Achieving AI Success: A Pragmatic Focus on Outcomes Over Hype

In this week’s One Vision Podcast, we welcome back Sandeep Mangaraj, now co-founder of Aileron Group, to discuss lessons from building a company in a crowded AI market and why AI success is more about people and process than technology. 

The conversation covers executives rushing into GenAI due to FOMO, the importance of starting with desired outcomes rather than applying GenAI everywhere, and why mid-market institutions may benefit from faster time-to-decision, less technical debt, and faster learning cycles. 

The key question is whether firms can afford the downside of waiting. And the answer is increasingly: No.

00:00 Welcome Back: Meet Sandeep Mangaraj 

00:55 Building Aileron: Lessons From a Crowded AI Market

03:49 The AI ROI Myth: What’s Actually Being Measured?

05:28 FOMO vs Outcomes: Picking the Right AI Use Cases

10:09 Falling Costs & Speed of Learning

12:40 Who Owns AI Outcomes and Who’s Accountable When It Breaks?

14:55 Third-Party Risk: Regulators, Vendors, and Dependencies

19:51 “Can You Afford to Wait?”

23:02 Closing: Act With Purpose in 2026

Hot take:  The barrier to AI success isn't technology, it's people and process. 

#AI #Fintech #GenerativeAI #DigitalTransformation