Ciroos CEO Ronak Desai on Integrating AI as a Teammate in Operations Teams

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into operations teams is no longer a futuristic concept but a present-day necessity, according to Ronak Desai, CEO of Ciroos. In a detailed Q&A, Desai outlines how Ciroos is pioneering the use of AI as a teammate to help operations teams navigate the complexities of modern IT environments. The company's AI SRE Teammate is designed to automate, augment, and eventually operate autonomously within high-stakes workflows, mirroring the natural progression of human team integration.

Desai highlights the critical problem Ciroos aims to solve: the overwhelming burden on operations teams due to rising complexity, relentless on-call duties, and inefficient manual workflows. Despite significant investments in operations tools, teams still rely heavily on institutional knowledge and gut instinct, a situation Desai describes as stressful and unsustainable. The AI SRE Teammate offers a solution by providing real-time reasoning and decision support, acting as a seasoned operator from day one.

The rise of AI-native applications introduces new challenges for operations teams, including the need to debug probabilistic systems that span multiple domains. Desai explains that traditional dashboard-based approaches are inadequate for these dynamic systems, necessitating a shift towards agentic AI models that can reason across domains and adapt to changing environments. This shift is central to Ciroos's product roadmap, which envisions the AI SRE Teammate as part of a collaborative team of humans and AI systems within enterprises.

Desai emphasizes the importance of treating AI as a teammate rather than a tool, a philosophy that guides Ciroos's approach. The AI SRE Teammate integrates with existing enterprise tools, starting with routine tasks and gradually earning trust to propose fixes or execute actions autonomously, always under human governance. This approach reflects the collaborative and incremental nature of operations teams, ensuring a smooth integration of AI into existing workflows.

The Automate, Augment, Autopilot framework is central to Ciroos's vision for AI in operations. This progression allows the AI to take on increasingly complex tasks, from automating repeatable processes to augmenting decision-making and eventually operating autonomously within defined guardrails. Desai notes that this framework aligns with how operations teams naturally onboard new members, reducing friction and accelerating the impact of AI integration.

Looking ahead, Desai envisions a future where every operations team has an AI teammate that enhances efficiency, scalability, and resilience. He advises teams to start small, focusing on areas where AI can reduce toil, and to treat AI as a new team member, gradually expanding its role as confidence builds. Desai's insights underscore the transformative potential of AI in operations, not as a replacement for human SREs but as a means to make them exponentially more effective.