Inside Docusign's Approach to Responsible AI | With Shanthi Iyer, CIO of Docusign

Shanti Iyer, CIO of DocuSign, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to share a candid, inside look at how large enterprises adopt AI with discipline, responsibility, and real business impact.From growing up in Chennai to spending two decades at Cisco and now leading technology at DocuSign, Shanti explains why great CIOs think business first, technology second. She breaks down how DocuSign approaches AI adoption, tool sprawl, governance, developer productivity, and responsible AI—without slowing the company down.This episode goes deep into how enterprises actually deploy AI in production: from rolling out “birthright” AI tools, to building agent-based systems with humans in the loop, to securing budget, managing risk, and earning trust across the organization.A must-watch for CIOs, CTOs, founders, and operators building AI inside complex, regulated environments.________________________________________________________Timestamps00:00 Intro and Shanti Iyer’s background01:30 Growing up in Chennai and early independence03:00 Early career, consulting, and joining Cisco04:40 Finding advocates and asking for bigger roles06:20 Learning business-first leadership at Cisco08:00 Running data and gaining a 360° company view10:00 Cloud, Snowflake, and modern data stacks12:30 Moving from Cisco to DocuSign14:00 The CIO challenge: AI tool sprawl15:40 “Birthright” AI tools for every employee17:30 Design discovery workshops and prioritization19:00 Building agent-based AI with humans in the loop21:00 Measuring AI impact and securing budget23:00 Developer tools, code quality, and IP risk25:00 Governance, AI education, and guardrails27:00 Advice for founders selling to enterprises29:00 Final lessons on responsible AI and leadership________________________________________________________🔗 Connect with Shanthi Iyer → https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanthiiyer/🔗 Connect with Mala Ramakrishnan → https://www.linkedin.com/in/malaramakrishnan🎧 Subscribe to the podcastYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnL3D6aI60R-cCvypFIkh4ASpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NIDE4cT5fuVjC3HaGbCDK?si=eoSTNmhqQNKHQl9d1Jx0UQApple Podcast: https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/show/talking-to-the-leaders-of-ai-the-ceo-series-with-mala/22ad2bae-502b-4eb1-aa74-53bc79754db7Visit our Website: www.malaramakrishnan.com | www.founderscreative.ai