As enterprises accelerate their shift from retrospective reporting to real-time decision-making, the role of data agility, governance, and AI-powered analytics has never been more critical. In this exclusive interaction with Tech Achieve Media, Alka Goel, Joint Managing Director, Heuristics Informatics Pvt Ltd, shares her perspective on the challenges, opportunities, and evolving role of IT in shaping a future where decisions are not just faster, but smarter.
TAM: As enterprises move from batch reporting to real-time decision-making, what are the biggest technological hurdles in ensuring data scalability, speed, and accuracy at scale?
Alka Goel: The biggest hurdle isn’t whether the required technology exists. It is whether it works for you, at scale. Most enterprises still run on legacy systems, where data sits in silos and integration is messy. You might get speed, but can you trust the accuracy? Or you get accuracy but lose speed. Real-time decision-making needs both, and that’s where the real challenge lies. Building systems that scale, move fast, and still give you results you can rely on.
TAM: How do you see CIOs and CFOs balancing the push for self-service analytics with the need to maintain governance, security, and compliance?
Alka Goel: For CIOs and CFOs, it is always a balancing act. On one side, your teams want the freedom to explore data on their own. On the other, you cannot let go of governance, security, and compliance. The way forward is not choosing one over the other. You need to build self-service within the guardrails you already trust. When you let your people move faster but still keep control of roles, permissions, and audits, you get the best of both worlds, resulting in agility without risk.
TAM: What differentiates India’s approach to enterprise data transformation, and where do you see HIPL’s role in that ecosystem?
Alka Goel: India is at an interesting inflection point. Traditional industries still run on decades-old systems, while digital-first enterprises are racing ahead with cloud and AI. HIPL’s role is to bridge that gap. With 30 years of experience in ERP and enterprise platforms, we understand both worlds. askme360 doesn’t ask businesses to RIP and replace. It augments what’s already there, adding speed, collaboration, and intelligence to existing systems. That’s where India’s edge will come from. Practical, enterprise-grade innovation that makes companies more data-agile without heavy reinvention.
TAM: While askme360 reduces reliance on IT for reporting, what broader trends are you observing in the role of IT departments as enterprises adopt more AI-powered analytics solutions?
Alka Goel: We don’t see IT teams becoming less relevant; we see them becoming more strategic. In the past, IT was flooded with requests for reports and ad-hoc queries. askme360 removes that burden. Now, with askme360 CIOs have instant visibility, and analysts can focus on deeper insights. So, IT shifts from being a bottleneck to being the backbone; driving architecture, security, and innovation. The broader trend clearly shows that IT’s role is evolving from support to strategy, and AI-powered analytics is accelerating that transition.
TAM: Looking beyond individual enterprises, how do you foresee AI-powered data agents influencing industry-wide competitiveness, and could this potentially redefine how markets value ‘data agility’ as a business advantage?
Alka Goel: Data agility will become a business advantage as critical as revenue growth. Enterprises that can move from asking a question to taking action in minutes will always have the edge. With agents like askme360, decision-making will move from retrospective to real-time. Industries will no longer compete just on access to data, but on how quickly and confidently they can use it. Over time, markets will reward organizations that embed this agility into their culture. That’s where the future competitiveness lies.
TAM: From your perspective, where does askme360 fit into this landscape, and how do you see the market shifting over the next 3 to 5 years?
Alka Goel: askme360 is built as an enterprise-native decision layer. Today it simplifies how leaders get insights from their enterprise data. But the road ahead is bigger. In the next three to five years, we see it evolving into a true decision engine, that not only answers but also automates workflows, consolidates diverse data, and even recommends actions. The market is shifting from dashboards to decisions. Enterprises will expect speed, security, and scale without disruption, and that’s exactly where askme360 is heading.
