RADHAKRISHNA AEKBOTE / PORTFOLIO
2026 · V2
§ 01  —  Strategic Statement

Designing enterprise products where business strategy, human behavior, and AI capabilities converge.

Practitioner
Radhakrishna Aekbote
Senior UX Designer, Salesforce
Previously
Principal UXD, Informatica
SAP Labs · PwC
Decade
10 years
2017 → 2026
Based
Bengaluru
Available globally
§ 02 Evidence
Numbers, shipped products, and recognition — not aspirations.
91,200
Subscription Units
from 38K · 11 months · Process Diagrammer
0 → 3,805
IPUs Monetised
6 mo · 57 enterprise orgs · 70% retention
1
Granted Patent
SAP S/4HANA · ML Object List · 210852US01
4×
CEO Keynote
Informatica World · 2023 → 2026
3
Global Platforms
SAP · Informatica · Salesforce
10
Years Enterprise UX
PwC → SAP → Informatica → Salesforce
✦Connect the dots

How one thing
led to another.

One product led to bigger opportunities — and to becoming the design SME for canvas work across the org.
2023
Process Diagrammer
Led the canvas redesign; pitched the Good-Better-Best model.
IW 2024
DI Co-pilot
Designed the AI co-pilot brought into it.
IW 2025
AI Agent Engineering
Authored CHESS; led the 0→1 product.
IW 2026
Headless DI
Designed the five-layer interaction model.

Each product led to the next — and I was trusted to lead each one.

§ 03 Selected Work

Work that created
measurable impact.

Products, platforms, and strategic decisions across enterprise software, APIs, integrations, and AI.
01 / 05

AI Agent Engineering

Principal UXD Informatica · 0 → 1 Launched IW 2025

Led UX for Informatica's first agentic AI platform, 0→1 — defined the interaction model and authored CHESS, the framework the team built on. Launched at the IW 2025 CEO and CPO keynotes.

Agentic AI 0→1 Platform CHESS Framework Orientation flip
Read the full case study →
Context
Informatica's bet on agentic AI. A category forming in real time — Flowise, BuildShip, n8n, OnDemand.io all racing to define the canvas. Behind on time, ahead on enterprise depth.
Decision
Authored CHESS — a five-principle framework for agentic interaction. Ran a competitor teardown. Made the contested call to flip canvas orientation L→R to top-down, backed by our research (only 10% of users wanted L→R).
Outcome
Launched at Informatica World 2025 in CEO + CPO keynotes. 347 → 1,938 preview registrations in 30 days — a 5.6× jump — and 630+ weekly active users. Coverage in Yahoo Finance and BusinessWire. Launched shortly before Informatica's acquisition by Salesforce.
Reflection
Users delegated more once they could see why the agent made a decision — so every step of the plan was made visible before it ran.
02 / 05

Headless Data Integration

Lead UX Informatica → Salesforce · Headless DI Shown IW 2026

One of Informatica's first explorations of building integration entirely from an IDE — no canvas. The hard part moved from drawing a pipeline to trusting one you can't see. I led the interaction model for that trust.

Headless Agentic DI Review gate MCP
Read the full case study →
Context
Data integration moving off its visual canvas into IDEs and agents. A person builds a pipeline they can't see — and a wrong field silently corrupts real data. The hard part moved from drawing a pipeline to trusting one.
Decision
Introduced a review checkpoint before execution — where a person validates an AI-generated pipeline against production intent — inside a five-layer model: Discovery · Intent · Memory · Lifecycle · Oversight. Review is one layer, not the whole answer.
Outcome
Became the trust model demonstrated in the Informatica World 2026 keynote, and shaped the product direction for headless DI. Steered the DI team away from over-generating just to look thorough.
Reflection
When the screen disappears, design becomes the only thing keeping a person in control.
03 / 05

Process Diagrammer

Lead → Principal UXD Informatica · CAI / CDI 2023 → 2024

The canvas redesign was visible. The operating model was the real product — a tiered model I pitched to leadership that took subscriptions from 38,000 to 91,200 in 11 months.

