Karthik Krishnamurthy, Chief Executive Officer of Ascendion and thought leader on Forbes Technology Council, wrote an article for CIO.com on Jan 28, 2026. Karthik delivers a candid perspective on his operating-model decision to rebuild Ascendion as an AI-powered enterprise from the inside out. He emphasizes leadership accountability for closing the AI adoption gap. Karthik also describes how Ascendion became a “learn-it-all” company around AI. He outlines a proven method for becoming an AI-powered enterprise, built on three elements: platform, process, and people.
In the recent past, when automation initiatives often fell short, it was fair for leaders to blame the technology: it wasn’t mature, scalable, or easy enough to use. That excuse is gone. The world’s largest technology companies are making massive bets here. Capital is flowing into AI infrastructure. Tools are improving weekly.
If a company isn’t moving to capture value from AI, it’s rarely because the technology isn’t ready. More often, and this is the hard part, it’s because of culture, leadership, and outcomes discipline.
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WellSky, one of the largest healthcare technology companies in the U.S., is working with Ascendion to explore how AI can support modernization and accelerate the delivery of new innovations to market. The relationship deepened through common goals and a clear alignment around AI’s role in the future of healthcare. Through the partnership, WellSky gained insight into Ascendion’s AI vision and its commitment to becoming AI-first—embracing new technologies, as well as new ways of building and operating.
Axos Bank, one of the first fully digital banks in the U.S., partnered with Ascendion to build a complex accounting software that could evolve with changing needs. While AI development played a key role, the success of the partnership was rooted in mutual trust, open collaboration, and a shared long-term vision. Together, the teams moved beyond software development to true solution development, blending technology with human insight.
Elara Caring, a large provider of home-based care, works to ensure their 60,000 patients/clients receive the best possible care, in the comfort of their own homes. To continue enhancing the quality of their services, Elara Caring needed a digital engineering partner.
Elara Caring’s focus on providing excellent at-home healthcare service aligns well with Ascendion’s vision of impacting lives.
Ascendion utilized our AI-powered platform, Ascendion AVA, to transform Elara Caring’s IT support process. This transformation led to improved business productivity, reduced downtime, elevated customer satisfaction, and most importantly, it enabled their caregivers to spend more time with their patients.
Huron, a global consultancy, partners with Ascendion for software engineering in Huron’s product development organization including: sustained and core engineering, product development principles, software development, and quality assurance. We’re helping transform Huron’s legacy products into modern technologies on AWS cloud. In partnership with AWS, we implemented a data-driven analytics solution for Huron Consulting Group, utilizing services such as Amazon S3, AWS Lambda, Amazon Redshift, AWS Glue Crawler, and Amazon QuickSight to provide their clients from education sectors with actionable insights into financial health, academic outcomes, R&D spending, and peer benchmarking.
The secret to success? Our cultures align well and center on collaboration and customer success. The shared goals and team approach have led to a true partnership. Huron’s clients in the education and healthcare industries experience benefits such as operational maximizations, strategies, digital transformation, and operational alignment with their people.
Golden 1, a credit union with one million members in California, had a big goal to launch new credit cards but needed help to stay on time and on target. Ascendion engineers developed quality assurance and testing plans for the new credit card product set. Working together, Ascendion and Golden 1 were able to deliver a critical component for a new set of financial products to consumers, ultimately giving members a means to achieve their personal dreams.