Sonata Software has appointed Hariprasad Rebala as its Chief AI Officer, adding dedicated AI leadership as the company works to integrate artificial intelligence more deeply across its engineering, platforms, delivery model, and client solutions. The appointment was announced on August 17, 2026.
Rebala, also known as Hari, brings more than three decades of experience spanning IT services, enterprise technology, and the startup ecosystem. Before joining Sonata Software, he served as Chief of AI Solutions and Growth at deep-tech AI company Gnani.ai. He also co-founded Forfend, where he worked on IoT and conversational AI platforms, and previously held senior leadership positions at Mindtree, Capgemini, and Wipro.
In his new role, Rebala will lead Sonata’s end-to-end AI-led business transformation. His responsibilities will cover AI strategy across offerings, service delivery, platforms, capabilities, partnerships, and the company’s wider technology ecosystem. The focus will be on translating AI adoption into measurable business outcomes and improving how AI is integrated into enterprise delivery.
The appointment comes as businesses increasingly move AI initiatives from experimentation toward production. Enterprises are now evaluating how AI can be incorporated into software engineering, modernization, customer operations, analytics, and industry-specific workflows while addressing challenges involving governance, security, integration, and return on investment.
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Rebala’s background combines enterprise transformation experience with more recent work in AI-focused startups. That combination reflects the changing requirements for AI leadership, where organizations need executives who understand both emerging technologies and the practical challenges of deploying them at scale.
Sonata‘s move also reflects a broader industry trend: technology services companies are creating dedicated AI leadership positions as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in their business models and client engagements. The company says the appointment is part of its broader effort to become an AI-native organization.
As enterprises continue shifting from AI pilots to larger deployments, leadership focused specifically on AI strategy, engineering, delivery, and measurable outcomes is likely to become increasingly important across the technology services industry.
