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Lingaro’s expertise in harnessing data for strategic decision-making aligns with the needs of India’s Global Capability Centers (GCCs) market. Lingaro’s services enable these centers and other leading Indian businesses to advance in data maturity, increase operational efficiency, and drive sustainable growth.
Sam Mantle is the global CEO of Lingaro Group, where he spearheads the company’s mission to drive innovation and strategic digital transformation for some of the world’s leading enterprises. With over two decades of experience in senior leadership roles across multiple industries and regions, Sam brings a rare blend of technical expertise and business acumen to Lingaro’s end-to-end data solutions. He speaks to CIOL about the company’s play and India strategy. Excerpts.
How does Lingaro leverage its heritage in the consumer products industry to accelerate data transformation?
The increasing complexity and scale of the data landscape play to our strengths at Lingaro. Our heritage in the consumer products industry has positioned us as a strategic partner to leading brands, such as Procter & Gamble (P&G). This sector has long leveraged large datasets and complex data sources to drive business performance, giving us a strong foundation in handling scale and complexity.
Over the years, we’ve supported clients on their data journeys. As companies transition aggressively to the cloud, our expertise in building cloud-based data environments and analytics capabilities becomes increasingly valuable.
We also see significant opportunities in industries like life sciences. Many companies in this space are starting their data transformation journey from scratch. By applying our proven expertise and insights from the consumer products sector, we can help accelerate their progress and impact.
What sets us apart is not just our technical capability but also our ability to integrate domain expertise. In the data and analytics space, understanding the context of the data is critical. Our unique combination of robust technology development and deep domain knowledge allows us to create solutions that drive value across industries, making us a reliable and innovative partner.
What are the key challenges CIOs face in securing buy-in for new technologies like generative AI, and how does Lingaro help overcome them?
In the past, the CIO was primarily seen as a cost controller or an executor of business requirements. Today, however, boards, executive management, and CEOs are increasingly turning to CIOs for strategic guidance. Questions like “What are we doing with generative AI?” and “How are we deriving value from these new capabilities?” are being directed at CIOs. This shift reflects growing expectations for CIOs to deliver the same transformative benefits seen in consumer technology to the business environment.
This evolving dynamic has created two distinct categories of CIOs:
- Business-Savvy CIOs: Those who deeply understand the business, embrace their seat at the table, and lead discussions with confidence.
- Technically-Oriented CIOs: Those who lack business fluency and struggle to engage effectively with CEOs and other business leaders.
Lingaro recognizes opportunities in both groups. For the business-savvy CIOs, we demonstrate our value clearly and effectively. For those needing support, we help bridge the gap by packaging our messaging in a way that resonates with business leaders. Our expertise allows us to act as translators between the technical and business domains, ensuring CIOs feel confident introducing Lingaro’s senior leaders to their boards and executives.
A second key observation is the challenge of scaling GenAI use cases across organizations. While initial proof-of-concept projects show potential, many fail to scale effectively. To address this, we’ve developed accelerators—modular building blocks that enable systematic implementation of GenAI use cases. These tools help clients deploy AI solutions in a structured, scalable manner.
Our most forward-thinking clients have realized that the quality of their data assets is the ultimate differentiator in the value they derive from analytics and AI. Lingaro, as a data-focused company, helps clients optimize and manage their data practices. By combining robust data orchestration with cutting-edge AI capabilities, we empower clients to achieve superior outcomes.
This approach resonates strongly with our clients, especially in industries where we possess deep domain expertise. By aligning business and technical knowledge, we deliver solutions that drive meaningful impact.
You manage tons of data across segments like CPG, manufacturing, and life sciences. What key learnings and insights from these industries are you applying to shape your overall strategy and approach?
Over the past 18 months, a significant focus—both within our organization and across the industry—has been on identifying and implementing individual use cases. While these use cases are valuable and drive discussions, we believe that focusing solely on individual cases doesn’t address the broader challenges of scalability and expansion.
To solve this, we’ve invested heavily in developing accelerators: modular data building blocks, and algorithms that can be used in a safe, repeatable manner. These accelerators empower our clients to prioritize and deploy use cases in any order that aligns with their strategic goals. This investment, particularly over the last 12 months, ensures we provide our clients with flexibility and scalability in their data and AI journeys.
Lingaro’s strength lies in its focus on supporting the end-to-end data journey of our clients. While this is a specialized area, it’s highly complex.
To succeed, we must deeply understand our clients’ businesses and the outcomes they aim to achieve. Only then can we define a relevant data strategy that encompasses critical elements like master data management and data governance.
Data governance, in particular, is a vital function for deploying AI at scale. By addressing governance effectively, we help our clients optimize the adoption of the platforms and technologies we create. This cyclical process ensures that we are not only integral at the start—defining strategies and implementing solutions—but also throughout the journey, constantly revisiting stakeholders to evaluate outcomes.
Our approach emphasizes collaboration and adaptability. After delivering solutions, we engage with stakeholders to ask:
• Is the solution driving the desired outcomes?
• Are there areas for optimization or improvement?
If the solution meets expectations, we explore how to evolve it further. If not, we quickly identify deviations and make relevant adjustments to refine the solution. This continuous improvement cycle allows us to deliver impactful, outcome-driven results while maintaining a strong partnership with our clients.
How do you see the evolution of the Indian market, where pure-play IT services and captives (GCCs) are blending with outsourcing models? Do you have any strategies to address these segments?
While there’s plenty of competition, many companies still offer generic services and remain deeply embedded in traditional outsourcing models. In contrast, we differentiate ourselves by specializing in high-value areas, bringing deep domain expertise and understanding of the technologies required. Our partnership mindset is another key differentiator—we work closely with clients to help them develop their internal capabilities, positioning ourselves not as a threat, but as a strategic partner.
As for our strategy in India, we’re committed to expanding our presence. We’ve already doubled the size of our team and are on track to double it again within the next year. This growth is promising, and we’re eager to continue building our brand and strengthening our foothold in India.
What sets us apart is our global perspective. While we have a strong presence in India, we are a European-headquartered company with a footprint across key global talent hubs, including Poland, the Philippines, Switzerland, and Mexico. Over the past 15 years, we’ve acquired top talent and leadership from these regions, and we now bring that expertise to India.
This global reach, combined with our local presence, fosters a natural trust and proximity with our Indian clients. We recognize that some companies will always maintain strong relationships with local Indian players, and that’s fine. However, we’re also seeing a growing appetite among Indian businesses to tap into the best talent and ideas from around the world, and we believe we’re well-positioned to meet that demand.