Sriram Ramanathan, global chief technology officer at Exela Technologies, joined the CAIO Connect Podcast to discuss generative AI and its integration in technologies in the future. With over 23 years of experience in AI, cloud computing, and mobile technology, Ramanathan offered sharp insights into the profound transformations artificial intelligence has undergone in recent years.
“I’m calling generative AI the operating system of the next generation enterprise,” Ramanathan said. He highlighted his vision for generative AI — as a “foundational fabric” that will underpin future business operations as well as the transformative potential of AI in reshaping how enterprises function.
He elaborated that strategies like “chain of agents” can augment workflows at enterprises. “A chain of agents is basically a set of LLM enabled business processes that are able to take work, look at it, do the piece that they think they can do, and hand it off to another LLM application,” he said.
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Since his appointment in May 2022 at Excela Technologies, a global leader in business process automation, Ramanathan has been instrumental in steering Exela’s technological advancements, overseeing product direction, solution strategy, and the development of SaaS-based solutions across the company’s international portfolio.
Ramanathan’s career includes holding significant roles such as engineering CTO for AI Product Development at Genpact, group vice president for Cloud Platform at Oracle, and CTO at Kony, Inc., a pioneer in mobile backend-as-a-service platforms. At IBM, he was recognized as a Distinguished Engineer and Master Inventor, holding over 150 patents.
Beyond his corporate roles, Ramanathan co-founded Vironix Health, a digital health company specializing in AI-driven remote monitoring for respiratory and cardiac conditions.
Holding master’s degrees from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, and the University of South Florida, Ramanathan continues to lead Exela’s efforts in integrating generative AI and cloud-agnostic architectures, positioning the company at the forefront of digital transformation.
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“The biggest thing that happened was that I think AI became democratized,” Ramanathan said, underscoring the pivotal shift in which powerful AI tools, once accessible only to a select few, are now available to a broader audience. He added that this democratization is crucial for fostering innovation and enabling smaller businesses and individuals to leverage AI for their needs. He also recalled how OpenAI’s ChatGPT release in November 2022 was a “seminal moment,” in the tech AI landscape.
For organizations embarking on their AI journey, Ramanathan shared his advice: “Start small, you know. I would say focus on the lowest hanging fruit which many people have already done and get help.”