Synopsis

Indian CTOs emphasize strong partnerships with HR leaders as crucial for an AI-ready workforce, with 89% already collaborating closely. Their roles are rapidly expanding beyond traditional tech management, focusing on organizational adaptation and navigating the real-time evolution of AI. Balancing long-term AI goals with immediate business needs presents a significant leadership hurdle, while continuous skill development and innovation are deemed essential for success.

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Indian technology leaders say workforce readiness and closer collaboration with HR are becoming critical as AI reshapes their role

Half of Indian chief technology officers (51%) believe stronger partnerships with chief human resources officers are the single most important factor in building an effective AI-enabled workforce, while 89% already work closely with their CHROs, according to a LinkedIn study released on Thursday.

The findings come as AI reshapes technology leadership. More than nine in 10 Indian CTOs (93%) said their role is increasingly focused on helping organisations adapt to new ways of working, while 79% said their responsibilities have expanded beyond what they expected a year ago. Another 84% said the CTO role is being redefined in real time.

The expanding mandate is also creating fresh challenges. Nearly eight in 10 CTOs (79%) said their role is evolving faster than their organisations can make decisions, while 56% identified balancing long-term AI transformation with short-term business performance as their biggest leadership challenge.

Also read: Nearly 80% India's Chief Tech Officials say AI creating new roles not existing few years ago: Report

“With over nine in 10 Indian CTOs acknowledging that their role has shifted toward helping organisations adapt to the future of work, technology leadership today extends far beyond managing systems and infrastructure,” Malai Lakshmanan, head of India engineering at LinkedIn, said in a statement.

“As AI adoption moves from experimentation to scale, success depends as much on people as it does on technology. Employees need the skills and confidence to make AI part of how they work every day, which is why closer collaboration between CTOs and talent leaders has become essential.”

The survey also highlighted the importance of workforce readiness. More than nine in 10 CTOs (92%) said continuous skill-building is essential to keep pace with AI-driven change, while 91% identified innovation as the most important outcome of their organisations' AI investments.

AI is also reshaping hiring. Nearly four in five CTOs (79%) said the technology is creating entirely new roles that did not exist a few years ago.

However, adoption is no longer the main concern. More than four in five CTOs (81%) said leaders are under pressure to move faster on AI than they can effectively measure its impact, while maintaining employee trust as AI reshapes roles and responsibilities emerged as the most frequently cited C-suite challenge.

The research was conducted by Censuswide among 1,250 C-suite leaders across India, the US and the UK, including CEOs, CHROs, CTOs, CIOs, CMOs and chief communications officers.