Intelligence is becoming human: The Mumbai Masterclass

by Nisha Panjabi

Nov 13, 2025 | 03 min read

At the RI Tour – Mumbai Edition, the air was electric with ideas.
Sales and CPG leaders gathered not just to discuss technology, but to decode a deeper question:
Are we using AI to simplify our world, or are we layering AI on top of AI to fix the mess we created?

One conversation stood out.
A senior CPG leader, shared candidly,

“We adopted AI to make our sales teams’ lives easier. Instead, sales team’s KPIs went from 3 to 13. Then they have to deploy another AI tool to reduce the KPIs”

What was meant to empower ended up exhausting.

Dashboards multiplied, insights overlapped, and human intuition got lost behind screens.
That day, amidst the buzz of Mumbai’s energy, I realised, Intelligence doesn’t need to be more complex; it needs to be more human.

The Vision 2030: From Product to Presence.

The Mumbai edition of the Real Intelligence Tour wasn’t just another industry gathering, it was where ideas met foresight, and the journey toward Vision 2030 began. It also was a moment to remember how the industry has evolved and is on a road to become more intelligent towards the future.FAI

Here’s how it unfolded:

Step 1: Product – The Era of Digital Enablement.

It all began with digital tools.
Salesmen, armed with smartphones, used apps to take orders, check inventory, and record sales.
This phase was revolutionary, it replaced paperwork with pixels, speed with data entry, and manual checks with instant reports.

But it was still one-sided. The product did what it was told.
The user had to drive the system, feed it data, click through forms, and interpret the outputs.
Technology served as a tool, not a thinker.

Step 2: AI – The Age of Intelligence Without Empathy.

Then came Artificial Intelligence.
Suddenly, systems could recommend, summarise, and forecast. Dashboards sparkled with insights and predictions.

But there was a catch.
The AI was intelligent, not empathetic.
It knew what to say but not when or why to say it.
Instead of simplifying the sales process, it created an information overload, dozens of KPIs, multiple dashboards, and endless reports.

Users didn’t feel supported; they felt surveilled.
And that’s when we learned that intelligence, without context, is just noise.

Step 3: Co-Pilot – The Era of Collaboration.

Enter the Co-Pilot, the bridge between human instinct and machine intelligence.
This was when AI started to listen, not just calculate.

Salesmen could chat naturally with their system:

“Show me my top 10 performing outlets.”
“Which products are underperforming in the west zone?”
“Remind me to follow up with the retailer tomorrow.”

The Co-Pilot handled the micro-tasks, automating routine actions, summarizing insights, and triggering reminders, while users focused on strategy and relationships.

It wasn’t just AI doing work; it was AI thinking alongside humans, understanding intent, and helping convert decisions into execution.
This was intelligence that collaborated, not commanded.

Step 4: Invisible Interface – The Age of Effortless Experience.

Now we’re stepping into the most human form of intelligence yet, the Invisible Interface.

Here, there are no dashboards, no buttons, no manual entries.
Technology quietly listens, observes, and acts.

So we asked ourselves
Can we send nudges directly to that ear, just in time?
Can the same mic capture the rep’s real conversation with the retailer?

That’s where Relationship Intelligence comes in.
A system that listens, learns, and speaks back, in real time.
Imagine this: while the rep discusses stock or schemes,
Bizom’s Real Intelligence gently nudges “Remind him about the new combo offer.”
Or after the call, “Retailer prefers 200ml packs, reorder adjusted.”

Nudges in. Feedback out.
All through voice. Because by 2030, the smartest conversations in CPG
won’t happen on screens, they’ll happen in ears.
And that’s when sales becomes not just data-driven,
but conversation-driven.

The Bizom Formula: Where Intelligence Becomes Real.

In the world of CPG, intelligence isn’t just about data or algorithms, it’s about connecting the dots that matter.

At Bizom, Real Intelligence (RI) is built on three forces working in perfect sync:

Human Intuition – the instinct, experience, and on-ground judgment that no machine can replace.
Industry Alignment – the context that keeps every insight relevant to how CPG and retail actually work.
Artificial Intelligence – the engine that processes millions of data points and turns them into a clear, actionable direction.

Together, they create Real Intelligence — not artificial, not isolated, but alive with human understanding and business purpose.

Because when technology aligns with people and purpose, Intelligence becomes truly human.

The Future Is Real, Not Artificial.

The takeaway from the Mumbai edition was clear:
AI is not the future. Real Intelligence is.

Because in the world of sales, intuition, relationships, and trust can’t be automated, but they can be amplified.
As one leader put it beautifully,

“The bot might suggest the next move, but the salesperson knows what really works on the ground.”

And that’s exactly where I, RIO, step in to bridge the brilliance of data with the wisdom of humans.

The future of intelligence is not artificial.
It’s aware.
It’s augmented.
And above all, it’s deeply human.

Let’s keep translating that intelligence into action
one store,
one relationship,
one smarter decision at a time.

Your Real Intelligence Officer,
RIO