HR Next 2.0 at CIMP: AI, Digital HR, and the Skills That Matter Now
Chandragupt Institute of Management Patna (CIMP) hosted HR Next 2.0 on campus, drawing senior HR leaders from across India to discuss AI, digital systems, and the skills HR teams need next. The event scaled up from its first edition and deepened the bridge between academia and industry. The program featured HR Unplugged, HR Tech Session, HR InnovateX, HR Quest - ET Quiz, and the HR Pinnacle Awards.
Prof. (Dr) Rana Singh set the tone: India supplies talent to the world, so HR must move faster on technology adoption and capability building. Collaboration between campuses and companies isn't a nice-to-have-it's the lever for better decisions, better culture, and better outcomes.
Leaders Call for Tech-Ready HR With a Human Core
Chief Guest Mr. Raj Kumar Dubey, Director HR at Bharat Petroleum and Chairman of Indraprastha Gas Ltd, noted a hard truth: many businesses hold richer people data than HR. His message was clear-upgrade HR skills for an AI-driven future while keeping empathy and context at the center.
Guests of Honour included senior leaders from Indian Oil Corporation, KPIT Technologies, Brigade Group, Bandhan Bank, Oracle, Nuvoco Cements, Ultratech Cement, GE Transportation, and Attitude & Intelligence Learning Systems-signaling broad industry interest and real-world application.
What the Sessions Delivered
HR Unplugged: Smart Tech with Human Touch
Moderated by CIMP's Rajasshrie Pillai, the panel with Mr. Dubey, Dr. Mukesh Ranjan Das, Mr. Rajesh Kumar Singh, Mr. Shivesh Singh, and Mr. Sajid Iqbal unpacked AI in workforce management, hiring, and culture. The throughline: use automation to remove friction, and use people to add judgment.
HR Tech Session: How AI Is Rewriting Jobs and People Strategy
Led by Mr. Setu Shah, Senior Director, Global Product Strategy at Oracle, this session covered AI-driven recruitment, predictive analytics, agile HR ops, and responsible data use. Automated screening and intelligent talent insights can speed up hiring and reduce bias when designed with clear guardrails. For background on where HCM tech is headed, see Oracle's HCM AI overview here.
Panel Discussion 2: Skills Every Future Manager Needs
Moderated by Prof. Mamta Singh, the panel with Mr. Prasenjit Das, Ms. Rina Pandey, Mr. Amir Usmani, and Mr. Kumar Priyaranjan focused on adaptability, data literacy, design thinking, emotional intelligence, and human-centric leadership. Translation for HR: build these into capability frameworks, assessment rubrics, and L&D pathways now.
Student Energy, Real Outcomes
HR InnovateX brought six finalist teams to pitch solutions to live HR problems before industry judges. The HR Quest - ET Quiz, run with The Economic Times, pushed participants on HR trends and decision thinking.
- First Place: Anjali Sinha & team
- Second Place: Kumar Nishant & team
- Third Place: Devansh Seth & team
Judges praised the finalists for clarity, depth, and teamwork-exactly what modern HR projects require.
HR Pinnacle Awards: Setting Standards
The conclave closed with the HR Pinnacle Awards, recognizing organizations leading in learning, culture, inclusion, digital transition, and talent development. The awards capped a day that pushed practical ideas forward and brought HR leaders, faculty, and students into the same problem space.
Practical Takeaways You Can Apply This Quarter
- Audit your HR data stack. Identify the systems you trust for hiring, performance, and skills. Consolidate dashboards so business and HR see the same truth.
- Add guardrails to AI screening. Define bias checks, human-in-the-loop points, and documentation standards before scaling any model.
- Reskill managers on data literacy and coaching. Make decisions evidence-based without losing empathy in 1:1s and team rituals.
- Rebuild L&D for job-level skills. Use micro-assessments, practice-based projects, and internal mentors to lock in transfer.
- Co-create with academia. Sponsor capstones, case comps, and research sprints to test HR tech and new operating models.
- Measure what matters. Track time-to-fill, quality-of-hire, manager effectiveness, internal mobility, and inclusion signals-not vanity metrics.
- Stand up AI governance. Set policies for data privacy, explainability, and candidate consent across vendors and internal tools.
If you're building AI fluency for HR roles, explore curated learning paths by job function here. It's a fast way to map skills to real tasks like sourcing, screening, analytics, and L&D design.
Closing the event, CIMP leaders thanked participants and partners, noting that HR Next 2.0 moved the conversation from talk to action-exactly where HR needs to be.
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