Ali Shabdar, Head of Strategic Growth at Zoho, joins the show to break down why most digital transformation projects fail, and what business leaders consistently get wrong about technology adoption. Drawing on his path from engineering and consulting to building Zoho’s Middle East and Africa presence from the ground up, Ali explains why every successful (or failed) technology rollout comes down to one factor: people.
In this episode, Ali unpacks the philosophy of transnational localism that helped Zoho grow in MEA, why customer retention is about turning buyers into advocates rather than hiding the cancel button, and why an estimated $900 billion has been wasted globally on failed digital transformation initiatives. He also dives deep into AI adoption today: the gap between AI’s theoretical potential and what it’s actually delivering, why “token spend” is the wrong KPI, and why the future is augmentation, not replacement, a concept he calls Homo Augmentus.
The conversation also covers Zoho’s approach to AI agents as digital employees with identities and oversight, the risks of hoarding data without structure, and why leaders should return to basic questions about known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns before expecting AI to perform.
If you’re a business leader, marketer, or operator trying to separate real AI value from hype, this episode offers a grounded, people-first framework for thinking about growth, technology, and change management.
Takeaways:
- Digital transformation succeeds or fails based on people, not technology.
- Zoho's MEA growth relied on local hiring and cultural adaptation.
- Retention means building advocates, not just reducing cancellations.
- $900 billion is wasted globally on failed transformation projects.
- Projects fail when done to employees instead of with them.
- AI adoption gaps appear between individual and company-wide productivity.
- Leaders should upskill people instead of replacing them with AI.
- Strong data foundations must exist before AI can perform well.