Digital transformation is often framed as a race to adopt cloud platforms, AI models, or automation tools. But according to Annapurna Vishwanathan, Vice President and Head of Information Management and Digital, Airbus India and South Asia, real transformation begins much earlier, and much deeper.
“True innovation starts with psychological safety,” she says. “People in a team need to feel safe to innovate.”
Yet, Vishwanathan is quick to add that safety alone does not guarantee innovation. “Psychological safety by itself cannot deliver outcomes,” she notes. “You have to put in operational mechanisms so that innovation happens systemically.”
At Airbus, this dual approach, culture backed by structure, plays out in very deliberate ways. Recognising that teams span multiple generations and working styles, the organisation designs innovation to be both energetic and disciplined. “For the younger crowd, innovation needs energy,” she explains. “Give them a problem, ask them to come together, and they will get cracking. That’s how they build momentum and understand that the organisation values innovation.”
At the same time, Airbus embeds innovation into its formal operating rhythm. “We have one full week in our PI planning cycle dedicated to innovation,” Vishwanathan says. “The message is subtle but clear, innovation is not optional, and it is part of everyone’s job.”
This thinking becomes even more critical in a deeply engineering-driven organisation, where digital teams must work alongside design, manufacturing, and operations. Vishwanathan is firm that digital leaders must resist the temptation to position themselves as problem-solvers in isolation.
“We never walk into a room and say digital is here to solve your problem,” she says. “We say digital is here to help you solve your problem. That difference is fundamental.”
To embed this mindset, Airbus has intentionally designed collaborative innovation mechanisms. Hackathons, for instance, are structured to reward cross-functional teams working on real business problems. “You get extra points if you’re a cross-functional team, if you’re solving a real business problem using digital, and if you can articulate the value,” she explains. “Very subtly, we’re embedding collaborative digitisation into how people think.”
Beyond temporary initiatives, the long-term vision is about proximity between disciplines. “A structural engineer should be able to sit with a data scientist so computation becomes simpler,” Vishwanathan says. “A developer should be able to sit with someone on the shop floor so processes become simpler. Our job is to create the conditions for those relationships to exist organically.”
Change management, she acknowledges, remains one of the toughest aspects of transformation, especially in legacy organisations. Much of the resistance, she says, is rooted in fear. “The moment you say automation, people immediately think, ‘Are you automating my job out?’”
Her response has been to consciously shift the narrative. “What we are really talking about is augmentation,” she says. “We have brilliant minds designing brilliant products. Our role is to give them tools that free up their capacity to do better things.”
This, she stresses, cannot be a one-off reassurance. “It’s a constant narrative,” Vishwanathan says. “The more we can showcase real examples of how augmentation has helped people move up the value chain, the more common parlance it becomes.”
The presence of multiple generations in the workforce, far from being a challenge, is something she sees as a strength. “Every generation brings its own positives,” she says. “The older generation brings wisdom and perspective. They’ve seen every hype cycle and know what will stick.”
Millennials, she adds, bring balance. “They have energy, but they’ve also had enough experience to know what works and what doesn’t.” And the youngest professionals bring something equally valuable. “There’s incredible raw energy,” she says. “Many of them are digital and AI natives in a way others will take time to become.”
If innovation is encouraged, Vishwanathan is equally clear that it must be accountable. “Innovation cannot be an art project,” she says. “It has to have real business value.”
One of the most powerful levers, she believes, is simply asking the right questions. “When you consistently ask people, ‘What was the business value?’ it changes the mindset,” she explains. “Your job is no longer just delivery, it’s impact.”
As technologies like AI, industrial IoT, and digital twins reshape manufacturing and operations, the role of digital leaders has evolved dramatically. Vishwanathan recalls a time when IT teams were brought in at the end of large projects. “Earlier, the plant would be built, the machines procured, and then IT would be asked to set up the network,” she says.
“That model doesn’t hold anymore,” she adds. “Today, when a manufacturing plant is planned, the CIO or CDO is involved from day one to define how digitised the plant will be.”
This deeper involvement has also led to the emergence of new leadership roles, from Chief Digital Officers to Chief AI Officers. Vishwanathan sees this as a reflection of business priorities rather than organisational complexity. “It always depends on the business model,” she says. “If data or AI is the core fulcrum of value, then the leadership structure has to reflect that.”
Despite the intense buzz around AI and automation, Vishwanathan urges organisations to distinguish excitement from readiness. “There’s a lot of excitement about possibilities,” she says. “But sometimes the foundational work needed to unlock those possibilities hasn’t been done.”
Her advice is measured. “Let’s unleash experimentation and innovation,” she says. “But we must be very clear about what is experimentation and what is meant to deliver real business value. Experimentation will always be a smaller slice. Value creation has to be the larger one.”