In conversation with CIO&Leader, Girish Ramadurgam, CTO, Troogue.ai, explains how enterprises must move beyond CV-led hiring to build trust-driven, AI-ready talent ecosystems.
The pandemic forced enterprises to accept remote work overnight. What followed was not just flexibility but fragility. Interviews went virtual, identity fraud crept in, and AI-polished CVs made everyone look identical. In a conversation with CIO&Leader, Girish Ramadurgam, co-founder of Troogue, reflects on how decades of hiring heuristics collapsed in this new reality.
After 30 years across the UK, Singapore, and India, he saw enterprises interview hundreds of candidates for a few roles, only to discover misfits weeks later. The issue was not a talent shortage but an evaluation failure.
“The problem isn’t finding people. It’s finding the right person at the right time, with proof you can trust.”
From CV Theatre to Capability Proof
The rise of LLMs has made resumes unreliable. Everyone now sounds competent on paper. Troogue replaces CV-led screening with curated AI-driven video interviews that assess:
- How candidates think
- How they respond to real-world situations
- How they communicate and collaborate
- Signals of fraud or inconsistency across audio, video, and responses
Enterprises receive concise, unbiased evaluation reports. The platform removes first-impression bias and replaces gut feel with evidence. Usually, Troogue does not start with skills alone. It first vets job descriptions themselves, stripping bloated requirements and aligning roles to actual business needs, not wishlists.
“The real hiring crisis isn’t a shortage of talent. It’s a shortage of trust in how we evaluate people.
This reflects a wider industry shift: enterprises are moving away from pyramid-shaped teams toward leaner, higher-impact teams. Hiring mistakes now hurt margins, timelines, and business credibility.
Why AI Hype Will Give Way to ROI Reality
Ramadurgam offers a grounded view of AI adoption. Faster development does not mean faster business outcomes. Enterprises may build apps in days, but business workflows, decision ownership, and operating models still lag.
AI, he notes, will follow the classic Gartner curve: noisy experimentation first, meaningful consolidation later. Most organisations are not ready for AI at its speed because their business processes are not designed for it.
The real transformation lies in embedding AI into:
- Decision workflows
- Operational resilience
- Business systems
- Customer-facing processes
This mirrors what CIOs are now experiencing: AI value is created not in code velocity but in decision velocity.
Gig Workers Need Dignity, Not Just Gigs
India’s gig economy faces structural insecurity. Freelancers struggle with:
- PF gaps
- Payment disputes
- Background verification
- Lack of employment proof
- No formal exit credentials
Troogue bridges gig and contract work by offering:
- Background verification
- Employment records
- Certification for completed projects
- Continuous opportunity matching
- Transparent feedback trails
For gig workers, this creates continuity, credibility, and career mobility. For enterprises it reduces risk.
As India formalises gig labour, platforms that provide trust infrastructure will shape the future of workforce inclusion.
Gen Z Is Ready. Enterprises Aren’t.
The next generation is comfortable with remote work, collaboration tools, and digital-first workflows. Enterprises still lack clarity on what roles they want Gen Z to play in an AI-first economy.
The industry is still overly focused on coding. Ramadurgam argues the future belongs to:
- Decision architects
- Workflow designers
- AI agents supervisors
- Security leaders
- Automation and orchestration roles
“Don’t just focus on coding. Focus on how technology helps people make better decisions.”
This reframes education and early career paths around judgement, domain depth, and business impact. Just Individuals
Troogue allows enterprises to hire ready-made teams backed by senior mentors. This reflects a growing reality in the enterprise: transformation requires collective capability, not isolated specialists.
The platform also partners with universities to help graduates become enterprise-validated, reducing the gap between academic readiness and workplace credibility.
Trust as a Business Model
Troogue’s differentiation is not pricing leverage but trust architecture:
- Fixed platform fees
- No revenue incentives to push volume
- No manipulation of evaluation reports
- Bias-free candidate assessment
- Accountability for fit
In people-driven ecosystems, trust is not a brand promise. It is the product itself.
Sustainability: The Hidden Workforce Dividend
Remote and distributed work is also an ESG lever. By reducing commuting, relocation, and office dependency, platforms like Troogue indirectly cut carbon emissions from workforce mobility. In India’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 areas, this enables inclusion without putting pressure on migration.
“The future workforce will not be defined by who codes the fastest, but by who understands the business impact of technology.”
This positions workforce platforms not just as HR infrastructure but also as climate-aligned enablers of the digital economy.