Meet Your New Teammate, AI: Asana’s Saket Srivastava

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Sep 17, 2024

Saket Srivastava, CIO at Asana, has a rich background in tech with roles at General Electric and IBM. He discusses AI's evolution from a task optimizer to a true teammate, enhancing productivity in project management. Saket emphasizes the shifting role of CIOs as they lead innovation and strategic AI integration. He also highlights the importance of a supportive CIO community and the need for organizations to adapt their workforce dynamics as AI transforms skill requirements. Tune in for insights into the future of work!

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INSIGHT

Work Graph Enables Contextual AI

Asana organizes work across tasks, projects, portfolios and goals to increase clarity and predictability.
This structure creates the context AI needs to deliver meaningful recommendations and actions.

ADVICE

Embed AI Into Core Workflows

Integrate AI into core workflows so it can take action, not just suggest.
Embed AI as a teammate that executes routine cognitive tasks within business processes.

ANECDOTE

AI Writing Program Status Reports

Saket describes AI acting like a program manager that writes status reports automatically.
Humans then review or modify those AI-generated reports instead of writing them from scratch.

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Saket Srivastava, CIO at work management platform Asana, has had technology roles at organizations such as General Electric, IBM, and Fujitsu, moving from back-end IT services positions to more strategic business leadership roles. Asana has already been working with artificial intelligence for several years, Saket notes, and has seen the technology’s role evolve: Rather than simply optimizing tasks, it now often acts as more of a teammate as it’s integrated into core workflows to enhance productivity by taking on cognitive tasks like writing project status updates.

Saket joins this episode to share his observations about the evolution of CIOs from back-end IT managers to front-line business leaders driving innovation and strategy, especially in the context of AI. He also discusses the benefits of being part of a CIO community in which people freely share their knowledge and experience and support one another as they navigate a rapidly evolving tech environment.

Read the episode transcript here.

Guest bio:

Saket Srivastava is the CIO for work management platform Asana. He oversees the company’s educational and information technology organization, which involves optimizing technology systems and processes, connecting technology strategy to overarching business strategy, and ensuring that technology infrastructure supports organizational goals. Previously, Srivastava held executive positions at Square, Guidewire Software, and other leading technology companies. He holds a master’s degree from the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

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