PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Oct 17: XLRI Jamshedpur reaffirmed its position as a premier hub of management thought leadership with the successful organization of FULCRUM 5.0 recently.
The flagship consulting conclave, themed “Reimagining Consulting: Innovation, AI, and Talent,” was hosted by the PGDM (GM) batch under the Kautilya Consulting Club.
The event convened leading consultants, corporate strategists, and academicians from across the globe for a day of dynamic dialogue on how artificial intelligence and innovation are reshaping the consulting landscape.
Three high-impact panel discussions marked the day, each exploring pivotal dimensions of the industry’s evolution.
Also Read- Chhattisgarh records historic Naxal surrender as 208 rebels lay down arms
The opening panel, “Start-Up Thinking in Big Firms: Intrapreneurship in Consulting,” featured luminaries such as Prashant Mehra (Grant Thornton Bharat LLP), Utkalika Badu (Gartner), Soumala Sarkar (Accenture), Rajesh Narayan (LatentView Analytics), CA Dipen Trivedi (BDO), Debashish Biswas (Deloitte), and Maneesha Gupta (Cognizant).
Speakers emphasized how cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset within established firms drives agility, creativity, and long-term success.
The second session, “Consulting Reimagined: Adapting to the GenAI Era,” brought together Shamindra Basu (IBM), Vidhya Visweswarababu (Deloitte Digital), Karthikeyan Girijanandan (Ascendion), Shrikant Sarda (Accenture), Akhilesh Sahu (Alvarez & Marsal), and Dipanjan Bhattacharyya (Accenture).
They explored the immense potential of Generative AI, stressing the importance of blending human intuition with machine intelligence to achieve transformative business outcomes.
The final discussion, “Talent Advantage in Consulting: Building the Workforce of the Future,” featured Rohit Gambhir (Centric Consulting), Ravindra Yadav (The Knowledge Company), Disha Roy (Publicis Sapient), Rachna Nath (Intueri Consulting), Rayan Modi (BDO Executive Search), and Dr. Rupesh Kumar Singh (EY).
Panellists agreed that even in an era dominated by automation, empathy, adaptability, and emotional intelligence will remain the hallmarks of great consultants.
Also Read- Winter’s early whispers as monsoon withdraws from entire country
Concluding the event, speakers collectively envisioned a consulting future defined not merely by technology, but by the synergy between human creativity and AI innovation.
With its forward-looking theme and stellar lineup of speakers, FULCRUM 5.0 once again underscored XLRI’s role as a catalyst for bridging academia and industry, shaping the discourse on the future of consulting in a digital-first world.
