The Accidental CIO: Rethinking IT Leadership in the Age of AI  | Modern Tech POV with Ashwin Ballal

When Ashwin Ballal was first asked to become a CIO, he wondered what he’d done wrong. Six months later, he called it the best job he’d ever had.

Now CIO of Freshworks, Ashwin brings an unconventional perspective to IT leadership, shaped by a career spanning engineering, product, marketing, and operations.

In this episode of Modern Tech POV, Freshworks CEO Dennis Woodside sits down with Ashwin to discuss how the CIO role is evolving in the age of AI, why understanding the business is becoming as important as understanding the technology, and what it takes to move beyond AI experimentation to fundamentally rethink how work gets done.

They explore the shift from managing systems to shaping business outcomes, why giving employees access to AI isn’t enough, and how IT teams can work more closely with the business to drive meaningful change.

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