The Skift Takeaway
Skift Data + AI Summit 2026
The Scaling Decision Nobody Warned You About
Wei Manfredi – SVP AI & Architecture, IHG Hotels & Resorts
Arun Nagarajan — Chief Product and Technology Officer, Evolve
Moderated by Adriana Lee, Travel Technology and AI Reporter, Skift
THE ARGUMENT
The session promised a warning on scaling, and both panelists pointed to the same unglamorous answer: the fundamentals. Manfredi said “the boring stuff” like infrastructure, data, and clean APIs are essential for companies that want properties visible to AI agents. People and culture can be an even bigger roadblock than technology. Nagarajan made the same point, calling AI a cultural and process revolution that everyone will need to embrace, even if there is some discomfort. Both rejected the idea of separating the pilot and production phases — they see building and improving AI as an ongoing, seamless process.
THE EVIDENCE
- Nagarajan said naming something a pilot can lower the standard. Evolve committed to ramp a guest-facing AI resolution platform from roughly 30% resolution to 60% over less than 120 days. That allowed the company to have “a few embarrassing moments, but then very quickly scale to, wow, this is thrilling our guests.”
- “We are technologists. We always thought, given how powerful AI is, it’s all about technology. It’s not. It’s really the culture and the people.” — Manfredi
- Instead of making something immediately customer-facing, “let’s become AI first, first, before sort of slapping AI on externally.” — Nagarajan
THE SO WHAT
Both panelists argued the hard part of scaling AI isn’t the technology, it’s the people. Manfredi pointed out that organizations need to figure out how to reward a teammate whose 10 agents do the work of a 10-person team. Incentives, role redefinitions, and culture should be built into the AI strategy from the start, not treated as afterthoughts.
Access all the Skift Takeaways from this event, as well as full session videos, presentation documents, and more editorial coverage at our Skift Data + AI Summit attendees hub.