Naveen Thomas

About me

I'm an AI, Cloud & Digital Transformation Leader with Partner-level technology consulting and 22+ years experience driving digital transformations. With a PhD in AI, I have proven success building high-performing teams and delivering complex solutions across Government, Telco, Media, and Life Sciences sectors.

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Innovation Cafe Videos

Watch my latest insights on AI, technology, and innovation on my YouTube channel

Innovation Cafe - Episode 4

Top 5 AI technologies 2025 - Exploring the most impactful artificial intelligence technologies that will shape the future.

Innovation Cafe - Episode 3

Innovations in the automobile industry - Examining breakthrough technologies transforming modern automotive design and manufacturing.

Innovation Cafe - Episode 2

Decoding AI and understanding what it is - A comprehensive explanation of artificial intelligence fundamentals and concepts.

Innovation Cafe - Episode 1

Five themes of innovation - Understanding the key patterns and approaches that drive successful innovation across industries.

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Publications & Research

Academic publications and research contributions in AI, computer vision, and technology innovation

Industry Whitepaper

Applying IT to Sweeten Divestitures: The Seller Perspective

Naveen Thomas, et al.

Cognizant

2020

A lion's share of companies plan to divest in the next two years, according to industry gurus, but the significant number of divestment projects are delayed or deferred due to misalignment of the business strategy and the IT strategy. Here's how sellers can leverage IT as an enabler to achieve the business objectives that drive the divestiture agenda.

Industry Whitepaper

How Applying An AI-Defined Infrastructure Can Boost Data Center Operations

Naveen Thomas, et al.

Cognizant Technology Services

2019

An artificial-intelligence-based infrastructure that uses the data available within the data center to optimize and automate infrastructure operations can enhance operational efficiencies and improve the quality of service offered to the business. This whitepaper describes how this can be achieved.

Industry Whitepaper

How Auto Scaling Techniques Make Public Cloud Deployments More Cost Effective

Naveen Thomas, et al.

Cognizant Technology Solutions

2016

By moving to public cloud infrastructure, IT organizations can apply auto-scaling techniques in which they pay only for the resources that are used. This can eliminate unused infrastructure during seasonal business slowdowns, resulting in significant cost savings.

Conference Paper

A Trajectory Based Video Segmentation for Surveillance Applications

Naveen Thomas, et al.

IS&T/SPIE Symposium on Electronic Imaging

2007

Video segmentation for content based retrieval has traditionally been done using shot cut detection algorithms that search for abrupt changes in scene content. Surveillance videos however, usually use still cameras, and do not contain any shots. Hence, a novel high level semantic change detection algorithm is proposed in this paper that uses object trajectory features to segment surveillance footage.

Conference Paper

Motion-Based Morphological Segmentation of Wildlife Video

Naveen Thomas, et al.

Proc. of IS&T/SPIE 17th Symposium on Electronic Imaging

2005

Segmentation of objects in a video sequence is a key stage in most content-based retrieval systems. By further analysing the behaviour of these objects, it is possible to extract semantic information suitable for higher level content analysis. Since interesting content in a video is usually provided by moving objects, motion is a key feature to be used for pre content analysis segmentation.

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Career Journey

Partner & AI, Cloud & Digital Leader with 22+ years of experience in technology consulting. PhD in AI with a unique blend of technical, commercial and business acumen, delivering significant impact at board and CxO levels across complex digital transformations.

22+ Years Experience
$100M+ Revenue Generated
300+ Team Members Led
6+ Industries Served
Partner | Cloud & AI Consulting Leader
EY Technology Consulting Services
Sep 2021 - Present

Built cloud consulting business from 0 to 50 people, generating £5M+ annual practice revenues. Promoted to Partner in May 2024. Leading digital transformations across Government, Telco and Media sectors with focus on cloud modernisation, AI adoption, and strategic technology consulting.

Associate Director
Cognizant Digital Technology Services
Sep 2010 - Aug 2021

Created innovation-focused sub-practice, led digital transformation programmes with TCVs >$15M. Successfully grew life sciences account from $100K to >$20M in 2 years. Led global team of 30+ consultants on major divestment programmes and M&A activities.

IT Architect
IBM Global Services
Nov 2008 - Sep 2010

Led pre-sales and delivery of data centre transformation programmes in life sciences. Designed infrastructure delivery processes and provided governance for standardization and Reference Architecture principles.

Technical Solution Manager
IBM Global Services
Dec 2006 - Nov 2008

Performed pre-sales activities for base growth accounts in major outsourcing contracts, contributing to business development and technical solution design.

PhD in Computer Vision / AI
University of Bristol
Oct 2003 - May 2007

Developed motion recognition algorithms for intelligent content-based video retrieval. Concurrently taught undergraduate Engineering students on FPGA technologies and conducted R&D on AI-based computer vision algorithms.

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Core Skills

Artificial Intelligence

PhD-level expertise in AI and computer vision with practical application in enterprise settings, from research and development to production deployment.

CIO Advisory

CIO-level advisory services for technology strategy, helping organizations develop effective IT strategies, governance frameworks, and technology roadmaps.

Digital Transformation

End-to-end digital transformation programmes including cloud modernisation, AI adoption, and enterprise-scale technology implementations with measurable business impact.

Presales and Execution

Expert presales engineering and programme execution with track record of converting complex technical requirements into successful delivery outcomes.

Design Authority

Enterprise architecture and design authority for large-scale technology solutions, ensuring technical excellence and adherence to industry best practices.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Technology due diligence and integration support for M&A activities, including carve-out programmes and post-merger technology rationalization.

Practice Management

Building and leading high-performing consulting practices from ground up, with experience scaling teams from 0 to 50+ consultants and generating £5M+ revenues.

Thought Leadership

Strategic technology consulting and thought leadership with proven ability to influence at CxO level and drive complex digital transformations across multiple industry sectors.

Cloud Transformation

Cloud-first architecture design and migration strategies across AWS, Azure, and hybrid environments with focus on scalability and operational excellence.

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