ISB’s Business Technology Club, for the very first time, organised a two-day Product Conclave 2019 at our Hyderabad campus on August 10, 2019.
 

It was a first-of-its-kind event centred around technology and innovation in product management. We believe in supporting disruptive innovators and product managers. From technology pioneers such as Google and Microsoft to the latest unicorns such as Uber and Freshworks, majority of the companies have regularly visited ISB in search of talent to improve their Product Think Tanks. In recent times, Product Management has developed into one of the most sought-after jobs at our campus and otherwise.


 

Keeping that in mind, the theme for Product Conclave 2019 was decided - Product for the next billion users. This conference brought together industry heads discussing the emerging trends in technology for product development through sessions focusing on - Product for the next billion users, Hyper personalisation: the good and the bad and Intelligent Economies: AI Products for transforming Industries and society.
 

ISB’s Associate Dean, Professor Rambhadran Thirumalai, inaugurated the conclave and said that ISB is growing as a hotbed for technology and innovation in product management as many of the companies annually visit ISB to pick up talent in the talent management space.


 

Senthil Kanthaswamy, Director of Product Management, Freshworks, delivered the keynote and highlighted the challenges in SaaS space. He shared his journey with Freshworks and how he enabled the company’s growth from 0 to $100 million AAR in a mere eight years. He also highlighted what took for Freshworks’ to join the unicorn club (at a valuation of $1.5 billion) and its further plan for IPO, which contributes towards making India a Product Nation.


 

Along with learning from world-class faculty, we believe students should interact with industry leaders to learn from their experiences in the form of Masterclasses. During the two-day Product Conclave 2019, we had a Product Masterclass conducted by Ajit Narayanan, Chief Technology Officer - mfine.co. He spoke about 'Intelligent economies’ with our students and how AI products are transforming societies and industries with special focus on healthcare.
 

Panellists – Ajay Datta, Head of Product, LinkedIn India; Rohan Sahu, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Paysafe India; Manish Mittal, Principal Programme Manager, Microsoft; Shreshta Chowdary, Chief Product Officer, StalkBuyLove – enlisted a few examples of how hyper-personalisation has impacted business today and its potential in the panel discussion on ‘Hyper personalisation of products: the good and the bad’.
 

As part of the conclave, there were product workshops, product case competition and product Masterclasses conducted that spread across two days.