Strategy Enterprise Canvas GBB Framework Org-wide standard
Context
Informatica's integration canvas — used by enterprise architects to model process flows. Beyond ~20 nodes the surface broke; "process-ception." Subscription growth stalling. The flagship was the bottleneck.
Decision
Pitched leadership a Good-Better-Best operating model — three release tiers, each earning its growth. Shifted prioritisation from feature-execution to tiered outcome investment. Same architects, same canvas, three deliberately escalating versions.
Outcome
38,000 → 91,200 subscription units in 11 months. CSAT 44% → 60%+. Time on task −44%. Same 8 customers (Dolby, State Farm, Liberty Mutual) UT-validated. CEO keynote, Informatica World 2024.
Reflection
The bottleneck wasn't rendering more nodes — it was how investment decisions were made across the product. GBB now governs adjacent products.
04 / 05

API Lifecycle Manager

Lead UXD Informatica 2023 → 2024

Before charging customers, I needed to know what they'd actually pay for. A $100 forced-allocation test with 31 enterprise customers defined the paid tier — and turned a free product into recurring revenue.

Monetisation $100-test Pricing design Enterprise
Context
Inherited a complimentary product. Leadership wanted to monetise. Existing users were free; asking the wrong customers to pay for the wrong things was potential churn at scale.
Decision
Ran a $100-test with 31 enterprise customers — forced trade-offs across hypothetical capabilities instead of asking what they liked. Three consistently won: Spec Designer 30.4%, Marketplace 17.4%, Co-pilot 15.9%. Those became the paid tier.
Outcome
0 → 3,805 IPUs in 6 months across 57 enterprise orgs. 70% retention. 83% CSAT across 67+ customers. Net-new recurring revenue.
Reflection
Customers valued governance and design-time capabilities far more than runtime controls — that's what shaped the paid offering.
05 / 05

Intelligent Maintenance Planner

UX Designer SAP Labs · S/4HANA 2020 → 2022

Designed a new ML interaction model for enterprise maintenance planning — adopted in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, and later granted U.S. Patent 210852US01.

Patent ML Interaction Model Enterprise Research
Context
SAP S/4HANA Asset Management. Three enterprise customers anchored the research: Inpex (Australia's largest oil & gas, 600K functional locations), Chemours (regulated chemicals), Macmahon (mining). Planners managed millions of maintenance items in legacy interfaces designed for engineers, not operators.
Decision
Designed an ML-based Object List interaction model — a structural redesign of how planners scanned, prioritised, and acted on maintenance data at scale. Tested against operator mental models, not engineering schemas.
Outcome
Adopted in SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2208. The interaction model was granted U.S. Patent 210852US01. +40% usage on adjacent Logistics Execution Insights.
Reflection
A new interaction model can become defensible IP.
§ 04 Strategic Intelligence Framework

The work behind the work.

Across products, the same pattern repeated — a decision, a framework built around it, applied and measured. The projects are evidence; the frameworks are the contribution.
— § METHOD — § PRODUCT — § OUTCOME — § INFLUENCE GBB Framework Good · Better · Best · org-wide CHESS Framework 5-principle agentic interaction $100-Test Forced-allocation pricing Outside-in Thinking From the operator, not the desk Editorial Practice Writing · podcasts · teaching Process Diagrammer Informatica · CAI / CDI · 2023–24 AI Agent Engineering Informatica · 0→1 · IW 2025 API Lifecycle Manager Informatica · Freemium → Paid Maintenance Planner SAP S/4HANA · Inpex · Chemours 91,200 Units From 38K · 11 months · +60%+ CSAT 630+ WAU · 1,938 Regs 30-day post-launch · fastest-growing 0 → 3,805 IPUs 6 mo · 57 orgs · 70% retention 1 Granted Patent 210852US01 · ML Object List IW 2024 — CEO Keynote Process Diagrammer launch UX India 2024 × Atlassian Design GBB Framework · co-presented IW 2025 — CEO & CPO Keynote AI Agent Engineering launch Yahoo Finance · BusinessWire AI Agent Engineering coverage Mentorship + Writing + Podcasts adplist · Masai · IxDF · 6 essays · 2 pods
Method
The frameworks and instruments I author and apply — the part of the work that outlives any single product.
Product
Where method meets surface. Four enterprise platforms across SAP, Informatica, Salesforce.
Outcome
The measured business effect. Subscription growth, monetised IPUs, granted IP, sustained adoption.
Influence
The work after the work — keynotes, press, peer recognition, teaching the next ten years.
§ 07 Influence

Work that travelled
beyond the deliverable.

