By Mr. Rathnakar Samavedam, Investment Director & Managing Partner at Hyderabad Angels Fund (haf.vc)
Over the past forty years technology has been the main reason businesses have grown. The digital changes of the twentieth century allowed companies to automate work and grow faster than ever before. While those changes transformed how businesses worked, The Artificial Intelligence era is changing how businesses think. Decades of making everything digital have laid the foundation for AI to become the layer of how companies work.
AI is the way companies are making decisions now. Gartner mentions that companies over the world will spend $2.59 trillion on AI in 2026. That is 47% more than what they spent the year before. This means that AI is not just something companies are trying out, rather it has become a part of how businesses do things every day. Companies in all industries are starting to see Artificial Intelligence as a part of growing, being productive and innovating. For companies that are not Artificial Intelligence startups, whether they are in fintech, logistics or SaaS, thinking that AI is not for them is a big mistake. The real difference between companies is no longer about whether they're digital or not, it is about whether they are ready to make decisions using Artificial Intelligence or not.
The Pre- vs. Post-COVID Operational Shift
To understand why this is important, founders should look at how startups worked before and after COVID-19. Before the pandemic companies grew by spending a lot of money hiring teams and building physical offices. The pandemic changed everything. Companies that survived did so by becoming more efficient, faster and more digital. AI is the next step in this change.
Today companies rely on workflows instead of doing things manually. AI systems can find problems with customers, inventory, money and operations in time which allows companies to make decisions quickly. Being able to see patterns and act fast has become an advantage.
Gartner says that while companies are spending more on AI many are still using it to make improvements instead of changing their whole business model. This creates an opportunity for companies that use AI in a way. Companies that adopt AI now will build advantages that will be hard to catch up to later.
India is at a point. According to the NASSCOM Artificial Intelligence Adoption Index . India is an “Enthusiast” when it comes to Artificial Intelligence with a score of 2.45. While many companies know about Artificial Intelligence; most are still in the process of making it a core part of their business. Companies that use AI will be the leaders in the market.
Learning from Global and Indian Market Disruption
This change is already happening in many industries. Financial institutions are using AI to make decisions by doing it manually and customer support is using Agentic AI to answer complex questions on their own. In India, AI is helping companies predict demand, optimize logistics, detect fraud and make financial reports more accurate which allows them to work faster precisely and with more resilience.
However, using Artificial Intelligence is half of what companies need to do. The McKinsey 2026 Artificial Intelligence Trust Maturity Survey discovered that 30% of companies have reached a high level of maturity when it comes to AI strategy, Intelligence governance and controls.
As AI becomes a core part of how companies work, the ones that adopted Artificial Intelligence quickly along with structured governance, clear accountability and trusted Artificial Intelligence systems will be the ones that create value in the long term.
In the end having an Artificial Intelligence strategy is not about becoming an Artificial Intelligence company about building a company that is faster, more efficient and more resilient. Founders who understand this change will not just adopt another technology trend, they will change how decisions are made, how companies grow and how they stay ahead of the competition. Those who do not, will risk being left.
Coordinated By : Kashish Srivastava
