Coworking: Madhu Kochar helps build products that are ‘typically an afterthought’

Coworking is a weekly segment where we spotlight Tech Brew readers who work with emerging technologies. Click here if you’d like a chance to be featured.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

I build the products that make your day-to-day life easier, but are typically an afterthought for customers. My role at IBM is to help create the software and technology that enterprises use to power the seamless customer experiences that we all, myself included, take for granted and assume will simply work.

For example, when a person goes to an ATM to withdraw money, they’ve come to expect an experience that takes minutes and happens with just the press of a few buttons.

But this experience isn’t possible without creating the software that connects the many different systems of the bank and protects customer data. My job is to make it simpler for enterprises to deliver the experience their customers have come to expect.

What’s your favorite emerging tech project you’ve worked on?

It’s tough to go a day in my life without thinking, discussing, and working on artificial intelligence technology. But while the technology is fascinating, my true enjoyment comes from seeing the positive impact that AI can have on people and how it can make our work lives easier.

Specifically, I’m very proud of the work we’ve accomplished with IBM’s watsonx Orchestrate, an offering that uses intelligent automation and AI to streamline tasks that most of us find to be tedious and mundane.I’ll provide an example: Traditionally, for HR practitioners, the building of job descriptions, posting of job openings to different candidate portals, and scheduling interviews with candidates has been a manual and time-consuming process that takes time away from focusing on the effectiveness of the candidate.

Tasks that span across hiring, promoting, and retaining talent require HR practitioners to pull large amounts of data and documentation together.

But with AI and, specifically, IBM watsonx Orchestrate, we’ve been able to automate many of these tasks and free up HR practitioners to focus on higher-value work, such as providing career guidance and candidate curation, which requires thought and creativity, rather than doing routine paperwork.

What emerging tech are you most optimistic about? Least? And why?

My answer to both questions would be the same: AI.

I’m optimistic that this technology will continue to change the way we work and, in many aspects, make our day-to-day tasks easier to complete. So, I believe AI can be a positive force that helps augment our intelligence and capabilities.

But to ensure open innovation in AI and that the technology is built responsibly, we must continue to foster a collaborative climate of dialogue.

It’s why just recently we announced, in partnership with Meta, the AI Alliance—an international community of researchers, developers, and organizational leaders committed to supporting and enhancing open innovation across the AI technology landscape to accelerate progress; improve safety, security, and trust in AI; and maximize benefits to people and society everywhere.

For IBM, we believe that the AI of today and tomorrow must continuously improve upon levels of governance and safety. This governance must be built into the core of the technology and allow organizations to manage AI and meet upcoming safety, transparency, and regulations and policies worldwide.

Through the collective power of an open, healthy AI community, we can all promote the exchange of ideas and collaboration on future AI decisions and outputs.

What’s the best tech-related media you read/watch/listen to?

Outside of Morning Brew, of course, I try to stay informed through a mix of tech- and business-focused media to have a well-rounded view of what is going on.

On the tech side, I often read the Last Week in AI Newsletter. On the business side, I read Harvard Business Review.

I find Harvard Business Review especially helpful because it offers both news and insights, as well as in-depth strategy and leadership lessons that provide me with different perspectives.

What’s something about you we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile?

In a crazy turn of events, I once helped deliver a baby. I was in San Jose, California, visiting a hospital to see a couple I knew from India who didn’t speak English and needed help translating. While I was visiting, the doctor came in, and suddenly the baby started coming! The doctor asked me to jump into action and help assist in the delivery. It was intense, but at the end, there was a healthy baby.

A more day-to-day thing is that I’m a Bollywood movie junkie. Laying on the couch and having a movie marathon is one of the ways that I relieve stress.

What do you think about when you’re not thinking about tech?

My family. They are the one thing I think about. My children are older and in graduate programs now, but they’re always my No. 1. Throughout my career, I have taken time off to be with my children, and for me, that’s cherished time. I always advocate for people who are growing in their careers to define their own priorities, and my children have always been mine.

After my children, I think about my community and how I can help better it. I live in San Jose, California, where there’s a large homeless population, which just saddens me to see. I’ve become an active volunteer and have been working with the local government to prioritize and solve this problem.