Ideas are crucial for spurring innovations in products and services. One such innovative leader is Heena Purohit, who plays a major role in providing teams with a framework for maturing their ideas into products for customers. 

Analytics India Magazine interacted with Purohit, head of product at IBM. She is the product lead at IBM’s internal incubator program, which enables IBMers to bring innovative ideas and solutions to the real world. Purohit founded ‘AI for Her’ — a 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation on a mission to bring more women and gender minorities into AI. By reducing the AI diversity gap, it helps to build AI systems that are fair and unbiased.

“A typical day for me involves working with various venture teams that deal with emerging technologies and advising them on their product strategy and execution. This includes tasks such as designing and helping teams execute experiments to ensure the venture would be a viable business for IBM, coaching teams on product thinking or, if needed, rolling up my sleeves and supporting the teams in building customer collateral, lead customer/user interviews, and support sales execution.”

Transforming ideas into products 

Purohit says that no two days are alike at work, especially since each venture team is different and is solving a unique customer problem in a distinct way. “And that’s the most fun part of my job!”

She says, “My program is open for IBMers around the world, providing an opportunity to surface and test the best ideas across IBM. This helps in facilitating a culture of innovation and intrapreneurship within the company, while helping IBM build and launch the next generation of products, faster.” She adds that for many teams submissions are ideas and technologies they’ve been working on for years. Being selected in the program finally gives them the opportunity to put their experiments to work and see if they’re actually viable.

Implementing AI in product management

In her initial years at IBM, Purohit built AI solutions for industrial customers driving the strategy, product management and design to help manufacturing clients. She holds an undergraduate degree in telecommunications engineering from the University of Mumbai, where she built solutions involving IoT data/sensors. She also holds a double-major MBA from the University of Notre Dame. “So during my MBA, I came across a brand-new business that IBM was launching (Watson IoT), I applied and was selected for a product management internship role in the unit.”

Purohit says, like many others, she fell into AI following her interests. “While IoT sensors were a disruptive way to get more data than ever, I felt gravitated towards the part where you analyse the data – from IoT sensors, or other structured and unstructured data – to unlock new insights. I was fascinated by how AI/ML technologies enabled us to do that in new ways.” 

She said her AI journey began during this period, where she had the opportunity to launch and scale vertical AI solutions for industrial customers. The experience gave insights into having a firsthand look at the opportunities and challenges that customers are facing in adopting AI across the company. Having worked with some of the most brilliant AI minds at the company, Purohit says that her passion for emerging AI technologies and solving key business problems only grew.

‘You don’t have to be a data scientist to understand or benefit from AI’

Having worked with several customers and mentees to help them adopt AI or get into AI roles, Purohit shares one of her biggest learnings, “You don’t have to be a data scientist to understand or benefit from AI. This is also freeing because as AI technologies get more and more accessible, it helps bring more diverse voices in AI discussions, getting them to help build an AI-powered future.”

More specifically to her experience working on emerging technologies, Heena says that this is a great time to build a product. “To get started, think about all the tasks you do in your personal and professional life. Identify the manual/repetitive/mundane tasks and think if AI can help you improve that experience. If the answer is yes, try it out. It’s very likely that there’s a no-code AI tool out there for you to prototype this. This way, you’re not only dipping your toes in AI but also gaining the experience in using AI tools, so that you can then move on to solving bigger and better problems with AI.”

Purohit has been on a mission to make AI more accessible and help bring more people into the AI industry. She adds that this has manifested into the decisions made around which products to lead. Outside her current role at IBM, Purohit has spoken at over 20 events on the topic, and been published in over 15 books and articles. The tech leader has actively judged AI solutions at 6 hackathons. “The ‘AI for Her’ content on getting into AI and AI literacy has impacted over 12,000 students. And this feels like just the beginning.”

Find your tribe of cheerleaders and supporters

Purohit shares that across all channels, the biggest takeaways have come from the questions since they provide insight into the pain points that people are facing today. “These challenges often don’t pertain to the technical skills gap but around the mindset shift. And that’s why in most of the sessions I’ve delivered, we end up touching upon topics such as imposter syndrome, knowing your worth, and finding your tribe of cheerleaders and supporters,” she said.

She credits IBM for providing an incredible network of mentors that inspired and gave her opportunities to grow. “Perfect segway from the mindset shift because I faced that as I moved up in my career trajectory, too. It’s important to acknowledge that one doesn’t get to where they are without the help of others. I’m grateful for the support I’ve received, and it’s also why I feel passionately about paying it forward.”

Purohit was recognised as one of the Top 11 ‘Women AI Leaders’ at RISE 2020 and Datatech Vibe’s 2021 ‘Top Women Leaders In AI To Watch’. She was awarded the University’s Alumni Award in 2019 for her impact on women in technology initiatives. “I feel incredibly thankful for both recognitions and am honoured to be mentioned alongside many of the women I admire. I want to talk about how this happened. At the start of the pandemic, when everyone was in strict lockdown, I missed my break room conversations where I’d catch up with my colleagues and geek out on AI. I raised this on one of my favourite Women in Tech Facebook groups and turns out, many other women missed this, too.”

Purohit says that this led to the establishment of ‘AI for Her’. “This gave me the confidence to take this further and we’re now a 501c3 nonprofit on a mission to reduce the gender gap in the AI industry today and amplify the message that everyone can get into AI. We’ve been brewing some even more exciting things this year and looking forward to the launch!”

Take Five

1.    Favourite thing in the ML/AI industry today & why? I’m incredibly excited about foundation models. Having tested various foundation models, I can attest that not only are they better than anything else I’ve used, but also they’re equally flawed. So, while I know we have a way to go before foundation models become usable, I’m excited by how they could transform many areas of our lives today

2.    Top three apps you frequently use: YouTube, Elevate, and Reddit

3.    Favourite book on AI: Weapons of Math Destruction 

4.    Favourite podcast in AI and ML: I prefer non-AI podcasts to bring in more diversity to my day-to-day life. I love Exponent (Ben Thomson’s podcast on tech business analysis) and Acquired (Great storytelling and startup analysis)

5.    What would you have been doing if you weren’t a Product Head? I would certainly still be in tech. But as a consultant or a Product Owner

6.    How do you define your leadership style? I strive to lead with empathy. Since the pandemic, this has become more important to me than ever