Latest news with #KirtiPatil
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Speed, Security, and Stakeholders: What CIOs Must Get Right in 2025
At the 7th edition of the ETCIO Annual Conclave 2025, held against the backdrop of surging technological momentum, India's top CIOs gathered not just to trade implementation strategies—but to redraw the contours of their own evolving Manish Gupta, Group CIO at Aditya Birla Group, reflects on the modern CIO's role, he's quick to move past the conventional definitions. 'The job of a CIO is not internal,' he says. 'It must reach out to all stakeholders. Start by mapping them out—a mammoth task to figure out the human dimension.' It's a sentiment that captures the deepening complexity—and pressure—facing technology leaders today. The CIO is no longer a back-office functionary; they are a visible, strategic actor in a landscape shaped by rising customer expectations, accelerating innovation cycles, and ever-tightening security requirements. Today's CIO navigates: Driving innovation at pace, safeguarding trust, and managing human dynamics that make change possible. It's no longer about mastering technology—it's about leading through it. The Three Arcs of Leadership Kirti Patil, Joint President–IT and CTO at Kotak Life Insurance, defines the evolution through 'the three arcs': The visible shift, the invisible layer, and the human thread. Each is necessary; together, they define whether a CIO merely implements change or drives transformation. The visible shift is the front-end—the customer apps, the chatbot, the digital touchpoints that users experience. The invisible layer is the backend—the architecture, APIs, and data integrations that support the experience. But the most challenging layer may be the last. 'Trust in a brand is trust in digital,' Patil explains, underscoring how technology decisions now have reputational stakes. A failed rollout or breach isn't just a technical error—it's a brand issue. This is why Gupta places so much emphasis on education, exposure, and experimentation. 'Experimentation helps multi-level co-creation in the organization involving all the stakeholders a CIO touches,' he notes. It's not enough to deploy a tool; CIOs must create the cultural and structural conditions that allow for innovation to be shared and scaled. From Tech Steward to Strategic Partner One of the most telling observations comes from Anand Srinivasan, Co-founder and CIO at Akasa Air, who captures the changing dynamic in blunt terms: 'Technology is given. In fact, customers expect you to have cutting-edge tech.' The challenge isn't adoption—it's orchestration. Srinivasan sees the mark of a great CIO in their ability to trust and delegate. 'Listen to the wizkids team, sign the cheques and get out of their way,' he says. His view reinforces a common refrain: The CIO as enabler. But that shift isn't just managerial—it's strategic. As customer-facing tech becomes table stakes, differentiation comes from how quickly and responsibly organizations can build and scale new capabilities. And that brings CIOs to a critical balancing act. Innovation Meets the Trust Imperative Few sectors feel the pressure of that balance more than financial services and insurance. Here, technology must do more than work—it must work without violating trust. Sarang Khewale, Deputy CTO and Head Digital Innovation at SBI, talks of the two-pronged approach he undertook, 'Deeply involved design thinking techniques that help protect data by empathizing,' he says. 'With innovation, trust shouldn't be compromised.' The emphasis on empathy is not rhetorical; it's a design principle, and in industries that manage personal information, it's also a regulatory and ethical necessity. For Rohit Kilam, CTO at HDFC Life Insurance, regulatory sandbox provides ground to land. 'We are building things within the regulatory sandboxes.' Innovation, in his view, must also serve those on the margins—'the bottom of the pyramid'—especially the unbanked and underserved segments. Scaling inclusively requires risk, but that risk must be responsibly managed. The Security Reckoning With every digital advancement comes a new frontier for attack. The cybersecurity conversation is no longer siloed—it now shapes every technology investment. 'There's an attack every day,' says Sunit Vakharia, CTO at Reliance Nippon. 'Need to understand the mind of the attacker, without which you'll never be able to defend.' His focus is not just on tools, but on mindset—building a defense that anticipates, not just reacts. At Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, Kanathil Vadakke Dipu, Senior President- Digital Transformation & Innovation, refers to the mock exercises undertaken as 'cyber mahayudh'. The company's effort focused on identifying vulnerabilities and reducing response time. The takeaway: Resilience is no longer a luxury, but a daily operational requirement. Sandeep Khanna, Director at UIDAI, adds a layer. 'The blind spots,' he notes, 'are shadow IT, supply chain risk, and third-party vulnerabilities.' These are threats embedded deep in the ecosystem, not easily visible, but devastating when breached. Looking Ahead The CIO agenda for 2025 is as expansive as it is urgent. Disruption is no longer a question of 'if'—it's a question of preparation and positioning. And as CIOs have been pointing out the writing on the wall for eons now: 'You can't afford to miss disruption.' The modern CIO stands at the intersection of agility and accountability, innovation and integrity. It's a demanding role—but one uniquely positioned to influence the future of business. As Gupta, Patil, and others suggest, the path forward lies not only in systems, but in stakeholders—and in the human capacity to collaborate at scale.