Patent. Keynotes. Talks. Published thinking. What people inside and outside the companies have publicly endorsed, reviewed, or invited me to speak about.
Stage
Informatica World — work in CEO & CPO keynotes
2023 → 2026
Las Vegas IW 2026 — Headless Agentic Data Integration · Main Stage
2026
UX India — GBB Framework · co-presented with Atlassian Design
2024
Recognition
SAP — Granted Patent · ML Object List · 210852US01
2022
Yahoo Finance + BusinessWire — AI Agent Engineering coverage
2025
ISB Executive Education · Product Management
2022
PwC Certified · Human Centred Design
2020
Community & Mentorship
Designlab Mentor
Ongoing
adplist · Mentor
5+ years
Masai School · Industry Mentor
2021 →
Be My Eyes · GPT-4 Accessibility Volunteer
2023 →
IxDF · 10 Certificates
AI for Designers
2024
AI-Powered UX Design · Masterclass
2023
How to Design for AR & VR
2023
Service Design · UX Management · Visual Perception · Game UR · Agile UX
+5 more
In their own words
RK was instrumental in translating our vision for enterprise-grade agentic AI into something users could actually grasp and build with. AI Agent Engineering launched at Informatica World 2025 and became our fastest-growing product ever measured by customer adoption.
Vivin Nath
AI/ML Product Leader · MIT Alum · Senior to RK on AI Agent Engineering
RK brought product-level clarity and design depth to the Agentic AI platform — leading UX across the Builder Canvas, node orchestration, co-pilot workflows, and the template marketplace. Instrumental in shaping the product showcased in the CEO and CPO keynotes at Informatica World 2025.
Sumeet Agrawal
VP, Product Management · Data & AI Governance · Informatica
He does not look at a design from the way it should be done, but from the way it should be used by the planner. This outside-in thinking has benefited me a lot when I am at a crossroads with respect to visualising the use case.
Niranjan Raju
Senior Director, Product Management · SAP S/4HANA Asset Management
Published Thinking
Medium
Neobanks — A Complete UX Study · Bankkit App
→
Medium
Streamlining Backend Operations · TVS Broadcasting Portal
→
UX Planet
Making an ATM for Children · Accessibility & Usability Research
→
UX Planet
An Immersive Pizza Ordering Platform — Explored
→
Medium
The Ola App — A Heuristic Read
→
Medium
Designing a Chatbot for Women's Health in India
→
On the Mic
NYC · Feb 24
Beyond Barriers — invited as an accessibility leader in UX
→
Dec 2025
AI Agents & Agentic Experiences for Enterprise · User Trust · Training AI
→
§ 08 Career — Capability Arc

A decade compounding
into strategic influence.

Each role added a capability the next role required. The arc isn't a résumé. It's an investment thesis.
01 / Phase
Craft
2017 → 2020 · PwC
02 / Phase
Systems
2020 → 2022 · SAP Labs
03 / Phase
Platform
2022 → 2025 · Informatica
04 / Phase
AI & Strategic Influence
2025 → · Salesforce
2025 → 2026
Salesforce
Senior UX Designer — Agentic AI, post-Informatica acquisition. IW 2026 Las Vegas Main Stage.
AI & Influence
2022 → 2025
Informatica
Lead → Principal UX Designer — Process Diagrammer flagship · AI Agent Engineering 0→1 · API monetisation. CEO keynotes 2024 + 2025.
Platform
2020 → 2022
SAP Labs
UX Designer — S/4HANA Asset Management. Granted patent. Enterprise research with Inpex, Chemours, Macmahon.
Systems
2017 → 2020
PwC
Product Designer — DEALS · sole designer on a greenfield M&A platform across 7 geographies.
Craft
§ 09Contact

Still interested in what happens when technology gets
hard to understand — and important to trust.

Enterprise AI, platforms, and systems design.

radhakrishna.aekbote@gmail.com LinkedIn →