Meet Our Speakers
Uncover breakthrough insights from IDC experts and exclusive sessions featuring influential voices transforming technology and leadership today.
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Jyoti Lalchandani
Jyoti Lalchandani is a seasoned business executive with more than 25 years of experience in emerging markets across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). In his role as IDC’s Group Vice President and Regional Managing Director for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META), he has been instrumental in establishing IDC’s presence in the region – first, through the initial expansion of the Dubai headquarters and then by spearheading the development of IDC offices in Johannesburg, Istanbul, Riyadh, Casablanca, Lagos, Nairobi, and Cairo.
Jyoti is responsible for the planning, development, implementation, and coordination of IDC’s market intelligence and advisory services, sales, conferences and events, go-to-market services, and office development activities across the META region. As a respected authority on emerging market tech trends, he is also regularly invited to speak at major industry events throughout the region and is frequently quoted by both the national and international media.
His field of expertise includes key tech areas such as cloud, analytics, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, and he is well known for providing guidance on digital transformation strategies for the entire C-suite. He is a trusted advisor to senior executives in the supplier/enabler space across the ICT ecosystem, as well as to tech buyers from the CIO and line-of-business communities.
Starting at IDC’s CEMA (Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) headquarters in 1995 in Prague, the Czech Republic, Jyoti served as IDC’s regional consulting manager. In this role, he headed several country-based project teams that advised local and multinational IT vendors on issues relating to entry strategy, competitor analysis, ROI analysis, distribution and partner evaluation, and market segmentation. He later took on the additional responsibility of overseeing the CEMA software practice, in which he was responsible for overseeing all related research (applications, system infrastructure, and tools) and advisory work across emerging EMEA countries.
Before joining IDC, Jyoti served on the national board of international non-profit organization AIESEC, where he managed the association’s partnership agreements with leading Indian conglomerates. He graduated from Loyola College, India, where his studies focused on strategy management and business policy. He later attended a corporate-sponsored program at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts.
Bob Parker
Senior Vice President, Enterprise Applications, Data Intelligence, Services, and Industry Research
IDC
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Bob Parker
Bob Parker is a Senior Vice President responsible for several areas of research at IDC. Bob leads the global industry research teams which includes coverage of healthcare, government, retail, energy, manufacturing, and financial services as well as a cross industry group looking at emerging topics such as blockchain and robotics. Additionally, Bob leads our teams in the enterprise applications space, services, and the IDC coverage of data intelligence which includes coverage of artificial intelligence.
Bob has been conducting industry research for over twenty years including five years at AMR Research before joining IDC. Prior to entering the research field, Bob spent over fifteen years in various Information Technology and Operational management roles in the manufacturing industry including serving as the Chief Information Officer at Eastern Technologies, a defense contractor.
Event Sessions
Day 1 8:40 am
IDC Keynote: Generative and Agentic AI: The Next Frontier
Indian enterprises are rapidly moving from experimentation to value realization with Generative and Agentic AI. This keynote will explore how organizations can harness intelligent agents, autonomous workflows, multimodal AI, and advanced automation to drive innovation, enhance productivity, and accelerate business outcomes. Attendees will gain insights into the strategies, technologies, and governance frameworks required to scale AI initiatives and build a competitive advantage in India’s evolving digital economy.
Ravikant Sharma
Ravikant Sharma is Research Director- Government Insights with IDC’s Asia/Pacific team. Based in India, Ravi is responsible for managing and executing insights consulting projects in the Asia Pacific region. He had led numbers of intricate and diverse engagements which helped business heads understand market potential and expected growth and define their market entry strategy. He also helped enhance and sustain their competitive advantage and improve profitability through better understanding of supply-side industry dynamics, competitive landscape, and demand side ecosystem.
Ravi has over 12 years of experience in market research and consulting. Prior to joining IDC Asia/Pacific, he worked at IDC India as a senior manager in consulting practice. In this role, Ravi was responsible for business development, identification and growth of new consulting services, client relationship management, market analysis, and project delivery. Before that, he was a research director with IPSOS India in the loyalty, Media CT and Public Affair division.
Ravi holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Marketing) with first class distinction from ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad and Bachelor of Technology from Rajasthan, India.
Event Sessions
Day 1 9:30 am
AI and Data: Balancing Innovation with Responsibility
As India accelerates toward large-scale AI adoption, enterprises must innovate while addressing rising expectations for safety, fairness, and accountability. This topic focuses on how Indian organizations can advance AI ambition without compromising trust or compliance
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Day 1 9:00 am
Panel Discussion: Beyond the Proof of Concept: Scaling AI with Trust, Talent and ROI
Indian enterprises have moved past the question of whether to adopt AI. The harder question now is how to scale it. Many organizations are stuck in “pilot purgatory”: generative and agentic AI proofs of concept that impress in demos but struggle to reach production, show unclear returns, or collide with data quality gaps, legacy systems, security concerns and skills shortages. This panel brings together CIOs and AI leaders who are doing the hard work of operationalizing AI at scale. They will share what has worked, where they have failed, and how they are balancing speed with governance.
The discussion will cover:
• Building the data foundation and architecture that AI depends on
• Measuring and communicating business value beyond productivity anecdotes
• Governing AI responsibly under evolving regulation, including India’s DPDP Act
• Deciding between build, buy and partner as the tech landscape shifts
• Preparing people and operating models for human-AI collaboration
Rajiv Ranjan
Based in the IDC Bangalore office, Rajiv Ranjan works as an Associate Research Director Worldwide Enterprise Infrastructure Domain with the Asia/Pacific team and leads the Future of Digital Infrastructure Research for India. Rajiv has a specific focus on cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) research program management. He manages the advisory assignments for IT vendors in the areas of cloud infrastructure strategy, go-to-market strategy, strategic marketing, and end-user insights across technologies and industry verticals. In a previous stint with IDC, Rajiv led the Asia/Pacific Enterprise Storage Infrastructure research practice.
Prior to joining IDC, Rajiv worked with Dell Technologies managing the product marketing assignments for the company’s storage portfolio for selected Asia/Pacific geographies. In this role, Rajiv managed the field marketing, product management, go-to-market, and marketing campaigns for its storage products, driving storage revenue and market share in the operating geographies. He has an overall 17 years of work experience in market research, product marketing, and sales/business development.
Rajiv is a management graduate from ITM group of institutions and has completed his Engineering degree in Telecommunications from the BMS college of Engineering, Bangalore.
Event Sessions
Day 1 9:50 am
Business Value and ROI from AI & Data
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