Mint
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Mint
From Transactions to Trust: The Tech-Driven Transformation at Kotak Life
As digital transformation sweeps across industries, the insurance sector is undergoing a quiet but significant evolution. What was once a transactional relationship is now being reshaped into a Trust-based, tech-enabled experience, especially in a country as diverse as India. In this exclusive conversation, Kirti Patil, Joint President and Chief Technology Officer at Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance, shares how the company's digital platform, Optimus, is putting simplicity, empathy, and intelligence at the heart of its customer and advisor journeys. Building for a Digitally Diverse India Q: Kirti, with digital access now expanding beyond metros, how is Optimus supporting this wider transformation in insurance experiences? Kirti Patil: When we conceptualized Optimus, we knew the change had to be structural. We named it Project Parivartan for a reason—it was about rethinking the customer journey, modernizing digital engineering, and changing how technology is deployed in the field. Whether it's streamlining paperwork or empowering field advisors, Optimus was built to work in real-world India—from urban homes to rural schools. Q: What defines a frictionless insurance experience, and how did this guide the design of Optimus? Kirti: Four things: ease, convenience, speed, and personalization. We created an intuitive UI that's usable even for those with low digital literacy. The platform integrates with Aadhaar, CKYC, and payment gateways—yet still allows for manual uploads if needed. The process is designed to take under 15 minutes, and it adapts dynamically to the user, whether a customer or advisor. Q: How have you addressed the challenges of India's Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, especially when it comes to connectivity and digital familiarity? Kirti: Our agents often work in low-bandwidth zones, sometimes at a customer's home with patchy internet. Optimus is mobile-first and optimized for low-connectivity areas. We use SMS-based OTPs for verification and include prompts at every step, so even new users don't feel lost. It's about tech that adapts to people, not the other way around. Q: In a hybrid distribution environment, how do you ensure consistency of experience across digital and human channels? Kirti: Whether it's a direct customer, an aggregator, or an advisor, everyone interacts with a unified interface. We've reused components and built standardized APIs so the experience stays consistent. Disclosures, illustrations, and documents are displayed the same way, regardless of channel. That consistency builds digital trust—and that's non-negotiable. Q: How is Optimus enhancing productivity for Kotak Life's sales teams and partners? Kirti: Optimus mirrors the sales process—need analysis, quotes, and proposals—all in one seamless flow. It reduces back-and-forth with the customer and enables multiple actions in parallel, like KYC and payments. The best part? It's so intuitive, new advisors can use it without training. That's real enablement. Q: How do you keep evolving Optimus based on real-world feedback? Kirti: When we started, we co-created the platform with agents through focused user group discussions. Today, we have monthly feedback cycles built into the tech team's KRAs. Teams visit branches, shadow users, and integrate feedback into the product backlog. The field shapes the future of Optimus. Q: The front end is simple, but what powers Optimus behind the scenes? Kirti: Optimus is cloud-native, built on microservices and agile principles. It's scalable, resilient, and modular. We've integrated a form framework and a journey orchestrator, so changes can be made without backend rework. With CI/CD pipelines, we roll out features quickly and securely. Our goal: let the tech fade, and the experience shine. The Road Ahead: AI, Voice & Vernacular Q: With AI and voice tech rising fast, how are you preparing Optimus to stay ahead? Kirti: We're working on predictive AI for lapses and persistency. We already use AI to extract data from documents. Voice-assisted journeys and vernacular language interfaces are next. We've built video verification in regional languages—and soon, advisors will be able to run the full journey in their language of choice. This is especially important for Bharat. Q: As CTO, how do you define innovation in platforms like Optimus? Kirti: Innovation, for me, is about simplicity—for both the user and the builder. It's about utility—solutions must be genuinely useful. And above all, it's about empathy. If your technology lacks empathy, you lose both relevance and trust. Q: Finally, what's your long-term vision for Optimus—and what should users feel when they engage with it? Kirti: I often say—today's luxury cars have more electronics than a computer, but when we drive them, we only remember the experience. That's what I want for Optimus. Let the tech fade into the background. What should remain is clarity, confidence, and care. ConclusionAs Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance embraces the future of digital insurance, Optimus stands as a testament to the power of human-led technology—one that's designed not just to perform, but to connect, adapt, and empower. In Kirti Patil's words, 'We're not just building for today—we're building for trust.' Note to the Reader: This article is a promotional feature and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Mint. Mint does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement.
