Neeraj Manik, VP At IBM, On Making Enterprises Future-Ready With Intelligent Business Operations

 

In this compelling episode of Discover Dialogues, Vikramsinh Ghatge, Sr. Marketing Director and Editor-in-Chief at TechDogs, sits down with Neeraj Manik, Vice President & Senior Partner – Intelligent Business Operations at IBM Consulting. With a rich career spanning over 25 years and leadership roles at GE, Genpact, and IBM, Neeraj offers a unique perspective at the intersection of transformation, innovation, and empathy.

From his early days in hospitality during the 1990s to now overseeing a billion-dollar AI-first business unit at IBM, Neeraj’s journey illustrates how deep operational insight and people-centric thinking can reshape global enterprises.

Episode Highlights:

Adoption Over Perfection
Neeraj makes a strong case that AI projects don’t fail due to weak tech—but rather because users aren’t engaged. To drive usage, his team intentionally removes fallback options such as human email support, making the AI system the only viable path forward.

The Right Metrics to Measure Impact
Forget vanity dashboards. Neeraj shares which KPIs actually influence stakeholders and drive confidence in AI-led transformations, emphasizing the need to align metrics with real-world outcomes—not just POCs.

From GE to IBM: Lessons in Scale
Reflecting on his time at GE, Neeraj discusses what he learned during the company’s golden years—particularly around execution discipline and scaling transformation effectively.

Culture and Stakeholder Mindset
AI doesn’t work in isolation. Neeraj talks about the underestimated stakeholder groups in enterprise tech projects and how ignoring the “experience layer” can unravel even the best-designed solutions.

First 100 Days: What Really Matters
For leaders overseeing AI adoption, Neeraj outlines how to prioritize early wins, shift conversations from cost to value, and why spending time on the ground—listening to users—makes all the difference.

Want to explore the full conversation?
👉 Click here to read the full article on TechDogs

Who Should Listen?

This episode is perfect for:

  • Enterprise leaders and transformation officers navigating large-scale digital modernization

  • AI and automation experts seeking real-world strategies for implementation

  • BPO stakeholders exploring AI-first operational models

  • Anyone who wants to move beyond AI hype into actual, scalable value delivery

Whether you're leading a startup or steering a multinational, Neeraj’s insights offer a practical, human-centered blueprint for building intelligent, resilient operations in today’s AI-driven world.

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