There will be polished demos, bold claims, and enough slides to make the future feel closer than it is. I’m looking forward to all of it.

But I’m not going to Knowledge 2026 because I need another vision of what AI could become. I’m going because at BOT, we’ve spent the last year building GCCs where this is already real inside hiring plans, delivery queues, approvals, workflows, and operating metrics.

Not clean. Not theoretical. Real.

That is a very different education.

Agentic AI Is Not About Better Answers. It Is About Execution.

Most executives do not need another definition of agentic AI. I know I don’t.

What matters now is simpler:

• Can AI actually get work done?
• Can it do it securely, with the right context, the right permissions, and clear accountability?

That is why ServiceNow’s Autonomous Workforce direction matters. The shift is from navigating tickets, portals, and queues to simply stating intent and having work completed inside one governed interaction. A leave request should not trigger forms, approvals across multiple systems, and status chasing. It should begin and end in one conversation.

The real shift is not better answers.

• It is zero-touch execution.
• ServiceNow’s partnership with Anthropic, and its ambition to reduce implementation effort by up to 50%, points in the same direction.

But I’ve learned something building these environments:

• Platforms create possibility.
• Operating models create outcomes.

Someone still has to build the workflows, clean data models, governance controls, security boundaries, and talent systems that make all of this real.

That is where BOT turns ambition into execution. 

India GCCs Are No Longer Delivery Hubs. They Are Growth Engines for the AI Era.

People still ask me what the India advantage is.

I don’t think it is cost anymore. I think it is trust, speed, and capability delivered at scale.

I remember realizing we had earned Stridepath’s trust when their US team gradually shifted from calling us “the offshore team” to simply calling us “our team", "The Pathfinders".

That came after months of late-night problem solving, fast decisions, and consistency when it mattered most. That is the real advantage.

Not lower cost.

Higher confidence.

And I've now watched that pattern repeat across eight GCCs. The trust advantage compounds.

And when you build that kind of trust consistently, the market starts to notice. One of our GCC partners - Stridepath became the first organization globally to achieve Moveworks Pathfinder accreditation. BOT built and operates their GCC. The credential is theirs. The model is ours.

‍

‍

The Future Is Not a Demo. It Looks Like Bettera.

If you want to know whether agentic AI is real, don’t start with a keynote.

Start with a student who is sick before finals and needs help at midnight.

Or a researcher trying to hire graduate assistants while grant timelines keep moving.

Or an alumna who needs a transcript for a job opportunity but is blocked by a small hold and an outdated process. Those stories stayed with me because they are exactly where bad systems show up in moments that matter.

That is why I’ve enjoyed working with Bettera so much.

They understand higher education deeply, and together we saw an opportunity to redesign experiences many institutions had accepted as normal.

With a leading US research university, we helped turn PDFs, forms, delays, and approval bottlenecks into autonomous journeys on ServiceNow using Virtual Agent, NLU, Document Intelligence, Flow Designer, and Integration Hub.

Now a student can explain the issue in natural language and trigger the right workflow instantly. A researcher can move approvals in parallel. An alumna can clear a hold and receive a transcript in the same interaction.

Processes that once took days now happen in minutes.

That is when AI stops being interesting and starts being useful.

What I’ve Learned Watching Eight GCCs Scale.

Bettera is one story. It is not the only one.

Over the last year, I’ve watched this model scale faster than many still assume possible.

• GCC launches in as little as 6 weeks
• 8 GCCs scaling concurrently
• $1.2B in value created
• 100% internal Talent Agent adoption, with BOT as Customer Zero
• 90% talent retention

We are also investing ahead of demand as a ServiceNow Build Partner, with dedicated innovation environments already preparing for the next wave of governed AI capabilities.

Execution is no longer theoretical.

And I believe the best proof is still ahead of us.

The Hard Part Begins After the Applause. 

Knowledge 2026 will showcase what is possible.

That matters. But I am more interested in what happens after the applause when the slides are over and the real questions begin.

After the keynote, I’ll be at Bouchon on May 5th with a few leaders building what comes next.

No panels. No slides. No jargon. Just an honest conversation about how to make this real inside a business. That is usually where the best ideas begin and where the real lessons get shared.

The Agentic era may get announced on stage. But the people shaping it will probably be at Tuesday brunch. 

‍

To join the conversation, RSVP here.

‍