Analytics Club Presents AIspire Day 2: Session with Shantanoo Patil

On 7th August 2025, the Analytics Club at SCMHRD hosted the second session of AIspire 2025 on the topic "Insight to Impact: Driving Strategic Growth with AI." The session was delivered by Mr. Shantanoo Patil, Head of Programme Management, KOKO Networks.

The session took students on a journey from the foundations of modern AI to the frameworks that enable businesses to translate insights into measurable strategic growth.

Moore's Law and AI in Business

Mr. Patil began with a reflection on Moore's Law-the observation that computational power doubles approximately every two years-underscoring its role in accelerating AI adoption and democratization. Referencing Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang, he highlighted the reality of AI in business:

"AI will not take your job, but the person who automates 50% of your job will."

Core of the Session: Large Language Models (LLMs)

The core of the session revolved around Large Language Models (LLMs) and their real-world applications:

• Perplexity - Effective in research, providing fast, cited answers.
• ChatGPT - Excels at structuring and articulating complex problems.
• Gemini - Specializes in predictive analytics, identifying market opportunities.

Mr. Patil explained that LLMs supercharge three human capacities-problem-solving, initiative validation, and learning from scratch-while reinforcing the importance of first principles thinking for structured problem-solving.

Practical Framework: Define - Ideate - Develop - Drive

He introduced a practical framework, Define - Ideate - Develop - Drive, to translate AI-driven insights into tangible business impact. The framework emphasized clarifying problems, brainstorming, building business cases, and executing with measurable strategies.

Additional Highlights from the Session

• Personas & Prompting: Using tailored personas (e.g., CTO, data analyst) and structured prompts to align AI outputs with business needs.
• Compliance & Oversight: Ensuring AI-driven solutions meet regulatory standards with cross-functional review.
• Uniqueness of Adoption: As Patil noted, "LLMs are a path, not the destination." The differentiator lies not in the tools, but in how organizations and individuals apply them to achieve unique outcomes.

"LLMs are a path, not the destination." - Shantanoo Patil

Student Reactions and Takeaways

The session resonated strongly with students, who appreciated the blend of technical insights and strategic frameworks. Many found the Define-Ideate-Develop-Drive approach particularly useful for applying AI tools in real-world scenarios. The engaging examples and practical problem-solving techniques reinforced AI as a force multiplier-one that demands intentional, strategic deployment.