Kumar Bahukhandi
MeritTrac Services, India’s leading talent assessment and examination management company, celebrated its 25th anniversary with a high-impact industry conference titled “Reimagining Talent 2025: Unlocking People & Possibilities in an AI Era.” The event, organised in collaboration with People Matters, brought together senior leaders from academia, HR, and technology to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming talent assessment, development, and workforce capabilities.
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Leaders from HR, academia, and technology at MeritTrac Services’ 25th anniversary conference, Reimagining Talent 2025, in Bengaluru
The discussions throughout the day highlighted a central theme: as automation accelerates, skill requirements, learning models, and workforce expectations are being reshaped. Speakers emphasized that assessments are evolving from one-time evaluation tools into integrated systems that drive continuous learning, performance insights, and development.
AI Reshaping Skills, Learning Models, and Workforce Expectations
The conference opened with a keynote and film launch by Ambrish Sinha, CEO of UNext Learning, who revisited MeritTrac’s 25-year journey from pioneering computer-based testing to enabling digital-first, AI-driven learning ecosystems. He emphasized how MeritTrac has consistently bridged technology and talent to support institutions, corporations, and governments with credible, scalable assessment systems.
In his keynote session “When GenAI Becomes Coach: Mentoring, Nurturing, and Unlocking Human Potential,” Satheesh KV, Chief People Officer at ACKO, explored how Generative AI is moving from candidate evaluation to enabling continuous learning through personalized coaching, multilingual feedback, and real-time behavioral nudges.
He highlighted that the CHRO’s mandate is shifting from compliance to strategic change enablement, helping leaders interpret AI-driven insights with responsibility and empathy, noting: “The future will not be defined by Artificial Intelligence alone, but by a shift toward Augmented Humanity.”
Campus to Capability: Building Talent Pipelines for an AI-Shaped World
A panel moderated by Jerry Moses, Senior Manager – Content & Research at People Matters, explored how academia and industry can co-create learning ecosystems suited to prepare students for a fast-evolving, AI-integrated workforce.
Maheshwar Peri, Founder & Chairman, Careers360, spoke about the widening gap between traditional curricula and industry needs, urging universities to focus on adaptability and interdisciplinary learning rather than rote employability metrics.
Bina Sharma, Senior Director – Assessment Products at GMAC, emphasized the role of tech-enabled and behaviorally informed assessments in identifying and bridging skill gaps before students enter the workforce.
Ambrish Sinha, CEO of UNext Learning, added that universities must evolve from being teaching institutions to learning ecosystems built on continuous, stackable credentials, micro-learning and AI-driven skill mapping.
Panelists agreed that employability is now a shared responsibility across academia, industry, and technology providers, and that assessments must evolve to measure learning agility, cognitive flexibility, and innovation potential.
Beyond Hiring: Designing the Bionic Workforce
A second panel moderated by Mohan Sitharam, CHRO at Shadowfax, discussed how AI is augmenting — not replacing — the human workforce.
Avesh Jha, SVP – Global ODPM, Hinduja Global Solutions, noted that assessments can today track not just technical proficiency but also behavioral adaptability, enabling organisations to design future-focused workforce strategies that align with future business models.
Jayshankar Mahadev, Senior Director – Talent Acquisition, Blue Yonder, discussed leveraging assessment data to design the foundation for career mobility frameworks, enabling HR leaders to design personalised career pathways that blend human creativity with machine intelligence.
The panel reinforced the concept of a bionic workforce — a seamless integration of human empathy and AI precision.
Closing Reflections: From Legacy to Future
Prasad Menon, Chief People Officer, Amagi Corporation, delivered the closing keynote reflecting on how people strategies must evolve alongside intelligent systems.
Noting:
The new world of work demands trustworthy technology — one that augments human judgment rather than replacing it.
Manjunath K.P., Chief Operating Officer, MeritTrac Services, reflected on MeritTrac’s 25-year journey and the people behind its impact, stating, “Over the past 25 years, we have not only witnessed change—we’ve led it. Assessments have evolved from checkpoints to continuous feedback loops that power development, trust, and transformation. As we step into the AI era, our focus is on building intelligent, ethical, and future-ready assessment ecosystems.”
He added, “People have been the flag bearers of our journey and will continue to be. We are deeply grateful to our customers, partners, and former employees who believed in our story and helped shape it through the years. This milestone is not an endpoint—it’s a launchpad for the next decade.”
A New Era of Assessments
With 39% of core skills expected to change by 2030, the event emphasized the urgent need to rethink how talent is measured and nurtured. MeritTrac’s approach — ReThinking, ReImagining, ReInventing Assessments — positions it to expand AI-powered platforms, intelligent proctoring, and workforce development solutions to support learners, professionals, and organizations in the future.
About MeritTrac Services
Founded in 2000, MeritTrac Services is one of India’s leading assessment and examination management companies. Over the past 25 years, it has delivered secure, scalable, and data-driven assessment solutions to corporations, universities, and government institutions, shaping the future of talent and learning outcomes.
