BENGALURU: If 2024 was marked by an AI gold rush, 2025 will focus on AI’s practical utility, says AI data cloud company Snowflake’s MD for India Vijayant Rai. According to him, organisations have been rapidly adopting AI to stay competitive and seize new opportunities, and now enterprises must clarify their objectives for AI adoption—whether it’s to access information faster, accelerate decision-making, boost productivity, or achieve other goals.
“While not every application will leverage AI, those that integrate language models, knowledge repositories, and human input will continue to evolve and improve,” he told TNIE. Practical AI applications are likely to emerge in unexpected areas, making it crucial for CEOs and boards to identify where investments will deliver the greatest returns.
Talking about return on investments (ROI), he said achieving real ROI will depend on focusing AI efforts on areas with measurable impact while maintaining checks and balances through human oversight and reliable data.
This year, the company’s focus will include key sectors such as BFSI, Manufacturing, Logistics, Retail and CPG, and public sector to drive enterprise growth. It is also expanding its commercial portfolio to support SMEs and digital natives on their data and AI journey. “Our growth strategy emphasises building a robust ecosystem of partnerships, including collaborations with hyperscalers, global consulting firms, and regional system integrators. Over the next two-three years, Snowflake will continue investing in India, accelerating growth and unlocking new opportunities,” he said.Agentic AI is expected to yield tangible outcomes by the end 2025 as the first wave of high-value use cases enters production. These include resolving customer service issues, detecting cyber threats, and improving project management, he added.
Agentic systems can revolutionise industries by enabling AI-powered applications to take meaningful action. “While some actions will be autonomous, most will involve a ‘human-in-the-loop’ approach, balancing automation and oversight. This evolution fosters advanced automation and offers enterprises a clear return on investment for their AI initiatives. Unlike generative AI, which excels in creating content, agentic systems are designed to execute tasks independently through autonomous decision-making, delivering concrete results,” Rai explained.
“The potential is transformational. For businesses ready to embrace it, agentic AI represents the next wave of innovation and a pathway to sustained value creation. Over time, it could pave the way for an environment shaped by Artificial General Intelligence (AGI),” he said. Rai also stressed on investing in skilling. Every employee needs the skills to thrive in a data- and AI-driven world. This requires making AI accessible to users of all skill levels while ensuring they understand its applications across the data lifecycle and how to interact with these technologies effectively, he said.
Vijayant Rai, Managing Director (India), Snowflake