shocks, shifting into IT and cyber leadership, and navigating the GenAI hype with realism and grit. This is a rare look into what it really takes to drive enterprise transformation, from aligning C-suite incentives to overcoming organizational resistance.

Whether you're scaling GenAI or building connected enterprise models, this conversation is full of truth bombs, leadership insights, and the kind of wisdom that only comes from being on both sides of the transformation divide.

Key discussion points:

• Breaking Functional Silos: Why IT, GBS, and cybersecurity leaders must adopt a shared vision to enable true enterprise-wide transformation.
• The Moral Hazard in Transformation: How misaligned ownership of costs vs. benefits creates friction between business and IT, and how to solve it.
• Why the 'OneOffice' Vision Still Eludes Us: The challenge of aligning incentives and OKRs across finance, IT, and HR departments.
• GenAI: From Hype to Reality: Why GenAI is stuck in POC purgatory, and what leaders must fix to unlock real value.
• Enterprise ‘Debts’ Beyond Technology: Cultural, process, and people debt are just as critical as technical debt in holding back transformation.
• Leadership Lessons in the AI Era: Jay’s real-world advice to aspiring leaders, embrace failure, earn trust, and be unapologetically authentic.

Tune in now to hear what it really takes to lead across silos—and why the future belongs to those who can connect dots others can't.

This HFS Videocast was created as part of our Horizons research (https://www.hfsresearch.com/research/hfs-horizons-the-best-service-providers-for-commercial-banks-2025/), which explores how service providers are helping commercial banks embrace innovation across three distinct Horizons. EY was recognized in this research for its role in accelerating digital transformation in the banking sector.

In this conversation between HFS and EY, we explore the digital acceleration of commercial banking, the impact of AI, and how EY supports banks in modernizing legacy systems, navigating geopolitical uncertainty, and building scalable, future-ready platforms.

Key discussion points:

• Why commercial banking has historically lagged retail in digital transformation—and how evolving customer expectations and demand for data-driven treasury experiences are accelerating change.
• How EY supports commercial banks in the modernization through digital strategy, UX redesign, core system upgrades, and deep risk and regulatory expertise.
• The impact of geopolitical volatility and the unique role of commercial banks in guiding clients through uncertainty.
• AI as a transformational force—still in early stages—where connected, high-impact use cases outweigh isolated pilots.
• Emerging opportunities in embedded finance, digital assets, and the evolving role of commercial banks as enablers of growth and agility.

Commercial banks must accelerate their digital and AI transformation efforts—starting with pragmatic, high-value use cases—while leveraging their unique position to support clients through economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Rather than waiting for perfect data or systems, banks should prioritize building scalable platforms that integrate automation, AI, and user-centric design. Partnering with firms like EY can help bridge the gap between strategy, technology, and compliance to stay competitive and future-ready.

Read the full report HFS Horizons: The Best Service Providers for Commercial Banks, 2025 here: ⁠https://www.hfsresearch.com/research/hfs-horizons-the-best-service-providers-for-commercial-banks-2025/⁠.

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.

Learn more about this Horizons report to see how service providers are helping their E&U clients embrace innovation and realize value across three distinct Horizons: https://www.hfsresearch.com/research/hfs-horizons-energy-and-utilities-service-providers-2025/

What do you learn when you place an agent in charge of HR for 30,000 people? How is the concept of minimum viable agent changing the way agentic AI gets deployed? How do you control and measure performance in agents - and clamp down on proliferation? Hitachi Digital Services CTO Premkumar Balasubramanian opens up to HFS Research Executive Research Leader David Cushman.

HDS is learning from its internal deployments of agentic AI at scale. Grounding on an internal knowledge base, applying rigorous evaluations, and keeping humans in the loop are all mandatory.

Among the key discussion points:

• The need for open telemetry and a single-pane view to control proliferation and control costs.
• The risk of a new tech debt delivered through agent sprawl.
• Coming soon: HARK Agents focused on reliability, responsibility, observability, and optimality - to jumpstart the enterprise journey.

Embrace agentic AI but do so with strong governance, measurement, and observability to maintain control at scale.

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.

Learn more about this Horizons report to see how service providers are helping their clients embrace innovation and realize value: https://www.hfsresearch.com/research/hfs-horizons-intelligent-retail-and-cpg-ecosystems-2025/

Why is enterprise AI still stuck in pilot mode? And what does it take to actually scale?

In this episode of HFS Unfiltered Stories, Saurabh Gupta, President, Research and Advisory Services at HFS Research, is joined by Khalid Siddiqui, Global Finance Operations Offering Leader at IBM Consulting, for a no-fluff conversation about how to move from AI aspiration to enterprise-wide activation.

Khalid unpacks real-world examples of where AI—and more importantly, agentic AI—has been successfully deployed to improve cash flow, reduce processing time, and create orchestration across systems. They go beyond the hype to explore:

• Why AI is “dying a death by a thousand POCs”—and how to avoid it

• A building materials client’s journey from 30-minute query resolution to 2-minute outcomes using AI agents
• The critical role of data readiness and system simplification in AI scalability
• How agentic AI and AI fabric are orchestrating finance operations end-to-end
• The hidden cost of AI adoption: data debt, process debt, cultural resistance
• Tangible business results: improving DSO, boosting collections, and reducing controller workload across 50+ markets

Tired of AI pilots that go nowhere? Watch this candid conversation to learn what it takes to make AI work at scale—and how you can get there faster. Tune in now to start turning your AI ambitions into enterprise-wide impact.

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.

Learn more about this Horizons report to see how service providers are powering the next wave of engineering-led growth: https://www.hfsresearch.com/research/hfs-horizons-the-best-of-engineering-research-and-development-service-providers-2025/