Overview

The Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIM Lucknow) has launched a Chief Operating and Transformation Officer (COO) Programme that reflects the expanding scope of the modern COO role from pure efficiency to enterprise‑wide transformation. The press release positions the programme as a response to evolving business demands driven by artificial intelligence (AI), heightened supply‑chain volatility, and accelerating customer expectations.

Market Context

Historically, the COO’s mandate centered on cost control, execution and efficiency. The release notes that AI integration into core workflows and volatile supply networks now tie operations directly to strategy, requiring COOs to rethink how organisations function rather than merely how they run.

Survey Insights

PwC’s 2025 Digital Trends in Operations Survey is cited, revealing that 57% of operations and supply‑chain leaders have integrated AI into selected functions or across their organisations. However, 92% of respondents identified at least one reason why technology investments have not fully delivered expected results, with integration complexity and data issues highlighted as common barriers.

Programme Curriculum

The IIM Lucknow COO Programme’s curriculum combines:

  • Operations strategy and operating‑model design
  • AI‑enabled operations
  • Value creation and resilience
  • Data and analytics
  • Governance and executive leadership

The emphasis is on linking operational decisions with enterprise priorities, moving beyond efficiency as an end goal.

Shift in Decision‑Making

The release contrasts the traditional efficiency question—“How can this process be made faster or cheaper?”—with the new operating‑model question—“What should the operating model look like in the first place?” It illustrates that automating a process can affect workforce design, customer experience, data governance, technology investment and accountability, while outsourcing may reduce costs but increase dependency on external partners. Consequently, COOs must balance efficiency with agility, resilience and long‑term value creation.

AI as an Operating‑Model Decision

AI is portrayed not merely as a tool for automating repetitive tasks but as a factor that reshapes decision‑making, information flow and the role of human intervention. COOs are urged to determine which workflows to automate, where AI should augment employees, how to handle AI exceptions, and who owns the outcomes, treating AI as an operating‑model and organisational‑design decision.

Resilience as an Ongoing Capability

Recent disruptions have shifted resilience from a contingency exercise to a continuous operating capability. Supply chains, service operations and partner ecosystems now require responsiveness, continuity, scenario planning, inventory management, network design and sustainability alongside traditional efficiency metrics. COOs are tasked with preserving the organisation’s adaptability to changing market conditions.

Cross‑Functional Leadership

The programme underscores that operational transformation cannot be delivered by operations alone. Technology teams influence architecture and AI adoption; finance determines investment priorities; HR shapes workforce transition; commercial teams influence customer requirements; and boards and CEOs expect a coherent view of how these decisions interlock. Stakeholder alignment, executive communication and change leadership are therefore central to the modern COO role.

Learning Approach

Applied learning is delivered through cases, simulations, practitioner perspectives and guided projects, enabling leaders to examine interconnected decisions in realistic contexts.

Outlook

The release concludes that the evolution of the COO role is not a departure from operational excellence but a recognition that excellence increasingly depends on strategic choices. Modern COOs must decide where to automate, where to invest, how to respond to disruption, which capabilities to build and how technology should reshape work. As AI, volatility and shifting customer expectations continue to reshape business operations, the COO’s influence is expected to expand further across strategy, technology, people and value creation, positioning the operations leader as an architect of how the business works.

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