Planview CEO sees India driving next phase of AI-led enterprise planning

Planview, a Texas-headquartered enterprise software company, is looking to deepen its presence in India as it expands artificial intelligence capabilities and shifts more global product ownership to its Bengaluru Capability and Innovation Centre (CIC), according to its newly appointed chief executive, Matt Zilli.

Making his first India visit since taking over as CEO earlier this year, Zilli said India has evolved well beyond a traditional engineering base to become a strategic innovation hub for the company's next generation of enterprise planning and AI products.

"We're no longer thinking about India as a delivery centre," Zilli said in an interaction. "Our teams here are building core product capabilities, driving AI innovation and owning outcomes for customers globally."

The company, which has over 35 years of experience in enterprise portfolio and work management software, established its Bengaluru Capability and Innovation Centre four years ago. The centre has since become one of Planview's fastest-growing global operations, expanding its workforce by 300% over the past year.

Led by India Managing Director Shalini Sankarshana, who also serves on the Nasscom Product Council, the Bengaluru centre today houses teams across product management, research and development, data science, cybersecurity, customer success and professional services, supporting enterprises worldwide.

The expansion comes as global software companies increasingly assign end-to-end product ownership to their India centres, reflecting the country's growing role in enterprise AI development.

AI shifts focus from projects to business outcomes

For Zilli, however, the bigger opportunity lies in helping enterprises manage an explosion of AI-led transformation initiatives.

Across sectors such as banking, manufacturing and telecommunications, organisations are simultaneously investing in AI copilots, cloud modernisation, cybersecurity, regulatory programmes and digital transformation. While technology adoption has accelerated, many CIOs still struggle to determine which initiatives are delivering measurable business value.

"We're seeing organisations move from an output mindset to an outcome mindset," Zilli said. "The question is no longer how many projects were completed. It's whether those investments reduced costs, improved customer experience or generated new revenue."

To address this, Planview is investing in three strategic capabilities: an Outcome Graph that connects enterprise initiatives with measurable business outcomes, stronger governance tools that provide executives with visibility into portfolio risks and investments, and AI-powered intelligence that predicts execution risks before they affect business performance.

The objective, according to Zilli, is to help organisations govern strategic portfolios with the same discipline applied to financial management.

Banking reflects a wider enterprise challenge

The need is particularly acute in financial services, where institutions are managing hundreds of simultaneous initiatives ranging from AI adoption and cloud migration to regulatory compliance and cybersecurity.

"The challenge isn't project management," Zilli said. "It's connecting strategy to execution."

Without integrated governance and visibility, organisations risk duplicating investments, misallocating resources and failing to realise returns from large-scale digital programmes, he said.

Artificial intelligence, he added, is enabling enterprises to move beyond historical reporting by identifying portfolio risks, resource conflicts and execution bottlenecks before they escalate.

GCCs become innovation engines

Zilli believes India's Global Capability Centres are also undergoing a fundamental transformation.

"Leading GCCs are no longer measured by cost efficiency alone," he said. "They're increasingly responsible for global products, AI innovation and customer outcomes."

That philosophy is reflected in Planview's Bengaluru operations, where cross-functional teams own products from design and engineering through customer delivery.

The company plans to continue expanding specialised hiring across AI, engineering and data science as demand grows for enterprise planning platforms that can help organisations govern increasingly complex transformation programmes.

Governance becomes the next AI priority

Looking ahead, Zilli expects governance to become the defining challenge of enterprise AI adoption.

Organisations, he said, are launching AI initiatives faster than they can measure their impact, creating what he described as an "execution gap" between strategy and business outcomes.

"The next phase of AI won't be about who deploys the most models," he said. "It will be about who can govern AI investments, measure outcomes and continuously adapt strategy."