Organizations rarely struggle because they lack ideas—most struggle because they lack the clarity, alignment, and systems required to turn ideas into purposeful value. This is especially true in today’s fast paced world of GenAI. In this session, Dev introduces the Turning Ideas Into Impact framework and the Idea-to-Impact (I2I) operating model: a structured, repeatable pipeline that moves innovation from inspiration to measurable outcomes.

As AI agents move from assisting developers to running real business workflows, the role of software engineering is shifting. In this half of the presentation, Neeraj explores how AI is reshaping businesses—and why developers are increasingly responsible for building systems that must be reliable, verifiable, and safe to operate. Rather than focusing on tools or prompts, he examines the system-level decisions that determine whether AI-driven automation becomes leverage or liability, especially in resource-constrained environments where failures have immediate business impacts.

Dev Panajkar is VP/CIO at Xclaymation and has worked in companies like Nike, DollarGeneral, Advance Auto Parts, Marathon. Neeraj Malkoti is CMO of Zero2AI, where he works with founders and engineering teams to help small and mid-sized businesses adopt AI in practical and dependable ways.
Both Dev & Neeraj are alumni of Harvard Business School.

Learning Objectives:

Attendees will leave with a practical roadmap for embedding innovation into daily operations and shortening the distance between AI insight and AI impact. This talk provides the strategic mindset, operational tools, and cultural foundations needed for organizations to truly deliver value with purpose. It also will provide real-world AI use-cases wherein companies have benefitted using this structured solution and created a faster path from POC to production !!